Chapter 24 - Angelika #2
Ending the call, I am rich with relief and happiness.
Diomid pulls me into his arms. “So, I don’t have to watch you leave me again,” he whispers, kissing my neck.
“Never,” I say, tilting my head to the side, wrapping my arms around his waist. He’s just about to lift me into his arms when his phone rings.
“It’s Marlen Popov,” he says, tense, as he flicks the screen to answer the call.
“Marlen,” he growls. His voice is authoritative, strong.
“I just had a conversation with Bardil. What the fuck are you playing at, Diomid? You threaten my family, so I will rain hell down on yours. Your precious little girlfriend—you will lose her. Maybe you’ll learn a lesson or two about respect if I make you watch me putting her out of her misery…”
“Marlen, did Bardil tell you the full story?”
“He’s my brother, asshole. I trust him more than I trust you.
Don’t try and twist things to make him wrong about this.
You put bombs at his event, and you attacked him on the street.
No matter how you look at it, you’re in the wrong, and I am well within my rights to act on it, taking revenge on something you started. I’m coming for you. Watch your back.”
Diomid sighs in frustration, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
I stand tense, listening to everything around me.
“Marlen, the party he was hosting…”
But Marlen snarls and hangs up.
“Apparently, the conversation is over,” Diomid sighs.
“What are we going to do? Do you think he knows what Bardil was doing at that event?” I ask, nervous and worried for Diomid’s life.
“I doubt it, but I don’t think it matters.
He wants to protect his family, even if it means covering for his brother’s black market deals.
He can deny the dark stuff and play up the fact that we attacked first—never mind that you were kidnapped and that’s what triggered the whole thing,” Diomid is thinking out loud, pacing in the living room.
“Dio, we need to tell my family,” I say carefully.
“Chances are, they are already getting the same threatening call from Marlen. He knows who you are; he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten your brother, too.”
I chew the inside of my cheek, worried this will ruin the peaceful agreement Jaroslav just made with us, the marriage, the alliance. He’ll be furious that Diomid let me get involved in the auction operation.
“Let me call Jaroslav now, then. Let’s get ahead of it,” I say, holding out my hand to take the phone.
“No, I’ll call him; it should be me,” Diomid says, searching for Jaroslav’s number.
Before he presses to call, though, Jaroslav is calling him.
I groan and scrunch my nose. Before Diomid answers, he pulls me close and kisses my forehead. “No matter what, princess. You’re mine. Nothing will change that.”
His reassurance settles me.
“Jaro, I assume Marlen just called you?”
“Yes, he fucking called me, what the hell is going on?”
“Bardil came after Angelika this morning, and I threatened him. He obviously ran to Marlen with a very one-sided view of events and…”
“Bardil came after her? Where the hell were you? You’re already proving you can’t protect her now, causing the entire Popov family to want to hunt her down. How can I let her stay with you when Marlen is coming after her?”
“Jaro, I already have a plan,” he says, confident and in control.
Jaroslav sighs. “It better be a fucking brilliant plan,” he scoffs.
“We found out that Bardil is in debt to another family, one I have connections with, so I can get in touch with them and tell them he can’t pay. We’ll team up with the family and make it clear to Bardil and Marlen that we won’t back down until he stands down.”
“A standoff,” Jaroslav huffs. “Fine, do it, but in the meantime, bring Angelika home until this has blown over.”
“No, she’s staying with me. And you need to stop underestimating your sister. She’s the strongest, bravest person I know. Hands down. I will protect her with my life, with everything I have, but she doesn’t actually need protection, Jaro. She’s fucking brilliant.”
Jaroslav trips over his response, taken aback by the way Diomid stands up for me so firmly.
“Uh, ok then, she can stay with you. Call those guys now and update me when it’s done.”
Diomid doesn’t waste any time getting to work. As soon as he hangs up with my brother, he dials his contacts.
I stand behind him, placing my hands on his shoulders. I lean over him and kiss his cheek. “I’ll make us some dinner and let you work,” I whisper against his ear. He touches my hand, pulling me back before I leave.
“I’ll never let you go, Angel. You’re my entire world. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I smile, then walk away, heading into the kitchen.
While I make stir fry, I listen to Diomid.
He calls the family that Bardil owes money to.
They’re more than happy to team up with him, and while they agree that they don’t want an all-out war with the Popovs if it can be avoided, they think it’s a great idea to use the strength of two families to force Marlen to back off.
“Three families,” I hear Diomid say. “Yours, mine, and the Shevchenko family.”
It makes me smile.
***
After setting up the agreement and forming a new temporary alliance against Bardil and Marlen, Diomid calls Marlen.
The guy is furious. Livid. Tear his own hair out, kind of mad. But there’s nothing he can do. Even he knows that he’s outnumbered.
He screams at Diomid, swearing, cursing him, but by the end of the call, he’s admitted, as reluctantly as it comes out, that he will not be pursuing his threats against me or Diomid of our families.
The last people Diomid calls are my brothers, to let him know that things are sorted.
It’s late by the time he tosses his phone aside and flops down onto the sofa next to me.
“I never want to hear that thing ring again,” he laughs.
“But you did it, it’s over,” I smile, crawling onto his lap.
“For now. Marlen is angry; he’ll find another reason to come after us. But he won’t do it for a while.”
“Alright then, seeing as we have some time… do you want dinner… or do you want to take me to bed?” I grin, scrunching my nose at him.
His cock is instantly hard.
“Princess, you already know the answer.”
He scoops me into his arms and carries me upstairs, lying me down on the bed and pinning me beneath his gorgeous, massive body.