Chapter 11 Dante
DANTE
The buzzing of my phone startled me from a dream. I groaned when I saw Lorenzo’s picture on the screen. This wasn’t going to be good news.
“What fucking time is it?” I asked when I answered.
“Midnight.”
“What are you doing calling me at this time? I’ve got an early class tomorrow.” Alex’s class. That was going to be torture.
“None of that matters right now. Nikolai showed up at my house, and he’s under my protection. I need you here to help me when someone comes looking for him.”
He was at Lorenzo’s house? This was even worse than I’d expected. “What the fuck is going on? Did you kidnap him?”
“No, he came to me after being beaten by his father.”
I hated that Dimitri’s actions didn’t surprise me. “Someone really needs to off that bastard.”
“We do. So get over here and help me with that.”
Why did I keep letting myself be pulled into family business? I’d swear it was the last time, then as soon as Lorenzo called me, I was right back in again.
“I told you I want out. I’ve got a position at Dumonde University. I’m not your muscle to order around.”
“Dante.”
I could keep arguing, but what was the point? Ultimately, I would give in. How could I say no with Nikolai’s life at stake? Somehow, there was always a good reason to get involved. “Fine, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Lorenzo had called Rafe too, and we arrived at almost the same time. Since Rafe didn’t know how to be serious, he immediately started teasing Lorenzo about tucking Nikolai into bed and soothing him. Then Lorenzo informed us that Remington had forbidden him from touching Nikolai again.
I knew that compared to the men who ran other criminal families, Remington was practically a teddy bear, but I hated that he felt like he could command us to do his bidding.
It wasn’t right that he had so much power over our lives.
He had a boyfriend. Who was he to keep Lorenzo from being with Niko if that’s what he wanted?
Hopefully, he’s the man who’s going to prevent a war between your family and the Russians.
Still, he pissed me off. “You’re not really going to listen to Remington about this, are you? If you like Nikolai as much as it seems—”
“Stop,” Lorenzo snarled. “Nikolai doesn’t belong in a family like ours. He deserves to get away from danger, violence, crime. He needs a chance to thrive somewhere he doesn’t have to worry about dying all the time.”
“How do you know what he wants?” I asked.
Lorenzo scowled at me instead of responding. I wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing with him, especially when I had wanted to get away from those same things.
“Fine, I get it. Let’s just see what happens.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lorenzo asked.
Rafe answered before I could. “You’ve never talked about a guy like this before.”
I wanted to push harder and force him to really consider what he wanted. As if I would put up with them doing that to me, but I could tell Lorenzo was close to losing it.
Lorenzo growled. “That’s enough. We’ve got to make a plan. It’s not going to take a genius to figure out this is one of the places Nikolai might’ve gone.”
“Well, Dimitri is certainly no genius, as far as I know,” Rafe said.
“He’s not,” Lorenzo agreed. “But he’s vicious. He needs this alliance. The last thing he wants is for his son not to show up at the wedding. So, yeah, he’ll likely come here.”
Rafe studied our older brother for a moment. “Why did Nikolai come here? Was he that sure you’d protect him?”
Why couldn’t Rafe see how worked up Lorenzo was? “Where else was he going to go? His father kept him isolated. It’s not like he has friends or any of his own money.”
“True, but why would he think an enemy family was going to protect him?”
Was Rafe serious? “Have you met Lorenzo? He exudes protectiveness. He’s the first person most people who’ve met him would come to if they needed protection.”
“He’s also scary as hell when he wants to be,” Rafe said. “But I bet he was gentle with Nikolai. I bet he made it so good for him.”
“Oh my God, shut up,” Lorenzo yelled. “Show some fucking respect.”
“For you or for Nikolai?” Rafe asked.
“Both.”
Despite Rafe’s behavior, Lorenzo agreed to introduce us to Nikolai, but he quickly grew impatient with our presence. Would I be like that if my brothers met Alex? Maybe. Probably. Yes.
“Get started patrolling the house,” Lorenzo demanded. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”
I saluted him, and he added, “Keep alert. Shoot anyone who looks suspicious or acts suspicious or approaches the house.”
Nikolai sucked in his breath. “Oh my God. You really believe he’ll come for me? He hates me. Why would he bother?”
“He took money from Ivanov and promised him you as a groom for his daughter and—” Lorenzo growled. “I won’t even say it. Dimitri doesn’t have what he owes, so he’s going to come get it. If he doesn’t bring you to the wedding, he knows what will happen to him. Ivanov doesn’t leave loose ends.”
“My father doesn’t either.”
“He won’t get to you. He’d have to come through me to do it.”
“Why don’t you stay here with Nikolai,” I said. “Rafael and I can take care of patrolling the rest of the house. Nikolai should have someone here as a last line of defense.” If it were Alex in danger, I would never leave his side.
Lorenzo studied me for a moment. “I think it’d be better to have us all on lookout.”
“That’s a big window, bro,” Rafe said. “Somebody could sneak in here easily. Niko is safer if you’re here.”
“It’s okay,” Nikolai said. “You don’t have to stay.”
Lorenzo laid a hand over his. “I’m staying. I just don’t like my brothers thinking they’re in charge of this operation.”
No shit. He always wanted to be in charge, but Rafe and I owed him many times over. We could handle this situation without him standing over us, and he needed to realize that.
And maybe you need to realize you’ve fallen for Alex just as hard as he’s fallen for Niko.
Rafe had been prophetic when he’d mentioned the large window overlooking the backyard. Dimitri had come right through the window, intent on taking Nikolai, but Lorenzo had thrown him right back out of it.
Rafe and I killed two of Dimitri’s men, but Dimitri managed to get away despite his injuries. Lorenzo was ready to explode, and I wanted to chase Dimitri down and rip his head off.
All I could think about was how I would feel if someone hurt Alex the way he’d hurt Nikolai. I would kill anyone who even touched Alex, much less tried to hand him off to some fucking monster like Ivanov.
I spent the rest of the night at Lorenzo’s house, not about to leave him alone in case Dimitri sent more men after Nikolai.
I’d only managed a couple of hours of sleep when my alarm went off, and I had to shower and get dressed to go teach, as if I could concentrate on a class knowing the danger Nikolai and Lorenzo were in.
I was buttoning my shirt when my phone rang. It was Lorenzo. I really hoped there wasn’t more shit coming down on us. “I’ve got to leave for class in five minutes. What’s up?”
“I need you to stay here. Remington’s coming to discuss our next move.”
I’d hoped I could at least get through my classes before having to plan our method of attack.
I wouldn’t leave Lorenzo unprotected, but I’d made a different life for myself, and I wasn’t giving it up to go back to being a warrior for Remington.
“Didn’t you hear me earlier? I told you I have to work today. ”
“You’re going to have to get someone to cover for you.”
I’d known from the moment Lorenzo called that I would stay if he needed me. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t giving up on having a life separate from our criminal enterprises. I was helping my brother. He needed me, and I’d never turned him down, but I also wasn’t going to make it easy.
“You fucking owe me.”
“I know.” He sounded exhausted, and I knew he wouldn’t make me stay if he didn’t need me.
Lorenzo sent me to watch over Nikolai while he talked to Remington. Even though we hadn’t spent much time together, I was already convinced that Nikolai was head over heels for Lorenzo and would do anything to stay with him, even put up with a family immersed in the same type of crime as his.
Niko was sleeping when I entered the room, so I stood by the window, letting the jumble of thoughts in my head run around in circles.
What was going on with me? Why was I suddenly interested in a student?
It wasn’t just me wanting someone younger.
Nikolai was stunning, but even if he weren’t falling for my brother, I wouldn’t pursue anything with him.
There was no spark there. At least I knew I hadn’t developed some fetish for men his age.
I had no desire to chase after any of my other students.
Alex was the one chasing after me.
And if he wasn’t, would you just let him go?
I didn’t want to think about the answer to that.
It would honestly be easier if it were a fetish I could indulge away from work. This went way beyond that. Alexander was mine. I couldn’t stand the thought of him with anybody else. I wanted to lock him up at my house and not let him leave.
He was a danger to himself. He needed protection. He needed someone to make him take care of himself. I could do that. I would fucking love to do that.
“Are you all right?” Nikolai asked, voice heavy with sleep.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“It looked like you were thinking about something that made you sad.”
I needed to do a better job covering up my emotions. “I’ve got a situation I have to deal with. It’s not sad, just complicated.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head.
Niko studied me for a moment. “Let me guess. You don’t want to tell me because you don’t want Lorenzo to know whatever it is.”
“You’re right that I don’t want him to know.”
He smiled. “I won’t say anything.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mean to, but I have a feeling Lorenzo has ways of making you confess things.”
Color rose in Niko’s cheeks. “I’m not saying that isn’t true, but there’s no reason for him to suspect that we talked. Would he think you were going to confess things to me?”
I shook my head. Did I dare talk to Niko? Lorenzo was going to find out about Alex eventually. Somehow, he always discovered whatever was going on with me and Rafe. “There’s a guy.”
“Ah.” Niko’s knowing smile had me reconsidering the conversation, but I kept going.
“He’s a student.”
“Oh, I see why that’s complicated.”
I scowled. “If I thought you were going to judge me, I wouldn’t have started talking.”
“Sorry. Go on.” I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh.
“If you tell Lorenzo—”
“I won’t. I swear.”
My instincts told me to trust him. My reading of Nikolai was that he was sincere and loyal. “There’s something about this guy. I couldn’t stop noticing him. I tried being an asshole to make him hate me. It didn’t help. I tried ignoring him, and I failed at that.”
“It sounds like he’s really getting under your skin.”
“He is, and then he came and tried to turn in a late assignment, having obviously been in a fight. He was a mess.”
“And you took him in and took care of him?” Niko asked.
“Not then. But I did after I found him passed out on my lawn.”
His eyes widened. “I would never have had the nerve to go to a professor’s house.”
“He’s bold. He goes after what he wants. But he’s also been hurt, and I don’t know… I guess I feel bad for him, but also I understand what he’s going through.”
Nikolai nodded. “When you have family in this business, you tend to understand being hurt and scared. So have you—”
I shook my head. “I kissed him. That’s all.”
“But that’s not all you want to do.”
Not even close. “I want to save him. I want to make him mine.”
“And it’s only the fact that he’s a student that’s holding you back?”
I sighed. “He’s too young.”
“Look at me and Lorenzo. Not that there really is a me and Lorenzo. I just mean that I can sympathize with the age gap thing.”
I smiled. “There is definitely something between you two. My brother is obsessed with you.”
“No, I don’t think—”
I held up a hand. “Nikolai. He would do anything for you.”
“And would you do anything for your man?”
I thought about that and remembered how I’d felt when Alex was lying in my yard, looking half-dead. I also remembered when I kissed him, how soft his lips were, how he’d opened and welcomed me, how he seemed to need me desperately. “Yes, I would.”
“Then find a way to make it work.”
“I’m glad you found a way out and came to get exactly what you want, but my situation is different.”
Niko shook his head. “If I could escape my father, you can find a way to have your man.”
Was he right? Did I dare try?