The doctor motioned her to follow him with a twitch of his hand in the direction of the door. She wanted to apologize for the unsteadiness in his strides, but it probably wouldn’t have sounded convincing. She honestly couldn’t care less if he was terrified so long as he kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t like he was hurt.
“I will join you.” John Paul stalked after them.
Ava paused on the threshold and glanced back, not entirely sure why until her gaze met Dimitri’s. His tawny eyes soothed her like no sedative ever could. His beautiful face was painted in the late strokes of sunlight filtering through the window and she marveled how someone so damaged could still look like a fallen angel. She wanted to go to him and ask for another one of those kisses; her lips wouldn’t stop pulsing with the anticipation, but she didn’t dare. Not yet. Not until they’d talked and she had a better view of the ledge she stood on.
“I will be here when you return,” he assured her, mistaking her hesitance for fear of him leaving.
She only nodded. It was all she could ask for really.
She turned and followed John Paul and the doctor from the room. The three of them walked across to the nurse’s station and crowded the hassled brunette on the other side.
The doctor—Allen—rattled off a series of forms and tests he needed scheduled faster than Ava could memorize them. The nurse rapped at the computer keys, logging it all in without batting an eyelash. She must have been used to it, getting barked at by doctors and patients alike. Ava felt a pang of sympathy for her. At Chaud, Melanie had the same sort of policy where her editors and writers were concerned, so Ava was very familiar with the nurse’s suffering.
She turned away before her exhaustion broke the lock she had on her tongue. Her gaze flicked to a nearby chair, a stiff looking thing with cracked leather spilling yellow foam and steel rods for the frame. It was pushed into a corner, away from the others and all Ava wanted was to curl up in it and sleep. She could already imagine it, her knees drawn to her chest, her head propped against the wall. It wasn’t a bed, but it was perfect. She could make it work. Just for a few hours.
“Ava?” John Paul touched her arm lightly and she gave a startled twitch that she immediately regretted when his eyes narrowed.
“I’m okay,” she said, putting all her efforts into not letting her eyes slip shut. “Just really tired.”
He nodded like that made sense. “The shock’s wearing off.” He stroked her head gently, pushing back locks of hair. “It’ll be over quickly. Then I’ll take you home where you can rest.”
Rest. God, that was the most beautiful word in the human language. All she wanted was to rest, to crawl into a real bed with real pillows and sleep.
“Dad?”
“Yes darling?”
“Thank you for keeping Robby safe and for being there for him. I should have thanked you sooner. I’m sorry.”
His features softened, making him appear younger, despite the weariness around his eyes and the slight downward tilt of his mouth. The hardness in his shoulders relaxed and he peered down at her with so much love it was almost painful to look directly into.
“He’s a good man,” he said. “What happened to him was the result of his loyalties. His loyalties to you. I won’t punish him for that.”
There were so many things she wanted to ask about that night, about the night Robby OD’d, about what would happen now. Would Ki stay until the day Robby was too old to hold a syringe? Would Elena ever be caught? Would anything be normal ever again?
She surveyed the waiting area on the other side of the oval nurse’s station. Her gaze shifted over weary faces, men, women, and the occasional child, compacted into unforgiving seats, waiting for someone to make them feel better. There was no cheer in the room. No photos on the walls, no toys for the children, no books. There were a few medical magazines tossed haphazardly on an end table, but no one seemed to be touching those.
Ava exhaled, the sound heavy, drifting out of her lungs and into the stifling stink of human illness. She turned her head away, searching for Robby. He wasn’t there. She guessed he’d gone to get coffee. At least, she hoped; no one was safe until Elena was caught and that infuriated her.
The people she loved, those who meant the world to her, were in danger because of some crazy woman hell bent on … what? What could she possibly be after? John Paul said him, but why? It was madness.
“Ava?”
She blinked and focused on John Paul. “Just wondering where Robby went.”
He seemed to realize the other man was missing as well and narrowed his eyes. He didn’t exactly seem concerned, but he hummed quietly in contemplation.
“Do you think he’s all right?” she wondered.
He nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought. “Yes, of course. Ki is with him.” He glanced at his watch. “I need to make a call.” His brown eyes focused on her. “Can you stay here for a minute. I won’t go far. Just there.” He gestured to a corner not more than ten feet away.
Ava nodded. She watched as he left her, hand digging into his pockets. She glanced at the doctor, still half bent over the counter, directing the nurse to the battery of tests he was about to put Ava through.
She was listening with half an ear when she felt hands on her hips. The contact sent a jolt through her. She jumped and snapped her head around.
Dimitri peered down at her while the strength of his chest lined up perfectly with the length of her spine. Being that close to him after so long was nothing compared to the sensation of his public displays of affection. She wasn’t sure how to accept them or how to react. All the places he touched, every subtle graze of his breath along the curve of her neck, lulled her to submit, to lean into the embrace. But there were too many eyes and she wasn’t used to the attention, even if no one was actually looking their way.
“Okay?”
She nodded and glanced at the doctor. He seemed oblivious to everything but getting things in order. The nurse was focused on her screen. John Paul was on his phone and no one else was around.
She tilted her head back to peer into Dimitri’s face. “Why did you tell the police the truth? You could have gotten in so much trouble.”
“Because lying is worse.”
“What’s going to happen now?”
He lowered his chin to the side of her head. “The matter will be dropped. There’s nothing the police can do anyway. This is a matter for the Syndicate.”
A chill passed through her and she shuddered violently. It caught her completely by surprise.
“What is it?” Dimitri’s fingers dug a little harder into her hips.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Nothing, I think. Just a shiver.” She licked her lips. “Are you leaving now?”
“Not right now.” There was still an edge to his voice as he continued to study her face, searching for signs of discomfort. “I have some matters that require my attention, but you will not be left unattended. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Dimitri, I—”
The doctor finished then and turned to them. Whatever she was about to say died on her lips as she caught sight of the massive folder clutched between both hands.
“Is that everything we’ll be doing?”
He also peered down at it, expression resigned as he heaved a sigh and nodded. “The sooner we begin…”
Ava’s jaw dropped. “Will I ever be leaving?”
The doctor chuckled. “Not for a bit.”
“But I…” She glanced helplessly towards Dimitri.
He kissed her. It was quick. She barely had time to realize it was happening before he pulled back.
“This is important,” he told her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He’d said that before. It must have shown on her face because his softened.
“I swear it,” he said quietly. “I won’t ever be that stupid again.”
She had to believe him, didn’t she? Well, she would, once they’d talked. Whenever that happened. For now, she could only accept
his word at face value and do what needed to be done.
“Okay,” she said to the doctor. “I’ll follow you.”
John Paul arrived then, hands busy stowing his phone away. He peered at Dimitri, his hands on Ava’s waist, then Ava, and finally settled on the doctor.
“Are we ready?”
The doctor held up the bulging file.
“Excellent.” John Paul turned his head to Ava. “Why are we still here?”
“We were just about to go,” she started to say.
Dimitri interjected. “I have some matters that require my immediate attention. I won’t be—”
“More important than Ava?” John Paul broke in, expression thunderous.
“Dad!”
Dimitri never balked. “It’s for Ava.”
Golden eyes clashed as the two squared off. Dimitri lowered his face, kissed the side of Ava’s head before straightening and letting his hands slip off her.
“I won’t be long,” he said to Ava, but stared fiercely at John Paul.
He walked off, leaving Ava and John Paul staring after him. He passed the room Ava had been in and Penny quickly sprinted after him, her heels cracking all the way down the corridor until it was gone entirely.
Ava wondered about the blonde. Not out of jealousy or paranoia. Not entirely, she wanted to think. It was curiosity, she told herself. No one could blame her for that. She had no hold on Dimitri. He was a free man who could do what he wanted, see who he wanted. She’d had her own fair share of dates and relationships over the years. She never expected him to live like a saint. But did he need to find someone so pretty to follow him around?
“Ava?” The brush of John Paul’s fingers on her elbow broke her out of her thoughts. She blinked and focused on the task at hand.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dimitri hated paisley wallpaper. There was something about walking down a long, dimly lit corridor surrounded by the dizzying pattern that made his stomach woozy. It didn’t help that someone had lined the carpet with the same design, leaving him no choice but to grit his teeth and stomp through it.
“How much further?”
Surprisingly quick in her pumps, Penny kept perfect stride with him. The pale glow of her phone screen illuminated her furrowed brows and her focused concentration as she went over her notes.
“Yes sir.”
Her tone was distracted. Her lips were pursed thin in displeasure. She muttered something as her thumbs flew over the screen.
“Something wrong?”
She started to shake her head, only to huff, type something, wait, and then beam in pleasure.
“Not anymore.” She stowed the phone away, smirking like a cat who ate the canary. “Had a bit of a bidding war for the building I just obtained. The other party was determined, but … I won.”
Her smug self-assurance almost made him laugh. But they’d arrived at our destination.
The door was like all the others they’d passed, narrow and painted a dull, shit brown. Three hundred and twenty was drilled into the front, the numbering a bright gold.
Penny knocked.
They waited in silence for almost a minute before the lock clicked and the door opened.
A man loomed before them, tall as he was broad with skin the color of dark espresso beans and eyes a calm, deadly black. He blocked the entire doorway with his frame and peered at them, expression a perfect, blank mask.
“Can I help you?” he asked, his tone deep and gruff.
Dimitri waited a heartbeat to see if the man would recognize him. They’d met a few times in passing, never formally, but enough to be mildly familiar.
Frank Johnson simply stared at him.
“Mr. Johnson?” Penny edged a step closer. “Frank Johnson?”
Dark eyes pivoted away from Dimitri and fixed on her. “Yes?”
Penny thrust out a small, pale hand. “I’m Penelope Beauchamp.” Frank accepted, swallowing her hand entirely with a curl of his long fingers. “I’m here with—”
“I know who he is.” Frank pulled away and focused on Dimitri once more. “What can I do for you, Mr. Tasarov?”
So, he did recognize Dimitri.
“We need a moment of your time,” Dimitri said. “It’s urgent.”
Frank didn’t move. His gaze remained rigidly pinned on Dimitri as seconds Dimitri didn’t have slipped away. But Dimitri didn’t move. He didn’t blink. He knew the game well enough to recognize a battle of wills. The man was testing him out, waiting for him to look away first. It was like playing chicken on an open highway with two semis.
“What is it you need?” Frank prompted, and it became clear he was not going to allow them into his home.
Dimitri could accept that. He wouldn’t have either.
“I’m told you’re the best at what you do, Mr. Johnson,” he said. “I would like to hire you.”
Frank’s chin rose up a notch. “I’m sorry to inform you that I’m no longer in that business.”
“I will pay you.”
Frank never budged. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not for me,” Dimitri cut in when the other man began shutting the door. “It’s for someone whose life I put in danger.” He willed his voice to remain calm, but the more he spoke, the more it threatened to betray him. “They will kill her if I don’t stop them, but I can’t if I’m constantly worried about her. I need someone who will keep her safe when I can’t.”
Seconds bled into minutes, minutes that stretched on forever. The air in the corridor held a staleness he hadn’t noticed until he was forced to stand in it, bathing in its thickness. He was aware of Penny’s gaze shifting from him to Frank and back, but he didn’t glance at her.
“I lost her once already,” he said quietly. “I almost didn’t get her back.” He met the other man’s eyes, unwavering, determined. “I can’t lose her again. Please. She’s the only important thing in my life.”
“Then let her go,” Frank said not unkindly. “That’s the only way to keep her safe.”
Dimitri shook his head. “I won’t do that. Not again.”
Frank seemed to think about it a moment, his dark gaze assessing and level. “You are aware that I failed in my previous two assignments?”
“A … actually,” Penny cut in softly. “You didn’t.” She peered at her phone, then back up at the large man watching her. “Both those things happened because you weren’t with them. Your success rate, being employed by the same family, successfully for nearly five decades speaks very highly of you.”
“My success rate.” Frank made a sound that could have passed for a scoff or a chuckle. “Both my previous employers are dead. Being there or not doesn’t change that fact.”
“Ava will be dead if I don’t protect her,” Dimitri said, a bit sharply. “She’s not part of our world. She’s innocent. It would only be until I get this matter settled.”
Frank pursed his lips. “No, I’m sorry.”
Dimitri had no recollection of moving, but his palm slammed into the door, jolting it back open when the bigger man started closing it again. He glowered at Frank, every muscle coiled.
“That is not an acceptable answer,” he bit out through stiff lips. “Your wants and needs, my wants and needs, they don’t matter. I don’t care that you’re feeling self-pity for yourself over something you had no control over. I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t care what it costs. This is about her, about keeping her safe. I need you for her and you are going to say yes, or believe me, things will end badly.”
If Frank Johnson had appeared small before, filling the entire frame of the door with his massive bulk, he seemed to grow in size, expanding and lengthening to monstrous proportions. Dimitri had a quick flash of his head getting torn off by the ham sized fists balled at the man’s sides, but he didn’t back down. He wouldn’t. If the man wanted to try and beat the shit out of him, then that was what needed to happen. Whatever it took. He wasn’t leaving until he
had this man watching Ava.
Everyone in the underground knew about Frank Johnson. Everyone wanted him. Even back when he worked for Callum McClary, then Killian. He was a legend. No one knew where he’d come from or what his background was, because he supposedly didn’t have one, but the man was lethal in a way no one ever saw coming until it was too late. That was the sort of man Dimitri needed and he would do whatever it took to make it happen.
“You’re at my home, Mr. Tasarov,” Frank said very slowly, each word reverberating with a serrated hum of danger. “Threatening me—”
“It wasn’t a threat,” Dimitri interjected. “But if that’s what it will take to get you, then fine. Just know that I’m not leaving until you agree and the longer you force me to stay here, the longer Ava is alone and in danger.”
He didn’t mention John Paul. He didn’t feel like that was necessary.
Frank stopped trying to shut the door. His eyes narrowed.
“Mr. Tasarov, you are aware that I’m armed, aren’t you?”
Dimitri didn’t so much as bat an eyelash. “So am I.”
“Sir … sirs,” Penny interjected quickly, probably foreseeing where this conversation was heading. “Maybe there’s another solution—?”
Dimitri was about to tell her that this was the only way, but it occurred to him that he couldn’t go around starting fights anymore. He couldn’t use force and strength. It was all politics and diplomacy now.
He stopped forcing. He took his hand off the wood, which seemed to take Frank by surprise.
“Penny, can you give us a moment, please?”
Penny hesitated. Her gaze jumped from Dimitri to Frank, then back anxiously. She bit her lip, but gave a reluctant nod and moved several feet away.
Dimitri waited, grouping his words carefully before speaking again.
“I apologize,” he said slowly. “It’s been a stressful few days, but I didn’t come here to butt heads with you, Mr. Johnson. I wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for the simple fact that the woman I love is in danger and I will go to any length to protect her, even arm wrestle you for it.”
A ghost of a grin twitched around Frank’s mouth before it was gone.
The Devil's Beauty (Crime Lord Interconnected Standalone Book 2) Page 34