by K. J. Dahlen
“They didn’t ruin anything for me Mom.” Levi shook his head. “I could tell you didn’t want them there and I figured when I refused their proposal, they would go away again. Then Sergi came along and that settled that, didn’t it?”
“And now we’re here.” Anita sighed. “You see his money and you can’t help but wonder why I never told him about you.”
Levi shook his head. “No that was never a thought in my head. I looked at all this, wishing you didn’t have to work so damn hard to get by. Growing up, I never realized just how hard it was for you.”
Anita shook her head. “It wasn’t all that hard for me to take care of you. I loved you and I wanted the very best I could give you.”
Levi nodded. “I’d better let you get settled. Mom, I’d really need to know something…”
“What?”
“Is this really what you want? A life here with him?”
Anita walked over to her son and cupped her hands around both sides of his face. “I have only ever loved one man in my lifetime. Only one, and that was Sergi. I know you tried to get me to date when you were growing up but if I couldn’t have him, I didn’t want anyone else. I know you don’t want to know this but he’s the only man I’ve ever been with. My memories of those three days we had twenty four years ago kept me warm all these years.”
Levi made a face. “You’re right. I didn’t need to know that but you know what?” He smiled. “I like that. I hope to find a woman of my own that would wait a lifetime for me.” Shaking his head he told her, “You must really love him.”
Anita smiled. “I do, so I’m asking you to give him a chance. I know you’re all grown up but I want you to be a part of his life too.”
Levi sighed. “I’ll try, Mom. I’ll try.”
“That’s all I can ask.”
Chapter Eight
Later that night at supper, Sergi told them, “The trial will be in two days. We’re waiting on some of the members to get into town.” Cutting his chicken, he took note that Levi had ordered chicken as well while Anita asked for fish. “I noted you are having chicken again. Do you not like red meat?”
Levi shook his head. “Red meat doesn’t like me. I can’t eat it.”
Sergi looked over at Misha and he saw the other man nod. “It runs in my family. I’m afraid you inherited that from me. Misha and Raven can’t eat red meat either.”
Levi paused as he was about to take a bite. “Who is Raven?”
“My daughter,” Misha informed him. “She lives in America with her husband and children. They are in New Orleans.”
Levi looked over at his mother, then over at Sergi. “So, you’re a great grandfather already?”
“Da.” Sergi nodded. “We’ve only known about her a few years so we’re just getting to know her as well.”
Levi raised an eyebrow at his statement but didn’t say anything. His look said it all.
“My daughter is married to the leader of the Bratva in America,” Misha told him.
“You have Bratva in America?” Levi frowned.
“Yes, we have Bratva interests in America.” Sergi nodded. “We have world wide interests and we need to maintain them.”
“We go back and forth quite a bit actually,” Misha informed him. “And will probably continue to do so as Raven’s family expands.”
Levi nodded. “I suppose. Maybe you’ll be able to stop and see us too, when you come over.”
Sergi cut his chicken keeping his eyes on his plate. “Are you planning on going back to America then?”
Levi nodded. “Probably. Mom has to get back for her job at some point and I have to find a position.”
“What are your interests?” Sergi asked. “Maybe we could find a position for you here.”
“I have a degree in chemical science, but what I’d like to do with it is research. There’s so much we don’t know about, even in our own bloodlines. DNA has always fascinated me. Its such a big part of us, yet very little is actually known about it.”
Sergi looked impressed. “Those are high ambitions. I wish you luck with your dreams. But you could do all that here, you know.”
Levi shook his head. “I won’t leave Mom alone.”
“Oh, she won’t be alone,” Sergi assured him. “She’ll be here with me.”
“Sergi, don’t you think we should talk about that between us first?” Anita asked. “There could be a few problems in our way.”
Sergi laid his fork and knife down on his plate and looked over at her. “Such as?”
“Such as a birth certificate for one. I don’t have one remember? All I have is Nico’s word that he’s my father. Who was my mother? I was told all my life that she abandoned us both when I was two days old. How do I know that’s what really happened? Then there is the fact that my father and grandfather are going on trial for murder and your people might not understand why you want me with you.”
“Do you love me?” Sergi asked her softly.
Anita looked up at him and raised her head high. “With all my heart.”
“Then that’s all that matters, isn’t it?” He shrugged. “The rest will work itself out the way fate intended.”
Anita shook her head. Before she could say anything, Sergi raised an eye brow.
“Stubborn. Crazy ass stubborn,” she muttered.
Misha stared at her from across the table then tilted his head back with a huge laugh that seemed to break the tension in the room.
Sergi stared at him with a raised brow.
Misha shrugged. “For someone who only knew you for three days, she sure knows you well enough.”
Levi chuckled.
Sergi then added his laughter to Misha’s as he nodded in agreement.
Somehow, this simple but funny agreement among the men around her silenced her arguing.
After dinner, they were gathered in the drawing room and Anita was looking out the window at the city when Sergi joined her. He handed her a glass of vodka and she took it without thinking.
“What are you so worried about?” he asked.
“What tomorrow might bring,” she told him honestly. She turned her head and gazed at him. “I know dad and granddad are going to face the Council and for your sake, I hope that goes well. You deserve closure for what they did to your wife and I want them to pay for their crime. But I don’t trust them. Neither of them. My father couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it. He’ll say whatever he thinks you want to him to say. If you made a deal with him, he won’t keep it.”
Sergi nodded. “I know. I really don’t expect him to tell the truth. I have a feeling the Tribunal will have a few surprises your father will not see coming.”
“What on earth are you up to?” she asked as she moved closer to him.
“I want you at the Tribunal. Both you and Levi.” He took her in his arms and pulled her close to him.
“Why?”
“If I’m right, your father will finally get what he truly deserves and you will find out who you really are.”
Anita laid her head on his chest. “I’m still worried about what your people will say about us being together. He’s still my father, I can’t change that. They are both drug dealers and god only knows what else they are.” She wiped away a tear. “I don’t want to lose you again. I don’t know if I could bear that. It was hard enough the first time. At least, I had Levi to take care of.”
“Thank you for that miracle, Dragotsennyy. I don’t know if I ever told you that before now. Thank you for having and raising my son,” he whispered in her ear. “I never thought I would have another chance to become a father. I thought Misha would be my only child. Now, I have another son. I hope we both have the time we need to really know one another.”
Anita looked up at him. Dragotsennyy? He’d called her this off and on. She paused and searched her memory of Russian words. Her brow furrowed.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head. “What is that word you just said?”
She dismissed it as she had a more pressing question. “Surely, you’ve had women in your life?”
Sergi shrugged. “There have been women in my life, of course. Until you came along, I only ever loved one woman and that woman was my wife. Tasha and I were together for eight years before she was taken from me and Misha. One thing you will learn about me is the fact that I am a faithful man. I do not cheat on whomever I am with at the time. After I lost Tasha, I was so filled with rage I couldn’t even think straight. I had a job to do and a young son to raise alone. I was very focused on those two things for a number of years. There was very little room in my life for anything else.” He shook his head. “Perhaps that is the reason when we met I couldn’t let you go so easily. You and I were fated to meet, you and I were fated to fall in love. I was finally free of my parental obligation to Misha and I could finally relax and just be me.”
“Where was Misha at the time?” she asked.
“He had just gone to join the University. He was away from my control for the first time in his young life. I guess we were both free at the time.” He looked down at her and grimaced. “All I knew was that I was in love again. Those three days we had were magical.”
Anita snuggled into his chest. “Yes, they were weren’t they? I was so lost when Adrian dragged me away from here. I didn’t want to go but he was in such a hurry to get out of town I almost thought someone was chasing him.”
Sergi frowned and looked at her again. “What did you say?”
Anita shrugged. “I said he was in such a hurry I almost thought someone was chasing him. He barely gave me any time to pack our things. I do remember leaving a few things behind when we got to the airport.”
“What kind of things did you leave?”
“It was just little things, a book I wanted to read but never got the chance, a sweater oh and a pair of earrings. I forgot to grab them from the bathroom. They were just a cheap pair but I loved them. They were…”
“Blue with flex of black and copper,” Sergi finished her statement.
Anita gasped and began to look worried. “How did you know that?”
Sergi’s arms dropped away from her waist and she took a step back from him. The look on his face gave her concern. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“Where were you before he came back to the hotel and ordered you to pack to leave?” he asked her.
“I never left the hotel that day at all,” she assured him. “You dropped me off on your way to work that morning. I went to my room and fell asleep for a few hours. I got up around noon and had some lunch then read for a few hours when shortly before supper, Adrian rushed into my room and told me to pack, that we were leaving. We weren’t going to meet that night because you had a business meeting you had to attend. Adrian kept watching the windows I do remember that. Then as soon as it got dark outside, we left the hotel. He insisted we go out the back way. We walked for several blocks then we caught a taxi to the train station and from there, we went to the airport. Our flight didn’t leave for a few more hours but Adrian kept us both huddled in a corner of the airport. I couldn’t even leave to go to the bathroom.”
Sergi frowned and glared at her. “I need you to think very carefully. Did your Adrian say anything to you that night? Did he tell you why he was in such a hurry to get out of town? The hotel had no record of you guys checking out. They didn’t even know you were gone until early the next morning.”
Anita shook her head. “First of all, he wasn’t my Adrian, I had nothing to do with him in any way other than I worked for him and I just started that job and no, he didn’t tell me anything. He did say his business was finished and it was time to leave. He told me he had things to set up on the American end of the deal now and he wanted to get back to do that.” She looked a little closer at his face. “He didn’t even pay for our rooms?” She gasped. “I never knew that. He left me for a few minutes and I thought he was going to check out.” Cocking her head she asked, “How did you know the earrings I left behind were blue with flex of black and copper?”
“The Bratva officers found them in a room they were searching later the next morning.” He shrugged. “Of course, I had no idea that room was the room you were staying in. It was joined to the room next door, which was the one we were more interested in.”
Anita felt her heart pounding in her chest. “Why were you searching Adrian’s room? What did he do?”
“A young Bratva officer overheard him bragging to a friend of his about what he was really doing in Russia. The officer confronted him about it without calling in for backup and Adrian stabbed him leaving him to die in an alley. His contact ran at the first sign of trouble but we were able to find him easily enough. He told us where our man was and told us what happened. The officer survived the stab wound but only barely.” Sergi shook his head. “He was lucky to be alive at that point. He’d lost a lot of blood. Adrian’s contact wasn’t so lucky. He got several years in prison. If Adrian did come back here, he’d better watch his back. That man threatened to kill him for dragging him into something he didn’t want to be mixed up in. You don’t get away with stabbing a Bratva officer. We take care of our own and we will find him.”
Anita hung her head and turned to look out the window. Her reflection showed the tears rolling down her cheek. She didn’t speak for a moment or so and when Sergi moved to stand behind her Anita took a step away from him.
Sergi frowned and pulled her into his embrace. “What is wrong?” He demanded harshly. “Why do you step away from me?”
She shook her head. “I am bad news for you. Don’t you see that? Everywhere I go, someone drags me down to the gutter. My father, my grandfather, my boss. I grew up in the dirt and I’ll die in the dirt. Levi and you are the only clean things in my life.” She turned tear filled eyes to look at him. “Your people will never accept me and I will not drag you down just to be in your life. I can’t.”
Sergi pulled her into his arms. “You haven’t down anything wrong here woman. The men in your life have dropped the ball as far as I am concerned. And don’t you evert say anything like this again. Dirt? You are… tak dragotsenno…so precious. Dragotsennyy. They should have protected you. Instead, they hid behind your innocence. By allowing you to take the blame for their actions, you have shouldered their shame. They are not real men and have fallen so far into the pits of degradation, they cannot get back out.” “But don’t you see?” she cried out. “I’ll never be able to prove my innocence. I was there. I didn’t know what my own father was doing. I didn’t know what Adrian was doing. They will forever doubt me and one day, you might doubt me too and I couldn’t live with that.”
“I would never doubt you, never. Do you hear me?” He snarled.
“I hear you.” She gently touched the side of her face with her hand. “Never doubt that I love you with all my heart and soul.”
Sergi laid his forehead against hers. “I love you too. I never thought I’d ever say those words to another woman after Tasha died. I did love her so much. She was my past but you are my future. I will fight for you to be in my life.”
“You shouldn’t have to fight for that.” She looked saddened.
“Let’s retire for the night. I need to hold you in my arms skin to skin. I need to take you. I need to feel you surround me, giving me every part of you,” he whispered in her ear.
“I need you too.” She nibbled on his ear.
Sergi crushed his lips down on hers and their kiss heated up. Before they could get carried away, Misha cleared his throat.
Sergi broke the kiss and glared over his shoulder at his oldest son.
Misha just smiled at his father while Levi looked embarrassed.
“Good night boys,” Sergi grumbled. Wrapping an arm around Anita, he led her out of the room and headed for the stairway. They were up three steps when Sergi heard someone pounding on his front door. He groaned and paused, waiting for the interrupt
ion to just go away.
But it didn’t. The pounding continued and he knew he would have to answer the door. Misha came out of the drawing room and patted the weapon under his jacket as he glanced at his father quickly before he answered the door.
Sergi stood there on the stairway leading to his bedroom and watched as Misha opened his front door. When he saw who was standing there, he groaned and began walking down the same steps he’d walked up just a moment ago. Grabbing Anita’s hand he dragged her down with him.
When he got to the main floor, he watched as one of his oldest and dearest friends came into his home. He held out his hand to the other man.
Petr Bodana shook his hand and his eye caught sight of Anita. All he could do was stare at her. He finally broke his stare and turned to Sergi. “Chto eto, chert poderi, takoye?” he swore in Russian. “Who is this woman?” “I was hoping you could tell me that,” Sergi told the other man.
“You told me to come here for a Tribunal for Nico and Gavril Turchaninov. You told me they murdered your beloved wife over forty years ago and disappeared. You finally found them and that you wanted a Tribunal to get justice for her death.” He turned again toward Anita. He searched her face and studied her every feature. “Who is she? Why does she look so much like my Nina?”
“I know you don’t talk about Nina anymore. I know how harsh that pain still is for you to deal with.” Sergi laid his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “You told me once a long time ago that your daughter, Nina was seeing someone you didn’t approve of. I never asked his name. It wasn’t my business to do so. I think his name was Nico, wasn’t it?”
Petr nodded. “Da, it was Nico. I forbid her to see him but he talked her into sneaking off with him. They carried on for months behind my back, my Nina finally came to me and told me she was carrying his baby. I wanted to beat the hell out of that young man for what he did to my daughter, but he wasn’t around anymore. No one could find him or Gavril.”