Used by the Russian Mafia Boss: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance

by Bella Rose

  “How?” Anatoli demanded. “How can you say that? You act as if you’re the better man and you’re not!”

  “It isn’t that I’m better,” Dimitri conceded. “But I’m certainly not driven by greed and a desire to prove myself to everyone.”

  “I don’t have to prove myself!” Anatoli shouted. “I’ve been better than you since the day I was born! I was Papa’s favorite! He only left you in charge because you’re older.”

  “Anatoli, we’re not ten. I’m not in charge. This is my home. This is my business. You were a partner in that. As equal as I could make it as a matter of fact. It was just never enough for you. You’re stubborn and selfish. And if you keep up this way, you’ll run our territory into the ground and there will be nothing left.”

  “You lie.” Anatoli snarled. The gun dipped as his hand shook with the effort of holding it up. “And soon enough everyone else going to know what you are; a coward and a loser.”

  “Is that right?” Dimitri was slowly shifting toward the house.

  He was just wondering if he should make a run for it when Anatoli squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed off a distant hill and reverberated back. The bullet buried itself in Dimitri’s shoulder. He groaned, going down onto his knees. The excruciating pain of the injury made him instantly nauseous.

  “Now,” Anatoli said with satisfaction. “I suppose I will go about making myself at home.”

  Dimitri fell to his back. He stared up at the sky, wondering if this was really the end, or if he was going to have the chance to kick his brother’s ass. He could only hope that someone would find him. He attempted to struggle to his knees, but the pain was so great it nearly made him pass out. He stared up at the sky. It was so beautiful. Streaks of orange and red told him the red ball of the sun was now peeking over the horizon. It was morning. A new day. And yet Dimitri could not enjoy it. Not until he fixed what was broken.

  ***

  Something was wrong. Toni didn’t know how or what, but she knew that something was very, very wrong. She could not sit still. Her endless pacing had already driven her uncles’ housekeeper crazy. The woman had stopped asking Toni if she could get her something, and just left her to walk concentric circles throughout the house.

  Her uncles lived in a renovated warehouse space just behind The Samovar. It was airy and welcoming in a way she wouldn’t have expected. Since they were confirmed bachelors, they shared the space by keeping room on opposite sides of the massive central living area. Upstairs was a workout gym complete with boxing ring, and there was even a lap pool.

  Toni left the main living area and went upstairs. Night had fallen, and her uncles were still at the restaurant. She knew she was welcome to stay as long as she liked, they’d been pretty vocal about that. It was just difficult to say what was bothering her. She bypassed the workout machines and free weights and headed for the door to the balcony.

  The cool air buffeted her cheeks. It felt good to clear her head after everything that had happened. She rested her elbows on the railing and leaned out to get a better view of the street. The warehouse’s third floor wasn’t so high up that she had a great panoramic view, but she could still see the river winding its way through the city several miles away.

  Why hadn’t Dimitri come for her? He’d known where to find her last time. Why hadn’t he at least called? Sure. She’d definitely sent him a whole beehive to deal with when she told her father’s men to go storm the castle, but that wouldn’t have taken too long to sort out.

  “The jerk probably doesn’t even care,” she muttered. Maybe she needed to hear the words out loud.

  It wasn’t like she was going to forget that Dimitri had flat out told his brother that he was using her. But it would have been nice to get some closure. She wanted to hear his bullshit excuse and then have a chance to say her piece. That was what mattered. Right?

  A car pulled up in the alley outside the warehouse. Toni briefly forgot her problems and focused on the newcomer. Could Viktor or Nikolai have decided to come home early tonight? It seemed unlikely considering just how busy the restaurant was on a good night like this. Still, there were men getting out of the vehicle.

  “Go knock on the door! If she’s in there, we’ll flush her out!”

  Toni reflexively dropped into a squatting position, despite her position on the third floor balcony. She covered her mouth with her hands to keep the scream from slipping out. That was Anatoli! She knew it. She would have recognized that angry, venomous voice anywhere.

  She stretched out flat on her belly and peeked over the edge of the balcony. There were four men below. One was Anatoli. She’d have recognized that pale blond hair anywhere. There was also ginormous Ivan, and two men she didn’t remember. Ivan began pounding on the warehouse door.

  Toni held her breath, wondering if the poor housekeep would answer, and praying she would not. Someone like Anatoli wouldn’t be nice to the poor woman. A few moments later she heard someone cursing in Russian, yelling at the housekeeper to let them in. Toni breathed a little easier. Apparently the housekeeper wasn’t naive enough to open the door to just anyone.

  “Are you sure she’s here?” someone asked Anatoli.

  “Are you questioning me?”

  Toni watched in fascination as Anatoli shoved one of his men. It looked like a mouse taking on a cat. The enforcer took exception to being pushed around, and pushed back. Anatoli went flying across the alley, smacking into the warehouse’s metal wall. He tumbled to the ground and lay there for a moment, probably stunned.

  Seconds later he was on his feet, charging his opponent. The two men clashed in a one sided brawl that ended with Anatoli sprawled on the ground again. All of the other men were laughing now, and Toni could tell that Anatoli was getting upset.

  What was going on? Where was Dimitri? Why was Antoli giving the orders—or trying to—and why would he dare to be on her uncles’ turf without their permission?

  “You’d better listen to me!” Anatoli shouted at his men. “I’m in charge now that my brother is dead!”

  It felt as if Toni had fallen off the balcony. She was falling. It was an emotional cliff and she couldn’t see the bottom. There was a roaring in her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut to stem the flow of tears. Dimitri was dead? It couldn’t be. And yet maybe that was why she felt so restless and unsettled. Could she possible sense on some level that he’d been in danger?

  Why hadn’t she listened to her instincts?

  Toni leaped up. It was tempting to scream at Anatoli over the railing, but she clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t let him know she was here. It would only make him more aggressive. She had to wait. Anatoli would leave and then she could find out what had really happened.

  “He can’t be dead. He can’t be,” she whispered.

  Somehow it didn’t matter anymore that she’d been thinking of him as a lying bastard just a few minutes ago. The thought that he might be gone forever was unacceptable. She was in so far over her head!

  She waited, watching as Anatoli and the others got back into their vehicle. Anatoli was still shouting at Ivan, but Ivan didn’t look as if he particularly cared what the younger Alkaev had to say. If Anatoli truly thought he was going to take over the family business, he was going to have to get some bigger feet to fill Dimitri’s shoes.

  “Katya,” Toni whispered to herself. “Katya would know. I need to talk to her. Now.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dimitri blinked in confusion as he tried to figure out where he was. It was dark. He seemed to be lying on something cold and hard. It actually felt a little damp. Lifting his hand, he attempted to rub his eyes. A shooting pain radiated from his shoulder, down his arm, and into his fingertips with such intensity that he thought his hand might actually pop off from the pressure.

  His brain kicked into motion, spurred by a sudden burst of adrenaline. He had been in the field between the main house and Katya’s cottage. Anatoli had come. His brother had—his brother shot him. Moving his
fingers, he searched for his phone. He would call someone, although he had no idea who he could call for help. It was possible that his other men had switched sides like Ivan had. He patted his pants pocket, but there was no phone. Gently touching the ground as best he could, Dimitri attempted to discover if it had simply slipped from his pocket after he passed out. It hadn’t. Great. He was out here half dead with no phone. This could take a bit of doing.

  Experimentally moving his legs to see if they were still working, Dimitri decided the only thing that was really messed up was the shoulder. He blinked again to clear his vision. He was seeing spots. Another second and he realized that he was actually looking up at the hazy cover of stars barely visible above the glow of city lights. He was shivering with cold. Soon hypothermia would set in and he would have a real problem. He needed to get to Katya’s place.

  Rolling to his uninjured side, Dimitri managed to get up on his knees. The monumental effort took almost every ounce of energy he had left. His head swam and his stomach heaved. Taking deep breaths helped. Putting his good hand beneath his thigh, he forced his leg to bend far enough to put a boot flat on the ground. Now he was kneeling on one side only. The trick was going to be getting all the way into a standing position.

  He paused for a moment. His brain was having trouble focusing anyway. It kept returning to very pleasant thoughts of Toni. He remembered what she looked like in the shadows of his bedroom as he made love to her. He recalled her scent. Most of al he wondered if he would ever see her again. She’d gone without a word. That still confused and angered him, but now he could also acknowledge the hurt.

  Dimitri moved his shoulder experimentally. The gouging intensity of pain suggested that the bullet had not gone through. That wasn’t good at all. He could still feel it inside, moving against the muscle and bone. The grating sensation made his stomach heave once again. He needed Dr. Poole. The man did plenty of work off the record for the mafiya men. Hospitals and regular doctors asked too many questions. But none of that mattered until he had made it all the way to Katya’s house.

  ***

  Katya had taken the bus to a stop only a short distance from Dimitri’s property. Now she was creeping through the brush and trees that surrounded the exterior fence. She was trying to see the guardhouse. Being unfamiliar with all of Dimitri’s men, she had no way of knowing if the guy holding down the fort was Anatoli’s or Dimitri’s. And she refused to consider the possibility that Dimitri really was dead, which made all of the men Anatoli’s puppets.

  Oddly enough, the little booth at the gate appeared to be empty. It was a bit of an ominous sight. She waited a moment, trying to decide if she was just missing something. Like maybe the guy was bending over, or he’d fallen asleep. Nobody ever appeared. She even picked up a stone and tossed it at the box. The little rock pinged of the bulletproof glass of the booth and nothing happened.

  “Bad,” she whispered. “Very, very bad.”

  Moving as silently as she could, Toni slipped through the little pedestrian opening near the gate and began jogging toward Katya’s cottage. It wasn’t far, but she kept to the trees in an effort to avoid any of Anatoli’s goons. She had no desire to try and convince some suspicious Russian enforcer that she was just here to pay a social call on Katya. She had a feeling that excuse would not be well received. Especially from her.

  There were lights on at Katya’s. Toni hung about in the tangled brush and trees outside the cottage’s little clearing while she tried to see if there was anyone but Katya inside the house. She saw movement through the window, but realized that she was watching Katya load the dishwasher in the kitchen.

  Heading across the clearing, Toni went up the back steps and knocked lightly at the door. Seconds later if flew open. Katya’s face was hopeful, but then fell when she saw it was Toni.

  “What are you doing here?” The pregnant woman didn’t even bother to hide her disappointment.

  “What happened to Dimitri?” Toni demanded. If Katya was going to dispense with politeness, so was Toni.

  “I don’t know.” Katya’s expression was worried. “I was hoping you were him. There were shots earlier. Lots of them. All over the property. I haven’t heard anything since. I don’t know what’s going on. I know that Anatoli attempted to take over, and my brother kicked him off the property. He was so very angry.”

  “I saw him—Anatoli,” Toni said, feeling as if she were drowning in horrible doubts. “He came to my uncles’ warehouse looking for me. He was pounding on the door. I was upstairs on the balcony watching the whole thing. Anatoli told the other men that they had to listen to him because Dimitri was dead.”

  DIMITRI GAZED ACROSS the field. He tried to decide why it felt as if he was ten thousand yards away from Katya’s cottage. It couldn’t have been even a football field’s distance from where he was standing to his sister’s front door. In fact he should probably just take a moment to be thankful that he was actually on his feet. That had taken some real effort.

  Now he needed to walk. He put one foot in front of the other. Staggering as if he was drunk, Dimitri began the trek to Katya’s cottage. He could see lights on and wondered if she even knew what was going on. Surely she’d heard something. Had Anatoli gone back to her place and declared himself the leader of the Alkaevs? Had he bragged to Katya that he had killed their older brother? Somehow Dimitri didn’t believe that Anatoli would be that stupid. Katya would have been very angry. She might not have been on Anatoli’s side. Would his brother hurt their baby sister?

  The thought made Dimitri move faster. He had to get to Katya. He had to get help. And then he needed to find Toni. He couldn’t help but think that this whole crazy situation only proved to him that their lives were strangely intertwined.

  He heard voices. They were definitely not male. The tones were soft, the words almost lilting and the speech patterns familiar. His muddled brain couldn’t decide if they were speaking English or Russian. Did it matter? He wobbled a little and stopped walking in order to regain his balance.

  Where was he going again? Dimitri tried to remember, but his head was filled with sawdust. He’d never thought about it before, but now he realized that it was actually possible to feel his blood pressure dropping. It was such an odd sensation. He stared at the ground. Confusion made him lightheaded. Or was he confused because he was lightheaded. It was such an odd question to mull over in his mind.

  “Dimitri?” someone said. “Oh my God! He’s bleeding.”

  Yes. He realized that he had started bleeding again. He could feel the stickiness dripping down his arm and pooling in the palm of his hand before following his fingertips to the ground. It was such an odd sensation. Really. He balled up his fist and heard the blood made a wet noise as he clenched his fingers. Why was blood so sticky anyway? When he reopened his hand it was like his fingers were stuck together.

  Two sets of soft, warm hands took hold of his arms. He caught the familiar scent of his sister’s perfume, but there was something else too. It was light and feminine and he remembered it in a way that brought him incredible satisfaction and joy.

  “Toni,” he murmured.

  “I’ve got you,” she told him. “Just try to keep walking. We’ll get you back to the house.”

  She’d come back. It was the thought that kept cycling through his head over and over again.

  TONI TRIED NOT to panic, but Dimitri’s behavior was freaking her out. He was so out of it that he could barely stay on his feet. She couldn’t imagine how he’d managed to make it this far, even though she had no notion of how far he’d come. Katya had only had the barest idea of where the gunshots had come from in reference to her house. She’d been in the bathroom at the time, which didn’t help her in pinpointing the location with any accuracy.

  “Can you get him up the…” Toni grunted. “There! At least we’ve got one foot on the steps.”

  Katya panted. “I’m just glad there’s only three steps up to the porch. He weighs a ton!”

  “Do
you know who we can trust?” This worried Toni more than anything else. “To treat him I mean. We can’t just take him to the hospital. They’d call the cops. And what if Dr. Poole is on Anatoli’s side.”

  “I don’t think Anatoli’s been boss long enough to have a side,” Katya said irritably. “My brother is an idiot.”

  “Which one,” Toni muttered. “How did Dimitri manage to get himself shot in the middle of a freaking field? Seriously!”

  “He left here on foot, that’s all I know,” Katya explained. “He must have been standing out there. You know him. He does that sometimes.”

  “Yeah.” Toni thought about the walks she’d taken with Dimitri. He enjoyed being outside and looking up at the sky. “He does like to watch a sunset.”

  “It would be almost too easy for Anatoli to ambush him like that.” Katya sounded sad.

  Toni took a deep breath and then heaved Dimitri up another step. He pitched forward with the effort of moving his own body, and nearly face planted on the porch. Toni tried to take most of the weight. She didn’t want the poor pregnant girl getting herself injured or accidentally starting her labor early because of this.

  “Dimitri, sweetheart,” Toni coaxed. “Please try to walk. Okay?”

  “I’m not walking?” He slurred his words like a drunk.

  Katya let out a strangled sob. “He’s lost so much blood! Listen to him!”

  “Yeah, but he got this far, right?” Toni said, trying to be positive. Most people would have quit back there in the grass.”

  Dimitri finally stumbled onto the porch from the stairs. Toni braced his weight on her shoulder. “Get the door. I’ve got him.”

  “Okay.” Katya pulled it open. “Can you walk him through?”

  “Dimitri!” Toni snapped. “Move! Come on. Walk!”

  He picked up his feet and moved them with exaggerated motions. He was bleeding worse than ever. She and Katya had awkwardly tied Katya’s sweater around his injured shoulder, but that wasn’t doing much. With Toni’s luck, he was going to bleed out before they could get the doctor here.