Royal was confused. The FBI?
“Well what the hell are you doing in my bathroom?” Royal asked,catching the towel. She was too afraid to stand up and wrap herself, but she was certain that the men would not turn around and give her a chance to cover up. “Dmitry!” she screamed again.
“No need for the screaming, Ma’am. We have a no knock warrant. We need you to get dressed and come with us immediately,” the man ordered. His face was completely covered by a black mask only revealing his brown eyes.
Royal looked over at him, breathing hard and shaking. She wiped the water and tears from her face.
“Why? I haven’t done anything?”
“Get dressed now, Ma’am.” The man signaled for the men to leave the room. He walked slowly out. His footsteps squeaked against the puddles of water now on the floor. He stopped at the door and turned around.
“Do you have something in this bathroom you can put on?”
Royal shook her head quickly. “No, the maid has al-ready cleaned everything up,” she sobbed.
“Where are your clothes? I can’t allow you to start dig-ging around in these drawers. There could be weapons.”
“Weapons? Who do you people think that we are?” She shook her head.
He did not answer.
“I set my nightclothes out,” she said,pointing into the room. “There on the bed. My jeans and my sweater for tomorrow are on the chaise lounge chair.” Her voice quivered.
The man walked into the bedroom, grabbed her clothes and her black silk panties and bra and brought them back inside to her.
She reached up and took the clothes, grateful for his compassion. Unable to control his virile instincts, he looked down at her wet naked body in the bathwater. So you’re what all the fuss is about, he thought to himself.
“Look, you’ve got two minutes to get dressed,” he said in a low voice. “We’ll be right outside. Don’t take my kindness for a weakness, Royal.”
“I…I won’t.” She was shocked that he knew her name.
With a nod, he turned on the lights and left her alone in the bathroom.
After getting dressed, Royal was escorted in hand-cuffs by the police officers from her room, down the long staircase and out of her home. Angry and ashamed, she wiped the constant tears from her face and tried to hold her head up.
“Where is Dmitry?” she asked before they put into a black unmarked squad car with tented windows much like the one they had carted Dmitry off in earlier.
“He’s already been taken downtown to the federal de-tention center,” the masked man answered.
“Why?”
“Well, we can talk about that once we get you there. For now, let’s just get you out of the freezing cold.”
∞♥∞
Like something from a movie, the walls were gray; no windows were in the room and single halogen light hung from the ceiling. Dmitry found it typical and theatric.
A tall, Italian man with a bald spot in the top of his head and five o’clock shadow walked into Dmitry’s room finally after looking at him through the mirror for a while, looking through is his file and comparing notes to the pictures of the young girls. He closed the door softly, sat down and took a sip of his coffee.
“Remember me from the restaurant?” he asked Dmitry.
Dmitry looked up from the table and smiled. “Sorrello? The sloppy Italiano from the Peabody.”
“You remembered?”
“I never forget,” he sighing.“Why am I here?”
“We have reason to believe that you have been trafficking underage illegal aliens into the United States for the purpose of soliciting sex for your profit. Here, we call that pimping. We have you connected to several drug dealers in the city, very recently preparing to go into agreement for the shipment of Meth to the Memphis area for distribution. Let’s not forget the new chop shops in Binghampton you just purchased, and if that ain’t enough, if it ain’t illegal, it sure is a shame to have such a pretty girl next door locked in shackles because of your tricky ass,” Sorrello said, taking a deep breath.
“You don’t have shit,” Dmitry said,checking his Rolex. “Chop shops, whored-out kids and meth. What do I look like to you…an Italian? Now, where is my lawyer?”
“You don’t want to play ball, huh?”
Dmitry sat up in his seat. “I am an upstanding, tax paying American citizen. I have not done any of the things that you have just suggested. You have the wrong man, cowboy.”
“So how do you explain how we got your name?”
“Do not answer that,” a short, gray-haired man said, busting through the door in his tuxedo and overcoat. He was Olich Slovinky, Dmitry’s lawyer.
Dmitry rolled his eyes. “I was just asking about you,” he said,scooting back from the table. “You’re late.”
∞♥∞
Agosto watched Royal through the glass very carefully. Something about her said that she was a victim. Although, he would not go with his gut yet, he was certain after his interrogation, she would confirm his suspicions.
Sorrello was surely next door botching his investigation with his hard-hitting Hollywood tactics. Agostofound him irritating at most, but this was a joint-task force effort. He had to put his personal reservations aside for the betterment of the investigation.
The real workwould start in this room, maybe not through her mouth, but most definitely her eyes. Agosto knew women. He had been married for three years to a maniac of awife whom he could not help but impregnate for the hell of it. He would handle Royal Stone with kid gloves and get enough to put to Dmitry Medlov to jail where he belonged.
Royal sat in the lonely,cold room with her head buried in her arms on the table sobbing softly. When she heard the door open, she sat up in hopes that Dmitry had come to collect her, but it was just a cop.
With a nod, he closed the door and walked over to the seat across from her. He cleared his throat.
“Want some coffee?” he asked, offering her a cup.
“Thanks,” Royal tookthe cup. She wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Are you alright?” Agosto asked.
“No. I was…” Royal began to cry again. “I was in the bath tub when theycame. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”
“It couldn’t be helped. However, I gave you a towel,” Agosto said apologetically. “It’s more than I would give to most.”
Royal looked at him and put the cup down. “What’s your name, officer?” she asked with fire in her eyes.
“Nicola.”
“Nicola, would you ever want your girlfriend to be in-terrupted like I was?”
“No. My wifewould freak out.” He shook his head. Mrs. Agosto was a firecracker. “She’d kill the messenger.”
“Exactly.” She pulled her hair from her face and looked away from him.
“But I would never put her in the situation that your Dmitry has put you in.”
Royal was silent.
Agosto opened the files and began to place pictures of young women in front of her. She looked down at the pictures of the teenage girls in short dresses, lingerie and some with bruises and scrapes. He did not talk until the last picture was on the table, lined against the others to form a collage.
“Royal, how much do you know about Dmitry?”
Royal looked up from the pictures at Agosto.
“Why?” Tears started to form again.
“Do you ever wonder about where he gets all of his money?”
“His stocks. His businesses.”
“His whores?” Agosto added.
“Dmitry is not a pimp,” she said, pushing the pictures away. Now, he was just being preposterous.
“No, not justa pimp. That is actually a new niche for him in Memphis. Although, I think he runs a group out of Eastern Europe that is heavy into the prostitution. You may want to ask him.” Agosto pulled another file out.
“Dmitry would never.”
“Maybe. He has been tied to money laundering, extortion, drugs traffick
ing, illegal gambling facilities, nuclear weapons trafficking, precious gems trafficking and a host of other serious crimes globally. We just can’t prove it. Everyone who has ever thought about testifying has been murdered. Plus, the way that the Vory v Zakone sets up some of its organized crime syndicate models, you never really can connect the top guys with the soldiers and the ground work.”
“Are you insane? Listen to you. Listen to what you are saying.” Royal shook her head.
“I know it’s hard to believe. He seems like a nice guy. Treats you nice. But who would blame him. Look at you.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. There are only a few other people as major as your man in the Eurasian crime community, and he’s worked with and for all of them. He is the true meaning of connected.”
“If that’s true, then why would he be out on the streets, just walking around like a normal person? Why in the hell would he be running a restaurant if he’s so major?”
“Many crime families run their illegal businesses out of legitimate business store fronts. Many well-known Russian crime bosses have run them out of restaurants.”
“Dmitry is just a normal guy. I would know,” she ar-gued as she beat against her chest. “I live with him each and every day. I would know if he wasn’t normal.” Tears ran into her mouth.
“Would you? What’s so normal about Dmitry? You’re just used to him, used to his lifestyle. In actuality, everything about him screams mafia. Love blinds people.”
“I don’t believe you,” her voice was hushed.
He passed her a napkin.
“We can’t prove that he did this, but you wouldn’t want him to confirm this for you.” He slid a picture of woman with her neck sliced open, lying on a bedroom floor covered in her own blood.
“Do you know her?”
“No,” Royal said,letting the tears drop down on the paper. The sight instantly brought backthoughts of her sister and the man that she had killed as a child. She wanted to throw up.
“That is the late Mrs. Ari Medlov.” Agosto met her con-fused eyes. He nodded. “Not Dmitry’s wife. His sister-in-law, Ivan’s wife. She was found in New York like this. No one knows why. Everyone thinks Dmitry did it. What a temper, huh? I’ve heard that he can be a real son-of-a-bitch. You might want to be very careful with him.”
“Why are you showing me all of this? Are you saying that he’s a… monster?”
“Haven’t you been listening?” Agosto put the pictures away. “He’s the worst kind.”
“I want a lawyer,” she said flabbergasted.
“You have your rights. They were read to you. I know,because I did it.” Agosto slid a small picture across the table to her. “Do you know this guy?”
She picked it up and shook her head. “Yes,” she said,handing it back to him. “That is Anatoly.”
“Who is he?”
Royal was about to tell the truth, then she caught her-self. Agosto could see it before she began to lie. “He’s the butler or something like it. He does everything.”
“Even kill?”
“I’ve never seen anyone killed.” She snapped.
“Have you ever heard of the Vory v Zakone then?”
“No.”
“He’s a member of a very elite organized crime group that has connections globally. Just remember that.”
“I don’t believe you,” Royal said,looking away.
“So, you want to end up like Ari Medlov?”
“No.” Royal stood up from the table and walked to the corner. “He’s all I have,” she said,swallowing hard. “You don’t know what that’s like.”
“To love someone? Of course, I know what that’s like, but I don’t think that he loves you. He’s using you.” Agosto stood up and walked over to her with his hands balled in the pockets of his jeans.
He was only inches away from her. She turned and looked up at him. Her face was red, puffy and swollen. But Agosto still thought that she was striking.
“Maybe you should just walk away before it’s too late,” Agosto quietly urged. “A nice girl like you doesn’t deserve to be put through this. Find some new place to start.”
Royal listened as he spoke barely above a whisper. She watched his mouth as it moved. She heard his words, but her thoughts were in a different place.
“It’s not your fault. You just wanted a job. Just wanted a family. Someone to love you. You just picked the wrong guy. He took advantage of you.” They made eye contact. He was working her.
His dark curly hair looked like silk against the contrast of his olive-toned skin. Agosto was a knockout,a little shorter than Dmitry but very well built. His bold Mediterranean features eased her spirit. He wasn’t hard to look at or stand by. His cologne wafted up to her nose. He knew his charms worked. He moved closer.
Tears fell down her cheeks.
“If you’re trying to get me to turn on him, don’t. I won’t do it.”
“You don’t have to turn. Just help us out a little.”
“Help you?” Shescoffed. “Help you how?”
“What’s the code to the basement of your shop?”
“I don’t even know that,” Royal snapped
“Can you get it?” Agosto asked.
She looked up into his eyes bemused butdidn’t answer. Agosto almost felt sorry for her situation. He knew that she did not know anything now, but he was certain that if she tried, she could dig far enough to get him what he wanted.
Plus, Agosto found Royal incredibly attractive. Al-though he was a married man, he was still a man. He knew what he saw in the tub - a fresh, ripe woman vulnerable and beautiful.
If he didn’t have control, he would have kissed her right then– made her feel what it was like to be truly protected. But he did have control, a wife and a strong desire to keep his job. Instead, he smiled at her and whispered, “Get me the code,” as he slipped his business card in the back pocket of her jeans. His finger trailed on the denim.
Just then, Dmitry’s attorney barged into the room waving papers and giving directives. The mood instantly changed. Agosto’s magical hold on her was broken, and she was suddenly reminded of who waited for her outside of the door. Slovinky demanded in a high-pitched voice that Agosto move away from his client. In a theatric movement, he stood in front of her and wedged his way between the frantic woman and the cop.
Within minutes, Royal was released and followed her balding, frail Jewish lawyer as he and his team led her to Dmitry, who waited eagerly to have his fiancée back.
Keeping his distance, Agosto trailed behind them in a slow-paced walk as they darted down the hall. He wanted to keep his eye on Royal, wanted her to know that he was not afraid of them – not afraid to come after her.
“Are you alright?” Dmitry asked, standing as Royal approached.
“I’m fine,” she pulled away from Dmitry’s grasp and looked back at Agosto. He smiled as she did, grateful that she would even acknowledge him at all.
The two men made eye contact, but Dmitry was too proud to show his true vulnerability, especially in front of his future wife. He scowled at Agosto.
“Handle him, Slovinky,” Dmitry ordered putting a fur coat over Royal’s shoulders. “His presence irritates me.”
“This isa fucking detention center. It’s sort of his turf,” she bit out, walking off from both he and the lawyer.
Dmitry sighed and followed with his lawyers in tow.
Chapter 24
The ride home from the FBI Detention Center was quiet for both Royal and Dmitry. Just like five hours before, the driver pulled into the front driveway of their home and let them out. Only this time they both were very somber.
Anatoly was waiting for them at the door, sitting on the porch clipping his nails while his men patrolled the perimeter. Royal walked up the stairs of the porch behind Dmitry but did not speak. She simply brushed past Anatoly when the door opened and ran upstairs. Dmitry watched her until she was out of his sight, and then followed his son i
nto the study.
“Did you call the council?” Dmitry asked, exhausted.
“Dah. Каждое приходит.”
“Make sure everyone is there, especially Max and Nico-lai.”
“Is it true?”
“Yes it’s true.”
The men went inside to talk, but Dmitry did not want to be long. He had a feeling that Royal was on the verge of breaking. She would not tell him what Agosto had said to her in the room, or from what his lawyer had said to him, why Agostowas so close to her. Instead, she stared out the window and wiped her teary eyes the entire ride.
“I’ve taken care of everything that you’ve asked.” Anatoly sat in the chair opposite of his father’s desk and crossed his hands. “So, what now?”
“We wait.” Dmitry sat down in his chair.
“Is Royal alright?”
It was odd to Dmitry that Anatoly would even ask about her. He never did. He must have seen it too. Dmitry rubbed his temples and tried to control the anger boiling in his chest.
“No. They burst into the bathroom with her naked pointing their guns and pulled her out.”
“Naked?”
“No, but the whole time all I could think about was the fact that they were up there with her naked. Did they even give her enough privacy to get dressed or did they stare at her?” He paused in fury.
“Relax, father. I’m sure that they did not.” Anatoly tried to calm him. “You know what I find amazing?”
“What?”
“Your brother is plotting to kill you; you face many charges that could have you caged in a jail for life like rat; the council is at each other’s throats; we’re about to enter into a blood bath, and you are concerned about who has seen the woman upstairs naked.”
Dmitry looked over at Anatoly and frowned.
“I don’t see problem with this,” Dmitry said softly. “If it were not for the woman upstairs, I would have already pulled the knife planted firmly in back out and gutted my brother, Max and Nicolai along with anyone else who I thought was a threat to me.”
“Well now, I don’t see a problem with that.”
They both smiled at each other. Dmitry sat back and sighed, releasing a little pressure.
Dmitry's Closet Page 23