Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ivan
Poppy couldn’t fire me, but the words were enough to set me ablaze.
As if she could walk me out of the front door herself, and I would leave that easily.
She had another thing coming. I pressed my head against the wall and contemplated going for a run or doing push-ups or anything to get this feeling out of my limbs—this restlessness.
Then she’d gone and tried to derail me from my quest to find out more about this engagement by telling me I’d taken her virginity.
Fuck.
That made everything more complicated. I untucked the gun from my pants and placed it on the nightstand.
I paced until my legs burned. The ritual would steady me: a hundred push-ups, a thousand tiny repetitions until the rage turned into something that could be directed instead of exploding.
I started fast, my breath coming in hard and even.
By the time I hit fifty, my focus had sharpened into a cold and useful thing.
Then I did another set, sweat started to roll down the sides of my face, but I still didn’t stop until my vision was blurred and I could hardly breathe.
As far as I knew, I’d never been anyone’s first, and being her first made this heavier. I’d thought over the entire night so many times, I knew she hadn’t bled. But apparently… not everyone did.
I shot off a quick text to Dimitri. I needed to meet.
Then I shot off another to Don. They would be back before dinner. Jane wasn’t worried about continuing to stay at the library and was about ready to come home anyways.
It took them twenty minutes to get home, and I was out of the door without a glance at either of them. I had plans to make, torture to schedule, and a brother to fill in.
Dimitri was waiting for me at his favorite Italian restaurant with a glass of wine in his hand. It was still so strange to see him in a five-piece suit instead of turtle necks and cargo pants. This was an upgrade, even if it was still odd.
“I have to say, I was a bit surprised to get this meeting,” Dimitri took a sip out of his glass and watched me sit with his predatory gaze.
“Cut the shit, you’ve had Benson watching me.”
He shrugged, but he didn’t deny it. “So for what do I owe the pleasure?”
A glass of water was placed in front of me, and I wondered if I needed a glass of wine too.
After the day I had… I could get sloppy drunk, but I knew if I did that, then I would have to rely on Don longer than I planned, and I didn’t want to put that on him.
“I’ll have a glass of wine.” I was a glutton for punishment.
“He’ll have what I’m having, it’s delightful.”
I screwed up my nose. Delightful? Who the fuck was this man, and what had he done to my broody, grunt-filled jerk of a brother?
The waiter wasted no time bringing the wine and then disappearing. I stared at the glass as if it would bite me. He’d described it as delightful, and now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to even try it.
Could I call the waiter back and order a beer? Did a place like this even serve beer?
“I’m in politics now, Ivan, I have to be personable. I want everyone’s vote, you see.” Dimitri smirked as if he read my mind.
I nodded. “I wanted to meet up because I need to know everything there is to know about Donovan Madden, and if anyone would have that information, it would be you.”
Dimitri leaned back in his chair and watched me for a few antagonizing seconds before he leaned forward on the table, his fingers steepled. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain Fairchild, would it?”
I scowled. “Does it matter?”
Dimitri's lips curled into a smirk. “Maybe. I know very little of him, but his family is another matter entirely. His father’s name was in one of our father’s books.
They own the rest of the docks in the port, which we can’t touch.
I would put money on it that they are trafficking, and if they aren’t, they’re selling weapons. ”
“What can we do?” I leaned forward to match him.
“What do you mean? There isn’t really much we can do, legally.”
“How do we take them down?” I asked, finally. I was getting tired of him staring at me in such a creepy, satisfied way.
“Since when do you care? I thought all of this was below you, Brother.” Dimitri watched the people around us; none of them cared about what we were discussing or who we were. They were all wrapped up in their own lives and conversations.
I looked down at my lap. “He put his hands on her.”
When I looked up, Dimitri’s eyes were molten, and his jaw was clenched. “What do you mean?”
I didn’t know if I could talk about it without getting upset. I didn’t know if I could replay the events without going to hunt the bastard down afterwards. “He grabbed her face and told her that she was going to be his property.”
Dimitri cracked his knuckles. “Sounds to me like your girl is set up in an arranged marriage.”
I shook my head. “Is that even a thing anymore? I don’t think so. She inherited billions. She could leave. She would leave. She wouldn’t let someone…” She wouldn’t, right?
My brother’s face went grim. “They’re still a thing, a lot more than you would think.
Politics and money are what this city is built on, and she’s right in the middle of it.
My guess is, that when you took out daddy dearest, her brothers got scared and started making calls to either protect them or to make them stronger—untouchable. ”
Then it would be another thing that was all my fault. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. I should have stayed in the mountains. Poppy would be living the good life and wouldn’t be dealing with all of this mess because of me…
But then you wouldn’t know her—love her, even. That voice was back.
“What do you want to do?” Dimitri leaned in to the table and watched me with calculated eyes.
“I want to take my time and make sure he suffers.”
Dimitri smiled with all of his teeth, and his eyes went dark. “I like that idea very much, but you’ll need to be careful. If he goes down, their family will find out who did it. They’re almost untouchable.”
The waiter approached our table carefully and took out a notepad. Dimitri looked up at him with a completely different expression. He looked docile. “I’ll have the spaghetti and my brother will have the chicken parmesan.”
I raised a brow. “What if I wasn’t planning on eating?”
“Best two things on the menu, you’ll thank me later.”
“What do we do?” I was busting at the seams. I needed a plan. I needed action because if I didn’t get it, I was going hunting, and I probably wouldn’t come out on the other side.
Dimitri took another generous sip out of his wine glass. “You’re not going to do anything. The grannies have plans for the brothers, and when that happens, the deal will probably be null and void.”
“What if they don’t plan anything until after they’re married?”
He shifted in his seat as he thought about it. “I’ll have a talk with them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like that will make a difference.”
Dimitri smiled. “I’ll tell them I’m getting Scarlett pregnant and they’ll do whatever I want.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
He shrugged. “They want all the babies, I don’t think you understand.”
“Whatever works, I’m running out of time.”