“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.
“I don’t have to do anything.” He waved her over. “Come…come. Sit by me.”
With a lazy smile, she walked across the room and sat beside him. Even at six feet tall, she felt amazingly little beside his large frame.
Slumped over, Dmitry reached over and rubbed her back. “Thank you,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I know that last night must not have been easy for you,” he said in gruff voice. “But I appreciate you, and your willingness to be with me.”
Elsa blushed. “Last night was the easiest night of my life. Being with you was mind blowing, Dmitry.”
A smile tugged at Dmitry’s lips. “Well, good, da.” He turned to her. Heat rushed through his body again and raised his manhood up between his legs.
She looked down in amazement. It was even bigger in the daylight.
He did not try to hide; instead, he took her hand and softly moved it to his lap. “Maybe we can go back to the way things were tomorrow,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “What’s the rush?”
“There is no rush,” she said sincerely. “I don’t want there to be one, at least.”
Dmitry pulled her hair out of the knot on top of her head and let it fall past her shoulders. “I just can’t get over how beautiful you are,” he whispered before he picked her up.
Leaning back on the headboard, Dmitry and Elsa made love again for the eighth time.
***
Dorian could barely pray. Getting up from the corner near his window, he stood up and groaned. Arie was at it again. When he had first awakened that morning, he had gone to her room to check on her and found it empty. He didn’t even bother to look for her, knowing that she was with Ivan. He just didn’t understand why she wouldn’t take heed to his warning of these men. They were supposed to work for those who sought to upset the government and the status quo, not lay with them.
Showered and dress, Dorian and the rest of his team trekked over to main house to meet with Dmitry in his study to begin operations. The sun beamed down on them over clear blue skies and dew rested on top of the green lawn. As the birds chirped and the grounds crew worked, it seemed like a perfect way to start a good day from the outside.
From the inside of their small group, however, there was another feeling. They all walked quietly, knowing that their boss was livid over Arie. He brooded quietly, giving dark stares into each room as they made their way through the dim hallways of the castle past the workers, hoping half-heartedly to catch a glimpse of Ivan and Arie in a forbidden embrace so that he could lash out.
Both of the other men hoped that some kind of peace could be made without a full blown disagreement. They needed the money that the Medlov’s were paying, and no one wanted this connection to be severed over his troubled little sister. However, none of them would dare say a word, because they knew how much Dorian loved his half-sister and how protective he was over her, despite her many indiscretions.
As they arrived at the study, Davyd was there waiting and eating breakfast while watching the news. He greeted them, completely unaware of Dorian’s current state of mind. “We’ll begin when Dmitry arrives,” Davyd explained, offering them seats.
“Have you seen Arie?” Dorian asked, walking to the window. He looked out over the tranquil landscape blankly.
Davyd looked up from his runny eggs and put down his fork. It clanged against the expensive china. “No, I have not seen her,” he said, instantly thinking of Ivan. “Maybe she ran errand,” Davyd suggested.
“Or maybe she is with your boss,” Dorian said, turning around.
“I doubt she would be with Dmitry,” Davyd said abruptly. “But if she is, it is not my business.” He sucked his teeth. “And it’s not yours either.”
“I’m not talking about Dmitry, but regardless of who she is with, it is my business.”
“Your sister is a grown woman. Is she not?” Davyd asked.
Dorian did not answer.
Davyd continued, “Well, if she is a grown woman, then wherever she is, I am sure that she is fine. However, if you feel the need to question our employer when he arrives, feel free to do so at your own risk.”
Dorian did not back down. “I will do just that,” he said with a stone face.
Minutes later, the door opened and in walked Arie and Ivan together, talking under their breath and laughing. Arie still had on the clothes that she had worn the day before, while Ivan had obviously showered and changed. Dorian instantly took offense to the overt disrespect of his sister. It was bad enough that everyone had an idea, but now there was no question of what had happened.
“Is this how you do business?” Dorian asked, now seeing red.
Ivan with a smug smile chuckled. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He clenched his wide jaw.
“You mean to tell me that you haven’t defiled her?” Dorian asked angrily.
Ivan looked at Dorian and wiped his mouth. “Quite the opposite,” Ivan answered. “She defiled me.” He laughed again and looked over at Davyd, who shook his head disapprovingly.
Arie snickered and looked over at her brother. “It’s none of your business, Dorian,” she snapped. “Stay out of it.”
“Stay out of what, you being a whore?” Dorian asked, walking up to her.
“A whore according to you?” she asked, not backing down. “Fuck you.”
No one saw Dorian’s hand, but it quickly swung towards her face, knocking her down. “A whore according to our faith, to our laws, to us,” he said, angrily.
Ivan stopped smiling. “Do you want me to step in? Speak now before I make up my own mind and fuck him up for good,” Ivan said to Arie in a growl. He knew all too well about sibling fights regardless of how they looked from the outside. Plus, Arie was supposed to be an assassin. If she couldn’t take a baby slap from her big brother then it was best that they all find out now.
Arie spit on the floor and stood up. “The next time that you raise your hand to me over my choices, I promise you, I’ll cut that hand off. I swear it on my mother’s grave and on my own soul,” she said, foaming at the mouth.
Ivan raised his finger like a child in a school room. “I think she means it,” he said, laughing and turning to Davyd. “Where’s Dmitry, so we can get this show on the road?”
“He’s not here yet,” Davyd said, going back to eating his food.
“Well, should someone go and get him?” Ivan asked impatiently. “Shit, we don’t have all day.”
Davyd sighed. “You have as long as it takes for him to arrive,” he said, without raising his voice or taking his eyes off the television.
Thirty minutes later, Dmitry entered the study fully dressed. In jeans and sweater, he breezed past the group to his chair and sat down. Unfolding his newspaper, he looked around at each of them and clenched his jaw.
“What has happened?” he asked.
“Nothing to worry yourself with,” Davyd answered.
Dmitry looked over at his brother and knew instantly it had something to do with him. “We are not moving forward with our plans until I find out what the hell is going on in my camp. Nothing goes on without my knowledge,” he said in a raised voice. The veins in his neck began to protrude. “So, I’ll ask again, what the fuck has happened?”
Davyd spoke first, feeling an obligation as the true underboss. “Arie and Ivan were together last night. Dorian felt the act offended his family name and slapped her.”
Dmitry’s nostrils flared. “We don’t slap women, regardless of their choices,” he said, looking at Dorian. “She’s a grown woman. As far as I am concerned, her sex life is her own.”
“She’s behaving like a whore, and I won’t have it,” Dorian said in a stern voice. He eyed Dmitry.
“Very well,” Dmitry answered, pushing his newspaper away. “Then send her ass away. But in the meantime, don’t forget who you’re talking to, sister or not. I am boss. If I have to prove my title, it will be in blood.”
No
one was expecting that. Ivan seemed more concerned now. However, Dorian gave the idea some thought to sending his sister away.
“Don’t I have a say in the matter?” Arie asked Dmitry.
“Well, of course you do.” Dmitry eyed Elsa as she quietly walked in and took a seat across the room in the corner.
“Don’t sit over there. Sit over here by me,” Dmitry said, waving at her. His voice was softer now.
Everyone’s attention soon turned to Elsa, who was dressed in a perfect black suit with her hair pulled from her long, defined face. It was her gaze that gave her away and his own on her. He seemed to forget everyone else in the room. A wave of calm swept through the study.
Elsa got up and walked past Arie and Dorian to the chair and sat down beside Davyd. Her sweet cologne filled the room again, much to Dmitry’s delight. Nodding at him as she sat, she pulled out her notebook and a pen and prepared to take notes.
“You should take a note yourself, Arie,” Dorian said of Elsa. “Maybe she could teach you how to have a little more respect for yourself.”
“If you don’t think that Dmitry hasn’t fucked her six ways from Friday, you have lost your mind,” Ivan said angrily.
Dmitry instantly lost his cool. His large fist hit the table. “Apologize right now, or I’ll have your fucking tongue,” he demanded. Standing up, he pulled the knife from his drawer.
Ivan smiled. “So, it’s okay to talk about everyone else’s business, but not your own. Is that about right, brat?”
“That’s exactly right…brat,” Dmitry said, holding the knife tighter with the blade extended out away from him. With his thumb pressed down on the back of the steel, he waited.
Ivan calculated his chances of getting away from his brother and finally conceded. “Forgive me for my outburst, Elsa,” he said condescendingly.
Arie deflated instantly. Dmitry’s harsh words and Ivan’s defeat was worse than any slap to the face.
Elsa finally stopped holding her breath and turned to nod at Ivan. “All is forgiven,” she said, under her breath. As she turned back to Dmitry, she caught a glimpse of the dirty stare Arie gave her.
Dmitry’s chest began to fall as he exhaled. Sitting back down, he looked at Dorian. “She is your problem, not mind. I keep my house in order even with its chaotic residents. Send her away if you like. I don’t care. Just make sure that you have someone trustworthy to replace her today.”
Dorian looked over at Ivan in his humility and instantly felt better. “I think that she’ll be fine,” he said, sitting down.
“Very well. Let’s get started,” Dmitry said, moving forward with the meeting. “We’ll get Elsa’s part out of the way, and she can get to the office. Then, we can move on with the other business at hand.”
Davyd chuckled under his breath at Dmitry. The boy was young, but there was never a moment that he was not in control. He looked over his shoulder to see Ivan watching him with a deadly scowl, but he was used to that. It was good as far as he was concerned that Dmitry put the young idiot and his harlot in their places.
***
Oscar Brenneman decided on a full breakfast this morning with eggs and toast, bacon and fruit and coffee and juice in celebration of silent victory. Sitting in the sun room of his mansion, he turned on the television and waited for the news to report a massacre at the Medlov manor.
The tailor would be arriving soon with a special delivery for Dmitry Medlov. If he thought that he could simply walk away from yesterday with everything, he was sorely mistaken. And he had forewarned him of what he was possible of in advance. It was the boy’s fault for not taking heed to his words. It had been more than a gift to tell him to sleep with one eye open. Swift and just action is what he had told the tailor to provide, in the name of English wealth and English men. It would be a cold day in hell before a ratty Russian came in and had his way with the men of Hutton Industries.
All the men who had stood with him on the left side of the boardroom had pitched in for the hit. And they were using someone that they had trusted in the past. The tailor was unorthodox but highly effective. This would be over as fast as it began.
***
“One last thing to note,” Davyd said before Elsa left the meeting. “Khalid has agreed on a meeting, but he’s only available this afternoon at three. He will meet you at Hutton Industries. This is your chance, Dmitry. We’ll need Elsa to make sure that the meeting is on the schedule and highly guarded.”
“Elsa?” Dmitry asked, writing something on his trusty notepad.
“Yes, sir,” she said, writing away. “I’ll make sure that everything is arranged. Simply call if things should change.”
Dmitry nodded. “Well, Elsa, you had better get to office. The driver is waiting for you outside.” He looked up and winked at her. “Have a good day.”
Elsa stood up and gathered her things then made her way out of the study with the butler following closely behind her.
Dmitry looked at Dorian. “This is where you show me why I’m paying you the kind of money that I’m paying you.”
“You told us that there was a meeting still on schedule for the board members in Prague at your offices there. Is that correct?” Dorian asked, sitting in Elsa’s seat.
“It is,” Dmitry said curiously. “It was the one meeting that the men didn’t take off the books after yesterday’s meeting. I’m guessing that there is something that is going to be very lucrative there.”
“Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t take that flight. They will be taking the company’s large jet, right?”
“Yes. Elsa checked, and the pilot is still scheduled to make the run with the company’s G4.”
“That will be where my little creation will be planted. It will detonate two hours after takeoff at an altitude that will destroy any evidence. Not even the black box will be located.” Dorian gave a small grin. “I’ve used it before. It’s very, very effective. My team and I will make sure that it is attached an hour before takeoff. We’ve already secured through Davyd the company passes we need to get on the airport facility.”
Dmitry looked over at Davyd. “This is how we commit a massacre without being detected,” he said smiling. “What about any stragglers…people who might not get on the plane at the last minute?”
“That is what Arie is for. She is in charge of wet work. We will have eyes on all of them, between the four of us, and we will know who gets on the plane and who does not. Those who do not get on the plane will be dead by nightfall and never found again. The log will show that they boarded the plane with the rest of the men.”
“All except Brenneman,” Dmitry said, opening the file that he was given by the private eye on the tailor the day before. “We have to make sure that he never makes that flight. He’s mine. I want him.”
“Understood,” Dorian said, shaking his head.
***
As Elsa arrived with the butler at the front door, a man was preparing to ring the doorbell. The butler opened the large, antique doors and escorted Elsa out to the Bentley waiting for her. “I’ll be with you in just one moment, sir,” he said to the stranger. “Although from now on, deliveries are made through the back door.”
The stranger nodded.
“Have a good day, madam,” the butler said to Elsa as the chauffeur opened her door.
“You do the same,” she yelled, waving as the door closed.
The butler took his attention off Elsa as she was driven around the circular driveway and returned to the stranger with a smile. “Now, how can I help you, sir?” he asked with his hand clasped together.
“Yes, I’m here for Mr. Medlov. I was sent by Hutton Industries to suit him for the black tie gala this weekend,” the man explained cheerfully. He stuck out the tuxedo bag for the butler to inspect. “We must make our new president as dashing as ever.”
“I see,” the butler said, noting the tuxedo that he carried with him, draped over his arms and hands. “It is on the calendar for this weekend. How I do love galas.”<
br />
“This season keeps me in business. It will only take a minute, if Mr. Medlov is available. I just need a few measurements to make sure that it is perfect. I’ve already fitted Mr. Emerson, just this morning.”
The butler was most familiar with the board after their many trips to the manor over the years, especially Mr. Emerson, who had grown up with Catherine as a child. He nodded in approval, happy to be around someone who was fondly familiar of Lady Catherine’s old chums.
“Well, I am definitely overstepping my boundaries by saying this, but Mr. Medlov is normally flexible with the help. He’s actually in his study in a meeting, but if you would just give me your name, I’ll interrupt to find out if he can see you after,” the butler said, letting his guard down.
The Chronicles of Young Dmitry Medlov: Book One Page 21