Chapter 15 Dimitri
DIMITRI
When I get to Yuri's house, I walk in without knocking. My brother sits behind his desk with a burning cigar already pinched between his fingers and a bottle of whiskey open beside his elbow. He glances up when I enter and gestures toward the chair across from him.
"You look like shit." He pushes the humidor across the desk toward me. "When's the last time you slept?" Usually, I'm the one asking him that, but lately, I've started to mutate into a younger version of him.
"Don't remember." I take a cigar and clip the end before lighting it with the matches in the box. "Couple days ago, maybe." He snorts out a laugh but doesn't actually find my joke humorous. We have too much at stake to sit around cracking jokes.
"This situation with the witness is consuming you." He leans back in his chair and studies me through the smoke. "You're obsessed with her."
"I'm handling it." I draw on the cigar and let the smoke fill my mouth and rest on my tastebuds before exhaling. "She's staying at the penthouse now where I can keep an eye on her."
"In your home?" Yuri's voice carries a hint of warning. "Do you really think that's smart? You know they'll come looking. And when they figure out who she is to you, it's a target on your back too."
"Then so be it." I tap ash into the tray on his desk. "Someone has to protect her."
"You're being foolish, Dimitri." He has always tried to parent me, even long before our father died. I hate it, but he's the "boss" and if I protest too loudly, it makes waves. I just have to tolerate him. "They're going to come after you."
"Let them try." I take another drag from the cigar. "I've got security locked down tighter than it's ever been."
He takes another drag on his cigar then lets the smoke escape through his nose as he sips his whiskey.
We share a moment of silence as he stares at me, probably thinking how stupid I am, but he himself was foolish not all that long ago.
Still, I don't need to remind him how he buried his son after marrying the woman to whom he was betrothed only days after the boy died.
"But you didn't come here to be lectured," he says plainly. "So tell me why you're here."
Nothing gives me greater displeasure than to bring up this topic, but it has to be done. We have a major issue in our organization and it must be dealt with.
"We have someone inside…" I sigh and avoid eye contact.
"Someone put an intimidating image of the crime scene in Tatiana's staff locker to threaten her and scare her off.
It means someone has access to our restricted employee areas that have no security cameras, and this all happened after we raised security measures. "
My next drag on the cigar pulls out the hints of sweet cherry and tart tobacco. I let it roll across my tongue before blowing it out in a steady stream.
"A mole," Yuri snarls angrily. "You've got someone on the inside working against you?"
"We've got someone on the inside," I correct him. "This isn't just my problem anymore. Whoever's doing this has access to our operations and they're using it to help our enemies."
Yuri stands up and walks over to the windows overlooking his property. "Do you remember the man who tried to kill Lev?"
"In his own home…" I nod. "Someone he trusted enough to let inside." I don't forget things easily. I know this all has to be connected.
"And Vadim's situation in Serbia," Yuri continues without turning around. "His own crew member turned on him. Sold information to the people we were hunting."
"Ruslan." The traitor's name tastes bitter. "That was the last straw."
"We didn't realize it at the time, but our enemies aligning against us created another problem." Yuri finally turns to face me. "They found weaknesses in our organization. People who could be bought or threatened into betraying us."
"The casino hit with Yakov blew it wide open." I drain my whiskey and pour another. "His death showed us exactly what we're dealing with."
"Yakov paid the ultimate price for being caught between two sides." Yuri walks back to his desk and sits down. "But his execution brought us the clearest picture of what's actually happening—our enemies aren't just attacking from outside anymore. They're operating from within."
He's preaching to the choir. I know all of this, and though I'm sure he's thoroughly pissed, this new inside job doesn’t seem to be that much of a shock.
"So, what do we do about it?" I lean back in my chair. "We can't trust anyone until we root out whoever's working against us."
"You're not wrong. I can pull some of my best men who I know are faithful… send them your way." Yuri picks up his cigar again. "We'll need to weed out anyone who hasn't been properly vetted. Then go over everyone again."
"What about Malcom?" We already know Malcom is down to nothing. He's desperate, scrambling to hold onto anything he has left. He'll join with any Veche brother left, and we already know Yaros had ties to the Balkans.
"What are you proposing?" He watches me carefully as he rolls the cherry of his cigar into the ashtray.
I tap ash from my cigar and think for a moment. "Well, we have the footage showing the car those men got out of. They were smart enough to avoid their faces being seen. But if we can run that plate, find out who was driving…"
"You want to go on the offensive." Yuri considers this. "Start taking them out before they can make another move."
"They killed Yakov on my property," I say a little too eagerly.
"They threatened Tatiana. They've proven they're willing to operate openly against us.
So yeah, I want to hit back." I can’t stop the rush of anger that boils up.
I'd have let Volodin slide. Hell, I'd have let it slide that they did it on our property too. But coming after the woman who’s mine is crossing a line I can't ever forgive.
"I'm on board," he says. "You have the go-ahead to move against any Kozlov we can identify and locate. But there's something else we need to discuss."
"What?" I already don't like where this is going based on his tone.
He has that stupid look in his eye that says he knows his orders aren't going to sit well with me.
I was raised with this man. I've known him from the womb.
He can't let any emotion pass across his face without my knowing it, and I'm about to spit fire just based on the way his eyes narrow on me.
"If you want to keep Tatiana safe, you may need to send her away for a while." He holds up his hand when I start to interrupt. "Hear me out… She's a target now. The Kozlovs know she witnessed the execution and they're actively trying to find her. Keeping her at the casino makes her vulnerable."
"She's safer with me than anywhere else," I protest, setting my cigar down and leaning forward. "I'm not sending her away."
"You're being stubborn about this." Yuri's eyes darken to midnight, and he sits back, leaving his cigar burning in the ashtray. "Your attachment to this woman is clouding your judgment."
"My judgment is fine," I snarl, standing up. "She stays with me where I can protect her properly."
"And if they breach your security again?" he challenges, lifting both eyebrows in a question. "If they get past your guards and into your penthouse? What then? They're in your fucking house, Brother. Inside it."
"That won't happen." I stamp out the cigar and straighten my shirt. "I've tripled security on the top floor. No one gets in or out without my explicit permission."
"You can't watch her every second of every day." Yuri stubs out his cigar hard and makes the entire ashtray slide a few inches. "Eventually, you'll have to leave her alone, and that's when they'll strike."
"Then I won't leave her alone." I turn toward the door while still speaking. "I'll assign someone I trust to watch her when I can't be there."
"Who?" Yuri stands as well. "Your mole?" His words are a slap in the face, and maybe he's right. But I trust my men, and I won't dignify that with a response.
"You're making a mistake," he calls after me. "You're letting your feelings for this woman override your common sense." I could've said the same thing about him one year ago, but I bit my tongue rather than suffer his wrath.
"Maybe." I pause with my hand on the doorknob. "But she's mine to protect and I'm not giving that responsibility to anyone else."
"Just be careful." His tone softens slightly as I open the door, and I know what he's saying comes from the heart. "I don't want to lose my brother because he couldn't see past his obsession with a woman."
"You won't lose me," I say, stepping out. "I know what I'm doing."
There's no point in sitting around discussing this more. Nothing I say will change his mind. He's right that I'm obsessed with Tatiana, and he's right that sleeping with her only made it worse. But he's wrong about my judgment being clouded.
I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm keeping her close where the Kozlovs can't reach her. I'll make sure she stays alive long enough for us to eliminate the threat against her. And I'll have her in my bed every night and slowly break down the walls she's built between us.
Yuri doesn't understand because he's never felt this way about anyone except his wife, which was more of an arrangement of necessity.
He doesn't know what it's like to want someone so badly that the thought of them being hurt makes you willing to start a war.
He doesn't know what it's like to finally have what you've been craving, only to realize it's not enough and you need more.
But I do. And I'm not letting Tatiana go for any reason.
Not for safety. Not for strategy. Not for anything.
She's mine, and she's staying exactly where I want her.