Chapter 33 Grace
GRACE
Iwant to be sick.
Being in Dmitri’s arms again makes my skin crawl, but I can sense Maxim’s eyes on me, letting me know that I’m okay, that he has me covered.
“I’ve missed you, Grace,” Dmitri whispers into my ear.
“Shame the feeling isn’t mutual.”
He laughs. “I guess that’s fair. Nikolai, he was very ... you know, convincing.”
“You needed no convincing, Dmitri.”
He shrugs. “So, you and the assassin, hey?”
“Yes, what did you expect, placing a whore with a man like him?”
Dmitri’s fingers dig into my arm. “I didn’t expect that you would
fall for him.”
I look into the devil’s eyes.
“You don’t think I know you, Grace? Remember, I have been
inside of you.”
I stiffen at his words. “Only by force.”
“You don’t remember the night in Barcelona when we met?”
“My mind seems to have wiped that traumatic experience.”
This makes him laugh again. “I have missed your fiery temperament, Gracie.” He curls my hair around his finger. “Emerald is, well ... too accommodating. I miss the fight, the spirit of you.”
“What, because you found a woman who loves you and wants to fuck you, she isn’t good enough?” I will not be intimidated. I will not be intimidated.
“No, the difference is she isn’t you, Grace.”
I shake my head; I’m not listening to these things.
“Things were great between us until ...”
“Until you raped me,” I say.
“I know what I did was wrong, but I had no choice.”
“We all have choices. You chose to degrade women.”
Dmitri sucks in an angry breath, but calms himself down before he
speaks again. “I remember seeing you across that bar in Barcelona. Nikolai and I were taken from the moment we saw you and Zoe, and not because we thought you would make the perfect jewels, but because you were the most beautiful women in the place. You were laughing and having fun. There was no pretentiousness surrounding you. It was nice.”
I will not get sucked into walking down memory lane.
“Fleeting moments of humanity do not erase what you have done to me, Dmitri.” I dare to look at him and see that I have hit the tiny spot of humanity left in him.
“You destroyed me once, but it wasn’t enough, you had to bring me back here, to this world again, and watch it destroy me a second time. ”
“Yet, among the chaos, you seem to have fallen in love. I mustn’t have broken you enough.” His fingers dig into me, his tone menacing. That scrap of humanity has vanished.
“No, Maxim put me back together again, but this time, I’m stronger.”
“Then I look forward to breaking you harder next time.”
Before I know it, I’m being ripped from Dmitri’s arms and pulled back into Maxim’s.
“He won’t always be able to save you, Grace,” Dmitri says, grabbing Elena’s hand and pulling her onto the dancefloor.
“I need a drink.”
Maxim takes my hand and heads toward the bar where he orders a glass of champagne and a whiskey.
“Are you okay? What did he say to you?”
I can see the concern on his face, but I wave him away. “I’m fine, I can handle him now.” I take my glass of champagne and finish it quickly.
Maxim doesn’t look convinced.
“Please, one day, can you kill that fucking bastard for me? Maybe even as a wedding gift?”
This makes Maxim roar with laughter. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me. “You are an extraordinary girl, Grace.”
“Are you okay?” Elena asks, meeting us at the bar.
“Not a fan of your boyfriend, that’s all.”
“I know,” Elena says quietly. “And I hope you will forgive me for what I am about to ask you to do for him.”
I turn and look at Maxim and he gives me a weak smile.
“I need you to help me seduce Dmitri’s uncle and drug him,” Elena states before explaining in detail what she needs me to do. It’s incredibly risky, I’m not an expert assassin like these two.
“I can’t believe you’re asking me to do this?” I glare at Maxim.
“I wouldn’t ask if there was any other way, Wildcat.”
“You won’t need to do anything I promise you,” Elena explains.
“I don’t think I’m strong enough to do it.”
“You’re so much stronger than you think you are,” Elena states.
“And there’s no other way?” I question them both.
They each shake their heads. Thought so.
“It will be all over soon,” Elena adds.
Maxim leans over and whispers in my ear as his lips meet my cheek. “You will be okay, don’t forget you have, you know ...” He taps my ear.
Yeah, what good is a man in my ear going to be when I’m locked in some bedroom with a scary-ass Bratva.
“It’s go-time,” Dmitri states as he reaches us at the bar. Dmitri must see something written on my face. “Suck it up, Grace. Be a good little jewel one last time.”
God, I hope Maxim puts a bullet in his head.
“Uncle.” Dmitri grabs Ivan’s attention as he walks past the bar. “Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you.”
Ivan looks at Dmitri, and there is hatred flashing in his eyes. He then looks over his shoulder and notices Elena and me standing behind him.
“And what do we have here?”
“I have two gifts for you, two of the jewels.”
Ivan’s eyes widen. “I saw you with Maxim earlier. He never said …”
“That’s because I asked him not to. I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“And it’s a very good surprise, two jewels just for me.”
I can see the filthy things that are running through his mind.
I shiver with repulsion.
“I’ve organized a room above for you for tonight,” Dmitri states.
“I hope that you can accommodate us,” Elena purrs.
And I give him a weak smile. Being here is all they are going to get from me.
Ivan looks over at his guards and then back to us. “I think I have time. Lucky you caught me on my way out as now I have two good reasons to stay.”
We follow the men down a back corridor, up a staircase, and then down another corridor.
“You, okay?” Elena whispers to me.
I nod, even though I’m not.
“I promise you won’t have to do a thing.”
“Maxim is following but keeping his distance,” Brooks says in my ear.
Knowing he is there helps me to continue down the corridor.
“Grace, there are exits at either end of the hall. If you escape you need to run for them, they’ll take you to the next level and back to the gardens. When you make it to the gardens, we’ll be able to collect you. Okay?” Brooks explains to me.
I hum my answer. Hoping I don’t have to run at all.
Dmitri and his uncle are chatting in Russian, but I’m so nervous that I’m not concentrating on what they are saying.
Elena grabs my hand. “Grace. Do you remember the plan?”
I nod. Yes. The plan where I pretend to be happy about flirting with this old man whose family has tried to destroy mine, who has destroyed so many lives.
I also remember that Elena will start off the seduction.
She will ask me to pour Ivan a drink. That’s when I put the drug in and hand it to him.
He will pass out before he does anything physical.
Elena will use her famous heart-attack formula, injecting it into his heart.
He should be dead a minute later. That plan—oh yes, I remember it.
“Ladies, welcome.” Ivan smiles hungrily at us both.
The door closing behind us makes my heart thump through my chest.
Elena gives me a reassuring smile.
Dmitri is standing guard outside. Ivan’s two bodyguards have been dismissed, but as an added precaution, Maxim will be taking care of them.
I know exactly what that means and while I’d thought knowing my fiancé was going to murder those two people would upset me, here, now, the knowledge doesn’t bother me in the least.
“Grace, why don’t you get Ivan a drink so he can relax while I warm him up?” Elena purrs as she reaches for Ivan.
I walk over to the bar area and pour him a vodka.
Elena giggles and Ivan murmurs behind me.
I take the small vial from my bra and pour the contents into his glass, using my finger to stir it.
The powder dissolves quickly until the liquid is clear again.
I turn around, and there’s Elena on her knees, giving Ivan a blow job—not at all what I was expecting.
“Stay calm, Grace,” Brooks says through my earpiece.
I keep forgetting they can see what I see. Ivan looks at me, and his hand reaches for the glass, so I give it to him. His other hand pulls me to his side.
“You are so beautiful, Diamond.”
I smile shyly, hoping he thinks this is part of my act. “Thank you.” I try to block out the noises coming from Elena on her knees beside me.
Ivan throws back the glass’s contents.
Yes.
Then he reaches out and grabs my breast, making me squeal, then stand still frozen in fear.
“Don’t be shy, Diamond. You have amazing tits,” he says as he gropes them. I watch his eyes start to become unfocused, and his legs sway. “Suck hard, Emerald,” he mumbles, his hand falling away from me to grab the chair, trying to hold himself up.
“Emerald is doing a good job there,” I say, hoping he thinks it’s Elena’s wicked blow job skills that are making him woozy. “Why don’t we move this to the bed? You might be more comfortable.”
He nods, and Elena moves away from his hard dick. Which is something I didn’t want to ever see. We shuffle him onto the bed, he is almost a dead weight, but he manages to get on to it.
“You always take me to heaven, Emerald.” He smiles as she crawls up the bed and straddles him.
“That’s because I love your dick, Daddy,” she says, leaning over him and kissing his cheeks.
He lets out a happy sigh, then closes his eyes.
I watch as Elena pulls a small needle from her bra. She pumps it once and then injects it into his heart. She places the syringe into her bag.
Suddenly Ivan sits up, clutching his heart.
I scream.
I watch as his eyes widen and realization sets in, then he slumps back and doesn’t move again.
Elena tests his pulse.
“He’s dead.”
Holy shit, that was quick!
She picks up her phone, types something into it, and places it back
in her bag. “We need to go,” she says, grabbing my arm as she hauls me out of the room.
Dmitri is waiting outside with the biggest smile on his face. “Have fun, ladies?”
“Always.” Elena pulls him in for a heated kiss.
Dmitri pushes her up against the wall. It’s as if they’re on an adrenaline high. The situation becomes kind of awkward.
“Maxim is on his way up the stairs,” Brooks tells me.
Moments later, I see his black hair, then his handsome face. I run to him, and he picks me up in his arms, holding me tight.
“I’m so sorry, baby. It’s time to go now.” Maxim stills when he sees the make-out session between Elena and Dmitri. “It’s time to go!” he calls to them.
Elena disentangles herself. She fixes her hair and pulls her dress back into place.
“You guys go and get a head start. I’ll meet you by the car,” Dmitri says and smiles at Elena before kissing her cheeks one last time.
It’s not until we get halfway through the garden that we hear the commotion behind us.
“There they are!” Dmitri’s voice yells. “Maxim Vasiliev just killed my uncle and is stealing my jewels.”