Chapter 3

TORI

“ T he security downstairs knows nothing about me, Dmitry, or who we are,” Marshall reassures me as he sets our bags down. “They’ll only ever let authorised people in. Dmitry isn’t on the list. If anyone shows up, they’ll call up to you for permission, but like I said, no one knows about this place, so there’s no way anyone should visit. I’d advise you not to allow anyone to come up and call me right away.”

I eye the bag he has for me. “Did Dmitry just let you pack my stuff up?” I ask, arching a brow.

He smiles. “Yes. He actually packed it for me.”

I chew on my lower lip thoughtfully. “So, he thinks I’m at Phoebe’s?”

He nods, not quite meeting my eyes. “Through here is the kitchen,” he continues, pushing a door open to showcase the huge space.

Phoebe gasps and heads in, running her hands over the marble surfaces. “This place is gorgeous.”

“And what happens when he finds out I’m not there?” I ask, heading down the hallway and into the living room. The white carpet feels amazing under my toes, and I sigh in pleasure. After weeks lying on a concrete floor, I didn’t imagine I’d see extravagance again.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” he says, moving over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and staring down at the busy streets below. We’re on the thirtieth floor, and Marshall showed us every possible escape from the building should we need it. But at least the views are amazing.

“Let’s cut the shit, Marshall,” I say, picking up a glass globe that’s nestled in a sleek silver bowl. I examine it before placing it back amongst the other globes. “He knows I’m here. In fact, if I was to check the deeds, he probably owns it, no?”

He pushes his hands into his trouser pockets and almost smirks. “Try the building.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course, he’d own the entire thing.” I look around. “The place screams Dmitry.”

“But still, no one knows he owns it. It’s not in his name. You’re safe here. Plus,” he points to a small grate in the wall, “pull that off, crawl through, and it leads to a safe room with a steel door that’s impossible to get through without the code, which I’ll send to this.” He holds out a boxed mobile phone.

I shake my head. “I don’t want it.”

“Tori,” he mutters, giving me that look that tells me he’s tired of my complaining.

“Isn’t it enough that I’ve given in and come here without fuss? Now, you want me to use a phone from him so he can contact me and track me . . .” I sigh heavily. “No.”

“We’ve already established he knows where you are, Tori. If he wanted to, he’d have you back at the manor.”

“If he wanted to?” I repeat. “So, he doesn’t want to?”

Marshall groans. “For goodness sake, that’s not what I meant. Look, the phone is brand new. I haven’t even opened the box. Look,” he pulls off the cellophane cover, “it’s new.” I hesitantly take it. “You’re gonna have to trust me pretty quickly, Tori. I’ve only ever done what’s in your best interests.”

I narrow my eyes. “There you go again, thinking you know what’s best for me. How do you think I coped before you and Dmitry came into my life?”

He scoffs. “Not very well, if I remember correctly. And let’s not forget, without us, you’d be in prison.”

I glance behind me to check Phoebe isn’t within earshot. “Maybe I should have just handed myself in, then I wouldn’t be in this mess,” I hiss.

“Maybe you should never have set out to get Dmitry in the first place, then none of us would be in this mess.” He heads for the door. “I have somewhere to be. I’ll call in later.”

“Where are you going?” I ask, following him. I hate to admit it out loud, but I feel a lot safer with him around.

“To dig out the weeds in Dmitry’s circle.”

“Marshall, what about Vladimir and Vivian?”

“What about them?” he asks, pulling the door open and turning back to me.

“Will he . . . is he going to . . . yah know, end them?”

He smirks. “End them?” he repeats, his tone teasing, and just like that, I feel like we’re friends again.

I grin. “You know what I’m asking.”

“Just know they’ll pay. Leave the details to us.”

I close the door, resting my hand against it while I think about what he just said. I want them dead, and I don’t know when I became the person that is suddenly okay with those sorts of thoughts.

“Oh, did Marshall leave?” asks Phoebe, sounding sad. I smile, turning to find her holding two coffees. “I didn’t know how to work the machine, but I figured it out in the end,” she explains, handing me one. “There’s another in the kitchen. I thought Marshall was sticking around.”

“Oh god, Phoebs, don’t even go there.”

“What?” she asks innocently, following me into the living room. “This place is amazing.” She gasps, looking around in awe.

“You like Marshall,” I accuse, taking a seat and tucking my feet under my backside.

She blushes slightly. “It’s an improvement on an abusive child rapist,” she says, arching a brow.

I laugh. “That is very true,” I agree, nodding. “But seriously, this shit is complicated enough without you hooking up with him.”

“Hey, you don’t get to have all the fun here,” she says, joining me on the oversized couch. “Who the fuck chooses white for everything?” she asks, running her hand over the material beneath her.

“Dmitry,” I say, narrowing my eyes accusingly.

She bites on her lower lip. “He’s very persuasive,” she says in her defence.

“Phoebe,” I cry, “you can’t lie to me. After everything I’ve just been through, I need honesty.”

“I knew you wouldn’t want to come if Dmitry arranged it. And look at this place. I would have missed out on all this.”

“That’s not the point. No secrets and no lies,” I say, and I wince at my own words. “From this point on,” I add to ease my guilt.

“Okay. No more lies or secrets.” She takes a sip of the coffee and screws her nose up, placing it down on the glass coffee table. “He got you the phone?” she asks, nodding to the device.

I take it and open the box. It’s the latest iPhone, and a few months ago, I’d have done anything to get my hands on one of these. “Yep. Brand new. No tracker. New number.”

“So, why do you look so glum?”

I sigh. “Marshall said something to me that hit a nerve.” She waits for me to continue. “I know I wanted this. I’m so angry with Dmitry, and the whole Vivian thing is down to him, but Marshall said if Dmitry wanted to come and take me back to the manor, he would, which means he doesn’t want to, right?”

“I guess,” she says, shrugging.

“Why does that bother me so much?”

She gives a sympathetic smile. “Because you love him, Tori. You can’t just switch it off.”

I bury my face in my hands. “I spent so long thinking about everything while I lay there waiting for him to find me, and I swore to myself that I’d never go back. We’re from completely different worlds.”

“Are you sure they’re your words and not Vivian’s?”

I chew on my lower lip. “Maybe.”

“I know I was against all this,” she tells me. “And, initially, I thought the same because Dmitry is so powerful and you’re so,” she grins, “mental, but you work. And when I saw him last, he looked utterly broken. I didn’t see that power or confidence. Maybe he needs you by his side to feel that.”

I shake my head, knotting my fingers together as I build up the courage to say the words out loud. “We’re not meant to be. Whatever I had with Dmitry is over.”

“And what about the baby?” she asks.

“I can’t think that far ahead,” I mutter.

DMITRY

My father looks different, and as I regard him, he shifts from one foot to the other in a nervous manner. “What’s going on, Dmitry?” he asks, squaring his shoulders. “You pull me from an important meeting, and I have no idea why.”

I turn my chair slowly until I’m staring out my office window at the six men he brought with him and I smirk. “You’re heavy on security today. Anything I should know about?”

“Why am I here?” he snaps, ignoring my question.

I turn back to him and push to stand. He takes a step back, and I revel in the fact he’s jumpy. I’ve never seen this side of him before. If only it was so easy to end him, I’d do it in a flash.

“Don’t look so concerned, Father, it’s just business,” I say with a smile.

I fasten my jacket and head out the office with him behind me. My men are lined up in the living room. When I enter, they stand straighter, and it pleases me that they look nervous too.

I stand before them with my father at one side and Leo at the other. Marshall is at the end of the first row. He’s so used to being outside my circle, he dares not presume he should be by my side. “First of all, I have a new right-hand man. Marshall, join me,” I say clearly. He almost looks proud as he steps up and stands beside Leo. “You will respect him as you did, Nik. Secondly, some of you will be aware that Nikolai is no longer with us.” There’s a few mutters and unsure glances between them. I scan faces, picking out the ones who don’t look shocked. “He betrayed me.” I sense my father stiffen at my words.

“I’m hoping he was working alone.” Leo picks up a box from the table, and I reach inside, retrieving Nik’s lifeless head. The men fidget uncomfortably. “If I find out anyone else was working with him, I will wipe out their entire bloodline. Anyone who feels they cannot stand beside me should leave now because I do not have time for idiots.” Nobody moves as I place the head back in the box. “If anyone has any information, you will be rewarded well.”

I leave the room with my father is hot on my heels. “You think Nik was working alone?” he asks, grabbing the whiskey the second we’re in the office.

“I have no reason to think anyone else is involved.”

“And what about the girl?”

I shake my head when he offers me a drink. “She isn’t talking.”

“What does that mean?” he asks, spinning to look at me.

“It means she is refusing to see me.”

He takes a second to think over my words. “So, she’s awake after her ordeal?”

“She doesn’t want anything to do with me and has made it very clear I am no longer a part of her life,” I tell him, not answering his original question.

He almost looks satisfied as he drains his glass. “And you don’t think she will change her mind?”

“No. Besides, I have no idea where she is.”

“So, that’s it?” he asks, almost smiling.

“You could at least try to sound less happy,” I snap. “And before you suggest it, no, I am not going to get back with Vivian. Where is she, by the way? She’s awfully quiet.”

“You know Vivian,” he drawls. “She’s throwing herself into work.”

I arch a brow. “Because she’s such a hard worker,” I utter sarcastically.

“Actually, she’s stepping up well. I think she’s got things under control.”

“So, you’ll return home soon?”

He doesn’t quite meet my eye. “Soon.”

“Did he believe it?” asks Leo as he enters my office with Marshall.

“I think so,” I reply, watching through the window as my father gets into the waiting car and it pulls away. “He’s stepped up his security.”

“We noticed,” Marshall says.

“Boss, I put the feelers out to the other advisors amongst the families,” says Leo.

I turn to face him with a smirk. “Do you have a group chat or something?”

He laughs. “Your father is losing his grip.” This piques my interest and I lower into my seat, indicating for the two of them to sit also. “He hasn’t been home for some weeks,” he continues. “They’re questioning why he’s spending time here when it was agreed you’d run London alone.”

“That’s good, right?” I ask. “If they’re concerned, they’ll worry about their investments.”

“They already are. The fact he’s spending so much time with Vivian is common knowledge. They feel they’re being left out of the loop so your father can reap all the rewards himself.”

I smile. This works in my favour because everything we earn has to be run past the families and a cut agreed upon for a fair split. I ran my dealings past them just last month. “Interesting,” I mutter. “So, would now be a good time to approach them?”

Leo shakes his head. “No. Let’s keep planting seeds of doubt. They need to feel like they can’t trust him.” He pauses before adding, “And they can’t know about Victoria.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ll think that’s swaying your decision.”

“It is,” I snap.

“You know as well as I do, they won’t allow you to kill him over a non-connected outsider.”

“She’s connected to me,” I growl.

“And when you’re at the top, you can make that clear. But right now, we need to work this to our advantage. Trust me, Dmitry.” I give a stiff nod, even though my trust is wavering with just about everyone.

I dismiss him and pour Marshall a drink. “How is she?”

“Fine.” He takes a sip. “She knows you own the place.”

“How?”

“She’s not stupid, boss. You know that.”

A smile pulls at my lips. “But she still agreed to stay there.”

He nods. “She loves you, Dmitry. She’ll come around.”

“She should be here with me,” I say bitterly. “We need to fight this together.” I ball my fists. “And I fucking miss her,” I admit, instantly regretting showing my vulnerability.

I spent all those nights she was away craving her body, needing her touch. And now, all I want is to hold her and know she’s safe.

“A few nights without you will have her calling, I’m sure. She’s just angry at the world right now.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I should get back there,” he adds, standing.

“Do you think she’ll let you back in?”

He grins. “Yep. She looked terrified when I went to leave.” His smile fades when I narrow my eyes in annoyance. She’d rather Marshall there than me . “I mean, she’s just all over the place, boss. I’ll stick around until she’s feeling less jumpy.”

I give a nod. “Send me a picture,” I add.

“A picture?”

“Yes, Marshall, a fucking picture,” I snap. I need to see her, even if it’s not face-to-face like I crave.

He leaves, and I head for the dungeon. Being in there makes me feel closer to her somehow. I sit on the bed and pull out my mobile, flicking through pictures of her. She doesn’t know I have them as most were taken when she was either blindfolded or preoccupied. I run my finger over one of her laughing. It’s my favourite because she looks happy, and I realise it was taken before they began twisting things. And before she took the life of another.

My phone beeps and Marshall’s name comes up. I open the message and it’s a telephone number.

Marshall: I forgot to give you her new number. She didn’t want you to have it.

I save it under ‘ Krasota ’ and open a new message. It might be a mistake, but right now, I need her to know I’m thinking of her.

Me: Krasota, I miss you so much. Forgive me. D x

I wait a few minutes but receive no reply. I’m not surprised, and I didn’t expect one. It doesn’t mean I’ll give up, though. When Marshall texts me again ten minutes later and the picture of her sleeping form fills my screen, I relax. She’s safe. She’s alive. I am grateful.