Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
DEMITRI
I toss the phone onto the couch beside me and run my hands through my hair. What the fuck could the ANON guys want with me and what danger could I be in? I’ve been living under the radar for years now and have stayed out of the way. The shit with my family? Doesn’t involve me. The day I walked away and turned on everything I always knew was the last day I had anything to do with them.
“Fuck!” I yell into the empty room.
I stalk to the bedroom and drag on a pair of jeans, an old t-shirt, and grab my leather jacket before shoving my feet into my work boots and heading out of the front door. Plus side of having to leave? I’ll get to see Mia tonight. Wasn’t supposed to, but I’ll take it. I hop in my old work truck and make my way to the bar.
After parking at the back of the building, I slide in through the back door and pull a ball cap low on my head. Just because I haven’t been spotted before now, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be careful. I check the place before stepping from the back hallway, taking note of everyone in the place. I pause to appreciate Mia standing behind the bar, looking like her jeans have been painted on, her long, dark hair pulled back, showing the perfection of her face. Wonder if I could talk her into a non-scheduled night of fun?
Shaking my head, knowing I’m a fool, I slip onto a barstool. I smile at Mia.
“ Krasotka .” Gorgeous.
“Hey.” She eyes me warily. “They’re over there.” She tips her chin in the direction of the group.
“Big crowd.”
“Yep.”
Without a word she sits a shot of vodka in front of me and makes me a water. I slam the shot and pick up the water. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“Yell if you need anything,” she whispers, a smile playing on her lips as she eyes me up and down.
“I’ll do that.” Standing, I tap my knuckles on the bar and turn to face the music.
I slowly walk to the table and pull out the empty chair obviously waiting for me. No one speaks as I sit down and put my glass on the table. I finally look up at everyone, clocking the faces and names I know and the ones I don’t.
“What’s up? Wanna tell me why you dragged me out at ten at night on a Tuesday?” I might only be thirty-three years old, but six a.m. happens early.
“We got some news,” Daniel starts, and I notice he’s trying not to be his usual asshole self towards me. That’s new. Ever since he found out I knew his wife, he’s been about a fraction of a second from trying to kick my ass. The guy might be jacked, but I’m scrappy. Had to be in the life I grew up in.
“Okay.”
I sit and wait for them, not offering anything of my own until I know it’s needed.
“It appears you’ve got a sister.”
“Yeah, she’s in jail. Where I’m guessing she still is, since no one has notified me differently.”
“She’s still in jail,” he confirms. “But it looks like you have another sister.”
“What?”
“Do you remember a maid by the name of Polina? Would have been about twenty-five or thirty years ago.”
I close my eyes and think back. We had a lot of staff in and out of the house growing up, women from Russia moving through. Polina? That one rings a bell. She was my father’s personal maid. Beautiful. She was there one day and gone the next, and my father was on the warpath for months after. Yeah, that tracks.
“I remember a Polina.”
“She was more than a maid,” Grady speaks.
“She was one of my father’s whores.”
Aiden nods gravely, confirming what we all know already. My father was not a good man.
“And when she found herself in the unfortunate situation of being knocked up by my father, she had to disappear. What happened to her? And since I’m sure she’s not the only spawn running around, why is this one so important?”
“Because we think she’s trying to revive the Bratva.”
My stomach drops at the idea. “No.” The word is out before I realize it, and I’m not sure who I’m talking to—them or myself. I can’t help but look to the bar and Mia. I look at the people around the table. “She can’t do that.”
“Whether she can or can’t doesn’t really matter, does it? The fact is, she’s trying. And has some support,” Grady points out.
“Fuck.”
“We’re still looking into it,” Mary, who I know is DEA, offers. “We know she was involved in a rash of high school overdoses recently.”
“Wait, that was her?” I ask, astonished. Everyone in the state has heard about the high school athletes overdosing during games or going crazy at school.
“Partially.” I turn to a man I haven’t met before. “I’m Joker,” he offers. “This is my wife, Ginny. She was working with someone, and now she’s gone rogue and solo.”
I look at the woman sitting next to him. She’s quite beautiful, and I’ve seen her face before. “The music teacher?”
She smiles. “That’s me. And I’d really rather not talk about it, if you already know what happened?”
“Works for me.” I shrug. “You’re amazing with a cello, by the way.”
“Fuck yeah, she is,” Joker mutters under his breath, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s Ginny who kicks him in the shin under the table.
“So, why are you telling me all of this? How do I fit in?”
“You got the inheritance?” Daniel asks.
“I got the legal money, sure. But even more was taken by some alphabet office.”
“Not mine,” Mary offers, smirking at my choice of words.
“That legal money is still more than most will see in their entire lives. And we think she wants it. She needs the capital now that her partner is no longer involved. She needs money to get the support from others that might be waiting for just this moment to come back from hiding.” Nate, who’s been quiet this whole time, finally speaks, looking directly at me.
“And she needs the name to make that happen. More than money, she needs the name,” I mutter.
“Which means she needs you to prove it.”
“As long as you’re alive, you’re a threat to what she wants. Which means you aren’t safe,” Daniel adds.
I rub my hands over my face, trying to clear my head and think.
“Does Aunt Linda know?” I finally ask. Aunt Linda, who knows all, who has a direct line to the President of the United States, who knows how to use every firearm ever made with exact precision, and who is a fucking vault when it comes to secrets, is who met with me when I gave up my family to the feds. Also, don’t ask how I know she has the direct line to the President. I can keep secrets, too.
“Figure that’s our next stop,” Daniel says. “I’ll set it up and let you know.”
“What are you going to do?” Aiden asks.
“I’m not gonna do anything until we know more. I can’t put my life on hold for a possible threat that we don’t know more about.”
“Stay safe out there.”
Out of everyone sitting at this table, Aiden understands the most. He knows what it’s like to have family ties and loyalties you don’t want but can’t get rid of.
“Yeah, I’ll try.”
“Maybe you should think about not staying home for a few days? At least until we can get something set up to keep you safe?” Grady offers.
Unconsciously, I flick my eyes at the bar. Mia’s standing there, talking to another customer, making a drink, completely oblivious about the possible trouble she could get into just for knowing my name.
“I’ll work on that. Let me know what you find out.”
“We would if we had your number.” Aiden smirks.
“You aren’t smart enough to get it on your own?”
“Guess we could always ask our favorite bartender for it,” Nate challenges.
“Fuck you,” I growl at him. “She stays the fuck out of this, understand?”
Nate looks at me, not offended at all, and shrugs his shoulders. We both know they will all come back here if needed to get in touch with me, now that they know Mia has my number.
“Give me a fucking phone.” I hold out my hand. Aiden, trying to hide his smirk, pulls his out and hands it over. I put my contact in and text myself. “There. Now one of you has my number.”
“I’ll talk to Aunt Linda in the morning and call you,” Daniel promises.
“Perfect,” I reply, unable to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
I stand from the table, leaving my untouched water behind, and sit on a stool at the bar.
“What’s going on?” Mia quietly asks when she’s standing in front of me.
“Seems like I have family drama.”
Her eyes widen, and she takes an unconscious step back.
“Are you in danger?”
“I don’t know, but until we can talk to someone tomorrow, they think I need to find a place to stay for a few days.”
“Is it that bad?” She chews on her bottom lip—her tell that she’s nervous, or afraid.
I shrug, not wanting to lie to her. Anything with my family is usually bad news. I watch Mia as she works something out in her head. She makes her decision, then reaches under the bar and pulls out a keychain.
“Go to my house.”
I’ve been working for a year to get an invitation to her house. It only takes my life being under threat to get that invite. Huh.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, go to my house. I’ll close up here as soon as I can and meet you there.”
“Need to swing by my place and pack some things.”
“Whatever you need for a few days. It’ll be fine.”
Not sure who she’s trying to convince, but I’m not going to give her the opportunity to change her mind. I rap my knuckles on the bar and leave the way I came in—through the back.
This is gonna be interesting.