Dom bristled. “Damn.”
Laughing, Eija buried into his body.
Chapter 25
A crash woke Eija up out of her sleep.
It only took her a second to orient herself and identify what it was—the silk ficus tree she kept by the front door falling to the ground. With force. She’d tripped over the thing several times herself, but Colin had gotten it for her as a gift. As he popped by from time to time, she’d kept it until she could come up with a plausible excuse for its unfortunate disappearance.
Last night came rushing back, and she searched the space next to her to find it empty.
Dom.
“Dom, you okay?” she called out, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand. “The light switch is on the wall close to the TV. If you can’t find that, the lamp on the left end table is a touch lamp.”
Silence.
“Dom?”
He appeared in the doorway, holding Shiloh with one arm. “I was actually looking for the kitchen light.”
“The kitchen’s nowhere near that plant.”
“I learned I was a father yesterday and still got up to make my daughter’s bottle so her mother could sleep.”
Eija left the bed and walked past him to the kitchen to turn on the light. Once her eyes adjusted to the sudden flood of brightness, she spotted powder sprinkled on the butcher block countertop, an uncovered can of baby formula, several jars of baby food, and a box of baby oatmeal cereal. The pantry door was wide open.
“All of this and you didn’t find a single light?” she asked, yawning. “Not even the stove or pantry light?”
“I’ve done more complicated things in the dark. I don’t know why I couldn’t accomplish this. And you,” he tickled Shiloh’s belly, “didn’t even help.”
Shiloh chewed on her fingers.
“Did she give you the ‘you’re useless’ face?” Eija asked, leveling a scoop of formula.
When she’d finally told Randy about her pregnancy, he’d looked at her like she’d told him the baby was his from his sperm diffusing into her because they’d stood next to each other on the elevator. He’d asked if a baby would interfere with their Sokolov operation, and when she’d tried to answer, he’d responded with, “It better not,” before storming off.
After she’d realized she’d have no one to watch Shiloh, she’d gone back to him several times, meeting a higher wall with each attempt. So, as a precaution, she never breastfed. She hadn’t wanted her daughter to become used to or reliant upon something she might not be able to provide.
“It was more like a ‘look at this idiot’ face,” Dom said, giving Shiloh’s belly another tickle that drew a tiny smile from her cheek. “Give me time, Shi. Daddy’ll figure it out.”
Eija finished making the bottle and handed it over.
“I test it on the back of my hand, right?” he asked.
“Just hold the bottle up like this,” she raised her arm, “and let a few drops fall onto your tongue.”
He did as instructed.
And gagged.
“That’s what baby formula tastes like?”
“For future reference,” Eija pointed to the bottle warmer on the other side of the counter, “I keep water warmed for middle of the night feedings.”
“So you made me taste that for nothing?”
“Not for nothing. For my own amusement.” She tipped her chin at Shiloh. “Heads up. She’s three seconds away from a meltdown if you keep dangling that bottle in front of her without handing it over.”
Dom barely extended the bottle in Shiloh’s direction before she grabbed it and brought the nipple up to her mouth. She’d only started holding bottles without help about a month ago, but the way she leaned back against him with it tipped up, one leg splayed, she looked like she’d been feeding herself from birth.
Even Dom’s smile was a mirror image of Shiloh’s.
Her grandmother used to say that the more a child came out looking like their father, the more the mother hated him while she was pregnant, so she must have loathed Dom.
Part of her had been upset with him for disappearing, but she’d been more disgusted with herself. Getting pregnant without being able to contact the “sperm donor” had only made her feel like all the names she’d been called within the agency for doing the same thing, to a much lesser extent, as her male colleagues.
“What now?” he asked.
Eija glanced at the clock on the stove. It wasn’t even six yet.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes, but,” he handed Shiloh to her, “let me feed you for a change. You ladies hang out.”
“Don’t make borscht,” she warned, walking over to the sofa. She sat, and Shiloh leaned back against her chest, the bottle half-empty. “I never took to borscht.”
“For breakfast?”
It felt like mere seconds between him grabbing flour from the pantry and then calling her over to the dining table. At some point, she’d fallen asleep.
“Shi got tired after she ate, so she’s taking a nap,” he said, filling a mug next to a stack of pancakes with black coffee. “I’m guessing you take no cream in your coffee if you worked for the agency?”
She headed over. “And about a pinch of sugar.”
While they ate, she used one ear to listen for Shiloh waking up. The other, she used to listen for the door. The Sokolov operation wasn’t over. They hadn’t yet discussed the siege at Dostavka-Koronatsiya with either of their teams, although she suspected she’d be kept out of the loop because of her suspension.
After breakfast, they turned to the door.
She sighed. “Nothing yet.”
“Yet being the key word,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere before then.”
They came three days later, and it was three full days of her watching Dom and Shiloh fall into their own little routine. His bruises looked better. Not perfect, but better. Whenever she was close enough, Shiloh touched them. Studied them. And Eija wondered what went through her mind when she did. One day, hopefully, she’d know this man was her father…if, in her own way, she didn’t already.
Four hard knocks echoed against the front door.
Dom gave his daughter a kiss on top of her head and went to open it.
Linda and Randy entered the flat. Bringing up the rear, looking both upset and contrite, was Colin.
Eija sent Dom a look, silently asking him not to look too smug, but it was too late.
Linda took a seat on the loveseat across from the sofa, her Audrey Hepburn replica pixie cut as golden as the sun’s rays that cascaded off the wavy locks. Square, black metal frames sat low on her nose.
Randy sat next to her.
Colin looked like he hadn’t caught a decent night’s rest in weeks, but Eija could tell only because of how long she’d known him. To the untrained eye, he was handsome as usual and well put-together in his dark gray suit. Joining the DGSE in France and then INTERPOL had been an act of rebellion against his family’s wealth, but he carried the air of old money with him wherever he went.
“Hi, little one,” Linda cooed. “Oh my, she’s adorable. She looks just like Dominik.”
“I see it now,” Randy said, studying Shiloh. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”
Colin waved a hand. “Can we get to the point of this and wrap it up?”
“We all know you don’t like being wrong,” Eija said, meeting his eyes. “You were wrong about Dom. So was I. Get over it and let’s move on.”
Shiloh crawled over to Randy, used his pant leg to hoist herself up, and then looked, expectantly, up at him. Picking up on the nonverbal hint, he set her on his lap, and she busied herself with the pattern on his tie.
“Obviously, you know why we’re here,” Linda said. “Yuri’s still missing. As of right now, the rumor around the Bratva is that Dominik Sokolov’s being held in a prison at an undisclosed location by a group of Americans. According to Pavel, they’re mobilizing to find and retrieve the Brat
va prince. Ironically, just like when Gorbachev was ousted, it’s unclear who’s in charge, so there’s been some chaos.”
“You can’t take him back to headquarters,” Eija said, reading between the lines a necessity in this line of work. “And, if his cover’s still intact, that means he can get back into the penthouse.”
Linda’s head bobbed in agreement. “Yes. There’s an old Soviet prison in Krasnodar. The plan is, we’ll be transporting him there, but Bratva will intercept the convoy.”
Dom asked, “Have they narrowed down any leads on what group Yuri hired to attack us in Moscow?”
“No,” Randy offered. “But Pavel said because of the contentious history the Bratva’s had with the Chechens, ever since the theatre hostage crisis back in ’02, they’ve already targeted two major figureheads in the Chechen mafia. What’s left of it, anyhow.”
Eija glanced at Dom, who was already looking at her.
“When does Dom leave?” she asked.
“We’ll transport him underground tonight, get him back to Russia,” Randy said. “Then, in three days, we’ll take him on the convoy to Krasnodar.”
“They want you to go too,” Colin added. “A room full of Bratva, Yakuza, Irish mafia, you name it, saw Dom leave with you. Your name’s come up several times since the event. Virtually everyone, except me, apparently, knew you and Dom were hooking up, so they’re concerned you’re not only a weakness and distraction, but involved in Yuri’s death somehow. Being American.”
“We want to put you in the U.S. Embassy,” Linda explained. “You’ll say you went there after the attack seeking refuge, and you’ve been hiding out. Dom, as the new head of the Brotherhood, will go there to retrieve you. You think he’s taking you to safety, but he’s looking for a head to chop off.”
Dom scrubbed his chin, eyes unfocused. “If I target you for questioning or worse, then it solidifies that nobody’s safe in the course of the inquiry.”
“It shows I’m not a weakness,” Eija concluded.
Dom winked. “Even though you are.”
Colin rolled his eyes.
“And it also shows he’s prepared to take the helm,” Randy finished. “Yuri planned this, expecting Dom to take the fall. Right now, Dom has. If Dom returns to the Bratva, the turtle might poke his head from his shell.”
Eija gestured to Shiloh, who’d crawled from Randy’s lap to Linda’s. “But, as you can see, I have obligations. Priceless obligations.”
“You have a sister,” Linda said. “Alecia Baker. According to her last tax return, she lives in Richmond with her husband and two dependents.”
Eija masked her surprise. The last time she’d snooped on her sister, there’d only been Alecia Baker, Ulysses Baker III, and their daughter, Analeigh Rose. Analeigh was now around eight or nine, and she’d only met her niece three times—her birth and their grandparents’ funerals. She’d only shown up at Analeigh’s birth because Alecia had begged.
“I do have a sister,” Eija said, nodding slowly. “But we’re not exactly close. You can’t be suggesting she become Shiloh’s temporary caregiver. You’re asking me to leave behind my baby. Again.”
Linda’s voice jumped an octave. “The plan is too delicate, Eija. You can’t just go missing. We need you back in the penthouse. These are the sacrifices we have to make in this field. You’re not the only person who’s had to make hard decisions.”
“Watch how you talk to Eija,” Dom warned.
“You still answer to us, Dominik.”
“When it comes to those two right there,” Dom pointed to Shiloh and Eija, “I don’t answer to anybody but God.”
Randy rotated his shoulders. A hard sigh flared his nostrils. “Nephew, Linda’s right. The Bratva’s like a fucking hair trigger. The puzzle’s been jumbled, and now we’re attempting to put it back together. We can’t do that by hiding pieces.”
Shiloh discovered Linda’s earring, and Linda gently pried the golden hoop from Shiloh’s small fingers.
“Eija, Shiloh will be safer with your sister,” Linda insisted. “No one knows your sister’s associated with you. Think about it. Going in there with Dom, that’s for Shiloh too. David’s son grew up without a father and I’m sure, had David the opportunity, he’d go back and make different choices.”
Colin snorted.
Eija cut him a look.
“That wasn’t for you, E,” he said, turning his attention to Dom. “Sokolov, I didn’t make you. Nothing about you screamed ‘CIA’ or any other intelligence agency. You’re Yuri Sokolov’s biological son. You have his…ways in your genes. I don’t see why no one else feels like we’re opening a can that’ll only ooze worms.”
“Do you have a father?” Dom asked him.
Colin sucked his teeth. “Don’t we all?”
“Could you kill him? Because I can kill mine. I can pull the trigger without blinking.”
“But you won’t,” Linda interjected. “We need Yuri alive. That’s years of intel. Years of inside information. He’s too valuable.”
Eija held up a hand. “How do you intend for me to just leave my infant with my estranged sister?”
“A cover story,” Linda said, switching Shiloh to her other arm. “You were injured and you’ll be out of commission for a while. The only next of kin we found was her, and we need her to take Shiloh in while you recuperate.”
Eija waved away the suggestion. “She won’t do it. She’ll ask to see me.”
“We need you, Eija,” Linda pleaded.
Eija looked at Dom. Shiloh was his daughter too.
He shook his head, but then he shrugged. “Look, I won’t tell you what to do. I’d rather she stay with us both. Since it can’t be us, then you. If not you, I’d rather her be with friends of mine. Friends who I trust. I don’t know your sister, so I can’t advocate for her with my daughter.”
“But you will need me at the penthouse.”
He cracked a smile. “I’ll always need you.”
Colin clenched his jaw so tight, it clicked.
Eija stared at Shiloh, who was still trying to get to Linda’s earrings. It was either stay behind and risk Dom’s life, possibly Shiloh’s as well, or leave Shiloh behind.
Again.
Over the course of the past year, her priorities had changed. First, they’d changed for Shiloh. Now, they revolved around Shiloh and the man she couldn’t accept not being part of their lives.
“I have conditions,” she said. “If we don’t find Yuri, or at least a ping his general location by the time my baby girl gets to nine months, kill Miss K and pull me out. Point blank. The second…Dom, you said you have friends you trust.”
“In Sweden.”
“Can they keep her safe?”
“Safer than the pope.”
“Then, I’d rather Shiloh stay with them. It’s too risky with my sister. Alecia and I will reconcile on different terms.”
Shiloh fussed until Linda set her back on the floor. Then, she crawled over to Dom, pulled herself up using the fabric of his pajama pants, and set the same expectant eyes on him. He picked her up, and she lowered her head to his shoulder.
“Nine months old,” Linda agreed. “You have my word.”
Eija stood, hands shaking slightly, and walked off to the nursery. As though he’d been right on her heels, Dom’s presence shadowed her from behind.
“Eija, you okay?”
She moved about the room but couldn’t focus.
“You don’t have to go.”
“Your friends,” she stopped, faced him, “what all do they do?”
“It would be easier to tell you what they don’t.”
“Which is?”
“Give up.”
Her tongue moved over her lips, and stinging in the middle of the bottom lip was the only telltale sign she’d been nibbling on them at some point.
“One of them, I helped out not too long ago,” Dom explained. “I took care of his pregnant wife while he was…detained.”
“Incarcer
ated?”
“More like abducted. They have a baby. A son. He’s older than Shi by about eight months or so, but she’ll be okay with them. If she goes with them.”
“Sending Shiloh to stay with your friends is me protecting my daughter,” Eija said. Recited. She needed to hear it as much as she needed to say it. “Me coming with you is me protecting her father. Dom,” she wrapped her fingers around his cast, “I heard what you said in Moscow just before we got separated. You’re important to me too.”
He squinted one eye. “I don’t recall saying that in Moscow. I’m pretty sure I used different words.”
“Dom,” she let a few breaths pass, waited for her heartbeat to calm down, “there’s something about you. Something about me when I’m with you. That something makes me understand all the sappy love songs and poems and romantic comedies, and it’s been that way since that very first date. You say you want to be in mine and Shiloh’s life? Well, I want you in our lives too. I want, when all of this is over, to go with you to that tropical paradise with Rihanna.”
A smile spread across his face. “You’d share me with Rihanna?”
“Get it right. I’d share Rihanna with you.”
“Ah. Of course.”
“Do you understand?” she asked. “I did my best, but I hope what you heard, through all of that fumbling, is that I love you. Jesus, I love you, Dominik.”
When she’d imagined using those words for the first time, she’d pictured a sword going through her chest. Drowning. A major explosion tearing her to bits. Strangely, it was all of that, but as soon as the sensation eased, she wanted it back.
His smile grew. “I did.”
“If, after a month, there’s nothing, I’ll exit the op.”
“And I’ll come join you when I’m done.”
“Even if you can’t—”
“I will.”
She folded her fingers into fists and pressed them into her hips, avoiding his eyes. Sometimes, like now, he spoke to her through his eyes, and what they said was far more than she could ever articulate.
“Okay, then. Come on, Shi. Let Mommy and Daddy help you pack.”
Prince of the Brotherhood: A Mafia Romance Page 22