Chapter 13 - Dante
I pulled up at the warehouse and stepped out of the car.
I must have slammed the door shut behind me a little too loud, because when I did, I saw four of the guards look toward me with curiosity.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, walking past them.
The truth was, I’d been in a bad mood for the past three days. Ever since Alisa and I fought, she had tried damn hard to avoid me. The house no longer felt like mine. It had turned so very quiet, hostile even, and I found myself walking around on eggshells, not wanting to piss her off any further.
What was her deal anyway?
Even that day at the gym, something had been on her mind the whole time. Of course, she won’t tell me what it was, nor did I expect her to, but was it so hard to be civil? How the hell did things escalate so damn fast?
I rolled my shoulders, needing to shake her off my mind before I walked into the warehouse. Federico had called with this shipment inspection, and maybe that was for the best. I needed the distraction, needed something other than Alisa’s rejection bouncing around my skull.
I stepped inside, and it took a second to feel in control amidst the chaos.
Huge crates over thirty feet in height were being opened in one corner, while on the other, machines were being tested.
Slot machines, mostly new models for our high-end casinos, complete with custom programming that gave us just the edge we needed.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” my oldest brother Caspian called out, spotting me from where he stood overseeing the operation. As the Pakhan, he always positioned himself where he could see everything—he was a control freak, through and through.
I raised a hand in greeting. “Traffic was hell.”
“More like you forgot what daylight looks like,” Giovanni laughed, striding over to punch my shoulder. He was the second oldest, but sometimes acted like he was still twenty-one. “We were taking bets on whether you’d even show.”
“Why wouldn’t I have?” I muttered, scanning the shipment.
“Because it looks like you’ve been playing hooky.” Gio raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t been showing up much. What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on,” I lied. “Is everything on schedule?”
“Why the rush?” Federico asked, having joined us moments ago with the rest of our brothers. “Hot date?”
I snorted. The only woman I wanted was currently avoiding me like I had the plague. Not that they knew that.
“Just asking,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Got things to do later.”
“Like what?” Luca scoffed. “You’ve been a ghost for weeks. The club owners of the places you visit are starting to ask if you died.”
“Maybe he’s got a girl,” Achille suggested with an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows. “That’s the only reason Dante Lebedev disappears.”
They all turned to look at me with varying degrees of interest. I tried to keep my face straight, just to stop them from thinking that they’d hit the nail on the head.
“No girl,” I lied smoothly. “Like I said, just been busy.”
“Busy with what?” Giovanni pressed, grinning. “Last time you went off radar for this long, it was because of that redhead from Miami. What was her name? Candy? Cathy?”
“Cassandra,” Caspian corrected without looking up from his clipboard. “And whooo, was she was trouble.”
I tried hard not to roll my eyes. She wasn’t trouble. She had been just a distraction. The real trouble was currently locked up in her room, giving me the cold shoulder. And as for me? I’d like her to stay locked up in there, away from my brother’s prying eyes.
My brain scrambled for an excuse, for any excuse, and I knew I landed on a mistake only after I said it. “I’ve just been… playing golf.”
The silence that followed was so profound you could’ve heard a pin drop across the warehouse. Then Giovanni burst out laughing so hard he had to bend over.
“Golf?” Federico echoed, his eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline. “You? The same guy who said golf was just an excuse for old men to drink before noon?”
“People change,” I muttered, scowling at their reaction. I mean, I could have been playing golf. Was it that hard to imagine me on the course?
“Come on, who is she? Must be someone special to turn you into a golfer,” Luca snorted.
“I’m serious,” I insisted, wondering how I’d gotten myself into this lie. Golf, of all things. Couldn’t I have said boxing? Or literally anything else? “Thought I’d try something new. It’s… calming.”
Caspian finally looked up, his sharp eyes studying me. “Dante Lebedev, seeking calm? Now I know something’s wrong.”
Before I could defend myself further, one of our guys called Caspian over to inspect something. Thank god.
For the next hour, I tried to focus on work. The machines needed to be checked for any tampering during shipping, and all the paperwork had to be confirmed when inspectors came around to the casinos. With this being one of our legal operations, everything had to be airtight.
But the work was mundane, the kind of operation we could do in our sleep. Yet it required enough attention that I couldn’t completely lose myself in thoughts of Alisa.
Still, not so engrossing that she didn’t occasionally creep in. More than once, I tried to think over that day at the gym, with her naked below me, having the time of her life one second and then, nothing.
What exactly had happened? Had I done something wrong? Said something wrong?
But no matter how hard I thought about it, I only seemed to reach one conclusion. It hadn’t been about me at all, or even us. Whatever had been plaguing her mind had snapped, and she took it out on me.
What happened that day outside the courtroom?
“Earth to Dante.” Achille waved a hand in front of my face. “That’s the third time you’ve checked the same machine. You sure you’re okay?”
“Fine,” I grunted, moving to the next one. “Just tired.”
“From all that golf?” he tried to tease, but didn’t push further when I flicked him off.
I moved on to inspect the next machine, and with my brothers watching, tried to make sure I focused and didn’t goof up again. I needed it to look like things were normal, because if they caught wind of the secret I’d been keeping, I’d be facing a very angry family indeed.
Four years ago, it was Caspian who had discovered Alisa’s father, Marc Montes, had been digging into us.
Though most of my siblings didn’t know much about how deep our relationship ran, Caspian did.
He tried to be there for me, to the best of his ability, in the aftermath of our breakup.
If he now discovered I’d put myself back into that complicated situation, with her father still being her father, he wouldn’t be happy about it.
Not one bit.
“Dante—” I heard Caspian call to me, and I turned, but just then, I heard it.
BANG.
“What the—?” I screamed, but just then, the glass shattered from the high windows.
“Cover!” Caspian shouted, jumping behind the nearest crate for protection.
In panic, I dropped low and drew my gun from the holster under my jacket.
Then, I heard them. Rounds and rounds of gunshots, all relentless. The windows kept shattering, and our men scattered to hide. I tried to follow the range of the bullets and earmarked the positions from where they were coming.
A few came from the catwalk above, while the remaining came in through the side entrance.
“Luca, Achille—take the ones above!” Caspian ordered. “Gio, Fed—with me on the side entrance. Dante—”
I placed a finger on my lip and met Caspian’s gaze, pointing to the side entrance. Caspian understood and nodded, permitting me to move.
But instead of going to the side entrance, I circled around toward the back, where I’d noticed the door had been left ajar. Something told me this was a setup and that our attackers were trying to trap us between the only two entry and exit points.
I ducked behind a forklift, peering around to see three men entering through the back.
And then I saw him. The fourth man, hanging back, giving orders. He wore all black, his face partially obscured by a ski mask, but I’d recognize those tattoos anywhere—a snake winding up his neck, disappearing into his hairline.
He’d been one of the men at the auction, standing guard while Alisa was paraded onto the stage like cattle.
My blood boiled. One of the bastards who’d put Alisa in danger, who’d tried to sell her to the highest bidder, was standing right in front of me.
Gunfire erupted from the main floor, and I looked over quickly to see that my brothers had it not only covered, but a couple of the intruders were on their knees being rounded up by our guys. Then, I turned back to the snake-tattoo guy and saw them all retreating.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
I sprinted low across the warehouse floor, using the crates and machines for cover, and kept my eyes on the man. He disappeared through the back door, and I followed, bursting into the alley behind the warehouse.
He was halfway to a waiting car when I shouted, “Stop right there, you piece of shit!”
He whirled around with his gun raised, but I was faster. I fired once, hitting his hand. The gun clattered to the ground as he howled in pain.
I closed the distance between us in seconds, tackling him to the grimy asphalt. We rolled, his elbow catching me in the ribs, but I had rage on my side. I pinned him down and pressed my gun to his temple.
“The Volkov crew,” I snarled, yanking down his mask to see his face clearly. “Who do you answer to?”
His eyes widened in recognition. “You’re the buyer,” he gasped. “From the auction.”
“And you’re the scum who helped kidnap an innocent woman,” I pressed the gun harder against his skin. “Talk. Who ordered the hit on us today? Who’s behind your operation?”
He laughed. “You think I’d tell you? I’m already dead if I—”
“You’re dead if you don’t,” I cut him off, pulling back the hammer of my gun for emphasis.