REGENCY: Loved by the Duke (Historical Billionaire Military Romance) (19th Century Victorian Short Stories)

by Tencia Winters

  She nodded, pretending that she had not noticed. “So what happened? I’m sure you must have launched an investigation.”

  He wiped the tear from under his eye and continued. “The police investigated, of course, but the killer was never found. But an investigation turned up something interesting.”

  “What was it?”

  “The bullet that killed Lada was fired from a weapon that they could not identify. They found the bullet casing on the roof of a building nearly a block away. The impact of the hammer on the bullet casing left a distinctive mark… one that I had seen before.”

  The truth occurred to her without the need for heavy thinking and she gave it a voice. “It belonged to one of your military contracts.”

  “From a new rifle, though there were several different models of it in production, they all utilized the same hammer mechanism that left an easily identifiable mark. The difficulty was that the rifles in production that used this technology belonged to six different companies. But without the actual weapon – and because there was no forensic precedent for its use – the federal police had to close the investigation.”

  Regina knew the outcome without Alexi needing to speak to it. Too many possible suspects… too many people who could have made the shot since it was amateur… and without anyone to question there was no way to pin the crime on any one particular company or person. Too much spade work and not enough people who might care to get the job done.

  She felt her sympathy expanding for her client. “Did they try again?”

  Alexi was silent a moment before pouring himself another glass of vodka and draining half of it down his throat before answering. “They did not,” he said plainly. He looked at his half-empty glass. “At times I wonder if perhaps Lada was truly the target and not I. The thought makes me… furious.”

  She felt her lips becoming dry and she licked them nervously. There was still the question that begged asking. “So… the money you swindled?”

  “It all came from the companies and contractors that I worked with… the same that did not provide their funding to Lada’s civil projects.” His eyes turned hateful for a moment but the look soon passed, “The same companies that could have manufactured the rifle that shot my wife.” He drank the last of the contents of his glass. “I decided that if the police could not provide me with justice, I would find my own. So, rather than see their completed military projects I diverted their money to complete roads, schools, community centers… everything that Lada was trying to build. And I felt content with that… if I could not strangle the man who took my wife… or the man who gave that order.”

  Regina was uncertain if she admired this man for what he had done or if she was afraid of him for it. Men that had been motivated by murder could often enough be compelled to commit the crime themselves. True, it was a non-violent crime that he committed but she’d heard of men of peace become stone-fisted at the first opportunity. Those that did would sometimes not distinguish between the ones that they hunted and the ones that got in their way.

  What he had committed was, in most courts, a crime of passion. Money could always be replaced but unless the opposite party was willing to take that reparation and leave it at that, it was a matter that was never settled quietly.

  She returned back to what she knew about the case at hand. “And they didn’t look kindly on your efforts over there? Motivated by family love and all of that to seek justice for your wife?”

  His face became grave. “Despite my doubts, all accounts support the theory that the bullet was meant to kill me. Lada was not prominent in her circles, not even for being my wife. She was – pardon me for saying – a no one. There was no reason for her to be murdered… nobody stood to gain anything from it. If they assassinated me on the other hand…” Alexi said, his voice again faltering before he corrected himself. “Lada saved my life… but at the cost of her own. I tried to fight for the case in Russia, but considering that my legal pursuits would have set back numerous government contracts that were depending on the development of those new weapons, the case was dismissed for the greater good.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “I mean no disrespect, but that sounds like a very communist way of doing things.”

  Alexi smirked. “We have a government much like your own, Regina… that does not mean that the old aristocracy disappeared in a day. Those with money and influence were able to survive, like cockroaches. And their ways of getting what they wanted survived as well, they are just as viable now as they were fifty years ago. A few words whispered in the right ears could carry a man with no legs up mountains in my country.”

  She wanted to say that the concept was unfamiliar to her but couldn’t manage it. She had been at her job long enough to know that a man who was well connected, both socially and politically, could make whole countries and then burn them to warm their hands if they felt the need. And all the while they wouldn’t so much as get singed for it. A rich man could find avenues that would protect him from justice… even from other rich men.

  “So when you took their money you were already over here?”

  He nodded. “I arranged it with my business managers that it would happen this way. This way the blame would rest firmly upon me and not upon them, not that the prosecution – Abram – would see it any differently. He blamed me for Lada’s death, claiming that I should have built an iron castle around her to protect his only daughter.” He refilled his glass with the last of the vodka in the bottle and sipped it.

  “I take it she didn’t care to be locked up?”

  Alexi almost smiled. “She had told me when I first met her that she didn’t care to be locked up like a dog in cage or protected like some priceless jewel. She had told me that she had legs to carry her to other places and eyes to see things other than high walls. Our house was no a luxury palace, but a simple home. We had Yuri, we had a security system, and a small detail of guards and that was enough. She insisted that we have nothing extraneous for our security… she had been surrounded by that her whole life as a child. She was tired of such living.”

  He took another swig of vodka.

  “Abram of course tried to build a case against me for being careless. And once the charges against me came down back home I knew that the tenacity that he would come after me with would be as determined as a starving man for a roast boar dinner. And I knew would be the only thing that could give me a fighting chance would be the treaties of extradition so long as they fell under reasonable doubt.”

  She nodded. As long as he wasn’t actually being accused of murdering someone of prominence, technicalities could enter into his defense, and since his troubles were business-related then the charges against him wouldn’t be viewed as so bad that the Russians could just send him back without a word and ignore the extradition treaties. He was in America when the money went missing, your honor. How could it have been him?

  It was a simple move. Simple, but effective.

  “So that’s your defense,” she said, seeing the plan that had formed in his head. “You actually did do the things they say… but by being here – at the embassy – and by not trying to run, you make yourself look innocent and cast reasonable doubt.”

  He saluted her with his glass, “Highest marks to you, Regina.”

  “That still leaves us with the trouble of having to prove that you’re innocent.”

  Alexi looked indifferent for a moment. “I had hoped we would have time to plan, Regina. But it seems, fate has chosen to waylay us both. But if I were to guess, it is not necessary to prove my innocence. We simply need to give them the same kind of doubt as they gave me when on the hunt for Lada’s killer.”

  She rolled that around in her mind. “It would help if I knew everything that Abram knows about what’s going on.”

  “You may yet have the opportunity,” Alexi said, sipping his drink.

  “Oh?”

  “Abram represents people who are impatient for a great many things. The old aristocracy t
hat I mentioned, they are not accustomed to having to wait for anything. They will press Abram, even now perhaps, to reach a climax that is in their favor. Abram will, most likely, speak to you and attempt to sway you to his side of things. At this point – if your reputation is true – you may learn something you did not suspect.”

  He drank the last of his vodka.

  Chapter 7

  Regina lay in her bed, staring at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was nearly 2 AM and she hadn’t found the effort in herself to sleep. Her mind was teaming with thoughts and ideas, like it usually did when she was confused or uncertain about something case related. But for the moment, the case was the last thing on her mind.

  Alexi… she thought as a girlish smile touched her face.

  Despite the fear she had felt earlier there was something pleasing about him. A part of her mind, which she had always attributed as ‘the lizard brain’ told her to stay away. Instinct warned her that Alexi was as dangerous as a volcano on the verge of eruption and it was therefore wise to keep her distance. People visit active volcanos all the time and don’t get burned, she thought ruefully. Yes, there was something about being in his presence that made her feel like she was getting too close to the edge of that volcano, staring at a bubbling pool of magma that could overflow at any moment. And yet, there was something about him that called to her.

  She felt like flotsam drifting aimlessly on a wide sea that was suddenly being drawn in by a whirlpool. She could see the danger ahead but it felt like there was nothing she could do about it… maybe she didn’t want to do anything about it. She couldn’t control the feelings she was having any more than a bird could control the winds that it flew on. Everything was just… happening.

  Why? She had asked herself that same question ever since she had been shown to her room since dinner ended. This was insane… it was downright laughable. She couldn’t begin to wrap her mind around what was happening.

  She had met attractive men before and numerous times. Some she was attracted to for their prowess, they had been athletes of one variety or another. One or two she had been attracted to outright because of their intellect if not for their physical presence. There had even been one that she had been attracted to for his wealth. But she had never – never – been so attracted to a man like this before; and it wasn’t for his wealth or his appearance… it was something else.

  It was because he was dangerous.

  She thought on that for a few moments. Alexi was an ex-Spetsnaz, so clearly he was dangerous. He was handsome and he was rich; a triple threat. Yet, after listening to him at dinner, he had a softer side. There was something that was unusual about him that way, a rare combination on a rare man.

  It was odd. She had always prided herself on being able to control her environment and those that were in it, much like how Carver controlled his office. People were of course harder to control, but if she could assert some kind of dominance over her surroundings then she could at least control the people that she was associated with.

  Not this time. This time was different. This time she was hardly the one in control. It was she that was being controlled and not vice versa. And somehow, she felt comfortable with that.

  She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling of her room. It wasn’t as luxurious a place as she had thought it would be. Embassies weren’t built for the comfort of prisoners – or detainees – or for those that might be working for them. But she had the basics: a bed, a wardrobe, a chair, and a private bathroom. She had been content with less when on the job.

  She tried to focus on the case. The preliminaries were done and tomorrow – today – would be the main event. And she still had no idea how she was going to get her client out of his current predicament. International law was always difficult in that certain countries had unilaterally agreed to certain give-and-take when it came to domestic laws vs. foreign laws. Russian laws could extradite Alexi if Utkin decided to see it that way, but American laws could exonerate him easily enough if she just had more data to work with.

  Can’t make bricks without clay, she thought, rubbing her forehead.

  She knew what Abram’s game play would be, but that didn’t add up to knowing his overall game plan. International law didn’t always require full disclosure and from what Alexi had told her there wouldn’t be any. It would come down to a war of arguments, basically. It would be the reasons why she believed that Alexi was innocent vs. the reasons that Abram thought he was guilty.

  Come on! These are Russians! They don’t do anything piecemeal! That was certainly true. Given everything that was at stake back in the Motherland then this certain to be a packed court against Alexi. Abram might have something up his sleeve that she couldn’t talk her way around. And without access to his files or any other kind of documentation, then her chances of finding a loophole to exploit were looking pretty slim. And there was always the chance that the judge had been put on the take. That was also the Russian way when big business was involved.

  That’s the American way too though, isn’t it?

  She didn’t know Utkin but from what she had seen he didn’t strike her as the kind of man that could be bribed. The Russian Federation might have been built on the ashes of an old system where favors were the normal currency of government, but even so that didn’t automatically condemn all of the people in power. She didn’t follow Russian politics very closely except where a case was involved, but she knew that there were a few politicos over there that were being politically shamed because they refused to go along with the old way.

  Unless Utkin is one of them then the odds are not so great.

  She sighed and blew out a puff of air. She was no closer to solving her problems than she had been when the initial hearing had been concluded today. She couldn’t talk to Abram… she couldn’t look at any files… she was shooting both from the hip and shooting blind. Not a good strategy.

  Carver said this would be interesting…

  Her thoughts were distracted when her door cracked open and a lance of soft yellow light crossed through the darkness of her room, shining into her eyes. Light from the hallway outside spilled in before it was cut by the figure that pushed her door open and entered silently into her room. Her breath was stolen away once more as she saw the familiar shape of Alexi standing there in her door.

  He was dressed only in what looked like a pair of sleeping trousers while the rest of him was pleasantly bare. The light that silhouetted him from behind seemed to almost be hugging his features and asinine as it seemed, she envied the light for being able to caress him like that. His shape was just as she had imagined it, full of muscle that looked like it supported a healthy shape of a man. His torso was so handsomely made that it was begging to be touched and she felt her hands ready to volunteer for that service if only he would ask.

  In his hand she noticed that he held another bottle of vodka, this one drained only of a fourth of its contents, but the manner in which he moved did not suggest he was inebriated. She felt a sudden flutter in her belly, though if it was a feeling of excitement or dread, she was uncertain.

  “Alexi?” she asked, sitting up on her mattress and holding up one hand to shield her eyes against the light from outside. “What’s wrong?”

  The hulking figure stepped into her room and gently closed the door behind him, enveloping them once more in darkness. Her heart rate began to accelerate with an equal mix of fear and excitement. Regina had not been alone with a man in some time and a flurry of feelings began to swirl within her. In the back of her mind her keener senses advised her that she had to keep her relationship with Alexi strictly professional. Another part of her mind was screaming to seize the opportunity of a lifetime.

  Alexi came closer to her, his feet barely making a sound on the carpeted floor. With the door shut her eyes began to adjust to the darkness again. She could make out his features just enough from the moonlight outside her window to see that his dark brown eyes were fixed on her.
>
  “I’m sorry to bother you,” Alexi said, his voice soft.

  She noted that he didn’t sound drunk. “I wasn’t asleep. Is everything alright?”

  He sat down on the mattress beside her. Her heart took another leap forward, threatening to climb up her throat with excitement as fear began to dwindle away.

  “I… I was thinking of Lada.”

  Her excitement began to fade and disappointment replaced it. “Oh? Are you alright?” she asked sympathetically.

  He shook his head. “No… I… I need you.”

  The words plucked a nerve like a guitar string within her. “Me?”

  He looked up at her and his gaze seemed to reach right through her. It was as if some magical and invisible hand reached out through his eyes into hers and clutched at her very heart. He looked innocent through such a gaze… even childlike.

  “I was thinking of Lada… and I realized… something.” He paused, his eyes seemed to be searching the darkness between them as if the answer hung in the very air. “I realized… I don’t want to think of Lada. Not anymore.”

  Regina froze, unable to speak or move as a glimmer of hope began to light up the darkness around her.

  Alexi took a small sip from his bottle. “I spent years trying to unravel the mystery of her death. It was all I thought about.” He looked at her uncertainly, as though his words were gibberish even to him. “It occurred to me… I was keeping her locked up. Or at least, I was keeping her memory locked up inside of me.” He looked at her, his eyes seeking for benediction of his words. “I don’t think she would have wanted that. Does that make sense or am I speaking as a mad man?”

  She felt a small tug at her heart strings for it. His realization had come too late perhaps, but at least it had come. “No…” she said, her voice matching his in softness. “I think she would be proud of you for realizing that.”