Chapter Fifty-two
Dmitri Konstantinov
I stood in front of Inna and watched her sit silently on the couch.
Her eyes were swollen from crying, the skin beneath them pink and raw.
Her gaze remained fixed on the floor as if looking anywhere else required more strength than she possessed.
Back in New York, she sealed herself off , burying pain beneath work, distractions, and stubborn determination.
What she was showing me now was what I had expected back then.
Yet here I was, standing like a fool with no idea what to do with a crying woman.
I needed education in this sector. That much was becoming painfully clear.
Water.
Getting her a glass of water seemed like a reasonable place to start. I walked over to what used to be the bar, now stripped of alcohol and stocked with bottled water and soft drinks. I poured a glass, carried it back, and sat beside her.
She looked up at me for a second before scoffing. “You could have led with a hug.”
“Right. We hug first.” I kept my expression neutral. “Good to know the order.”
She rolled her eyes and took the glass. After a small sip, I removed it from her hand and placed it on the table. I settled back and pulled her against me. She resisted for exactly two seconds before her body relaxed into mine.
I let the silence settle. My hand moved slowly over her shoulder while I waited for her thoughts to catch up because I knew she would talk.
“I’m so angry at her.” Her voice was rough from crying. “But I’m scared. The way she talked made it sound as if she were saying goodbye. Like something might happen.”
“I’ll handle it.”
She lifted her head and looked at me. “How?”
“Nothing will happen to her.”
She studied my face as though deciding whether to believe me. “You’ll do that?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Is there anything I can do?” Her voice tightened. “I want to help this once.”
“There’s actually something you can do.”
She straightened immediately, her eyes sharpening with purpose. “Tell me. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I almost smiled. “Your online store is moving too slowly because you’re producing one piece at a time.
Build a proper inventory first. It changes how you market everything.
Right now, you’re selling ideas instead of products.
Also, your marketing still has gaps you haven’t closed.
” The glare she gave me could have killed a lesser man.
“You’ll need a laptop. So get one while you’re out. ”
“That’s your idea of helping?” she asked.
“It makes you happy, doesn’t it?”
She scoffed. “I’m telling you something serious about my mother, and you’re giving me a business lecture.”
“This is the full extent of my knowledge on marriage. The husband protects, the wife smiles, and they live well. Don’t complicate the theory.
” I barely finished the sentence before a punch landed on my chest. “Take Cole with you. He hasn’t been out of the mansion in a while.
Iker is no longer a problem, but that doesn’t mean the guards stay home.
Wherever you go, they go. Is that clear? ”
She bit her lower lip and looked down at her hands. When she lifted her gaze again, her eyes were wet. “She’ll be okay, right?”
“She will.”
She nodded and let out a breath. “Okay. I’ll trust you.” She leaned in and kissed me. The moment I tried to deepen it, she pulled away and rose to her feet. “Maybe spending your money will actually help. I’ll see you later.”
I reached up, caught her wrist, and pulled her back down before she managed a single step. She landed in my lap with a startled groan and grabbed my shoulders for balance. My hand slid to the back of her neck and drew her mouth back to mine.
I gave her a proper kiss and took my time with it, my hand moving from her neck down her back while she gradually melted into me.
Whatever protest she intended to make disappeared somewhere between one breath and the next.
Her fingers slipped into my hair as she shifted closer, and I settled my hands at her hips, feeling the subtle reaction that ran through her body beneath my palms. Needy.
She broke the kiss and looked at me, breathing a little faster, her eyes carrying that familiar warmth. “I missed you,” she whispered against my lips.
I kissed her again, but she pulled back a second time.
“We can’t,” she whispered. “I want our first time to be special.”
“First time?” I stared at her. “Have you erased your memory somehow?”
She laughed and bit her lip as if trying to contain it. “We were faking before, remember? Now that it’s official, this will be our first real time.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said to me,” I said, and her smile only widened.
She held her ground, looking at me with bright, wicked amusement. She knew exactly what she was doing to me and seemed to find the entire situation entertaining.
I would wait. Apparently, she was the only person on this earth who ranked above me in any hierarchy, which was an arrangement I never planned for and was choosing to accept.
But she would pay for every second of this wait. She knew that damn well.
Once Inna left the room to find Cole, I pulled out my phone and texted Akim. We had no time to waste. Whatever was coming had already started moving, which meant we needed to move fast.
Inna smiled before she left. For now, that was enough.
The emergency was to keep her mother alive.
I went back to the office downstairs and picked up the documents her mother left behind.
The flash drive mattered most. Knowing the names on that list was the first step toward keeping her alive.
She was prepared to put herself between her children and whatever came next.
I recognized that particular kind of resolve.
I’d seen it in men who walked into operations fully aware they might never walk back out.
We left the mansion and headed to DK Holdings.
As Akim and I crossed the lobby, I spotted Inna’s father sitting in the waiting area. He rose to his feet the moment he saw me and started toward us.
“I didn’t want to come to the mansion,” he said when he reached me. “I needed to speak with you privately.”
I continued walking. “Let’s do it in my office.”
We took the elevator up in silence. Once the doors opened onto the executive floor, I handed the flash drive and the envelope to Akim.
“I want full profiles on every name on that list. Go deeper than surface records. I want to know who they are, who they answer to, what they’re capable of, and what they’re hiding. ”
“Yes, boss.” Akim peeled away toward his office while I led Reed into mine.
I settled behind the desk and watched him take the chair across from me.
I could offer him a few minutes, only because Inna’s face changed in a very specific way whenever she spoke about him.
She would notice if I disrespected him for no reason.
These days, Inna’s anger was a problem I took seriously.
“Inna’s mother visited me,” Reed said. “I refused to let her meet Inna. She said things Inna shouldn’t know.”
“That she killed Iker?” I asked. “Or the list of people who might come after the family? Or the assets she transferred into Inna’s name?”
His eyebrows rose. “She came to you.”
“She already met Inna. Inna knows everything.” I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the desk.
“Going forward, nobody in your family hides information from Inna. She isn’t twelve years old.
Every time you try to protect her from the truth, you hurt her in ways you don’t see because you aren’t there for the aftermath. ”
I held his gaze.
Reed didn’t look entirely convinced. “We don’t want to drag her into our mess.”
“She’s already in it. Much deeper than either of you realizes.” I opened the laptop. “And I know her better than you currently do. Inna functions better with the truth in her hands than with comforting lies. She’s stronger than all of you give her credit for. Trust that.”
He sat quietly for a moment. The resistance in his expression softened. “How is she?”
I looked at him. The answer that came to mind was simple. Inna smiled. That was enough.
“She should be out with Cole. You can go join them.” I tapped a few keys on the keyboard. “They’ll be happy to see you.”
He leaned forward. “I want to protect them this time.”
“They’re safe with me. The person currently in danger is their mother.
” I watched the change that moved across his face.
It wasn’t an obligation. It wasn’t guilt, and something deeper.
He still loved that woman. Whatever happened between them, however many years had passed since who they used to be, he still loved her.
“What she did by killing Iker means a war is coming from the people connected to him. She’s walking into that alone,” I continued. “You can help by staying in contact with her. I’ll handle everything else.”
“I can help with the research.”
“I work alone, Anderson,” I declared. “What you can do is go spend time with your children. When my wife is happy, everything around me runs better. That’s the most useful contribution you can make.
” I let the silence sit for a second. “One more thing. When Inna asks you anything about your family, answer it. Whatever the question is, tell her the truth.”
He pushed himself to his feet slowly, the effort visible in the movement. “Alright.” He nodded. “Thank you again. For everything.”
I returned the nod and watched him leave the office. After he left, Akim came in carrying his laptop and took the seat across from me.
“There are four men on the list.” He turned the screen slightly toward me.
“Three carry influence inside the Mexican government. One is a businessman. None of them are clean, but they have a strong public image. The businessman is the real concern. He ran parallel operations with Iker for years. The network he built underground is solid, and his people were close enough to Iker that they’ll feel the gap immediately. ”