Chapter 20 - Chiara

“Stefano was right all along,” my father complains, sitting down on the sofa of his living room. The housekeeper places a cup of coffee on the table for each of us as I sit down opposite him.

“Dad, what do you mean?”

“The Dubrovs—he warned me about them over and over again, and now our warehouse is damaged, our workers were killed, and my son is missing.” His throat is tight as he speaks. The anguish on his face is clear. “I should have listened to him. He was right all along.”

“Dad.” I lean forward in my seat, reaching out to take his hand. “It isn’t the Dubrovs. We have to look in other directions to try and figure out what”s really going on. I am sure Stefano is just laying low for now, to stay safe, but in the meantime we need to try and find out who”s really behind all of this. It’s going to be ok, though. We can all work together,” I say, trying to reassure him, hating the emotions I sense radiating from his body. My father is such a gentle man, and I know he cares deeply for his family, both Stefano and me.

It kills me to have to keep Stefano’s location from him. I want to tell him that he is safe and I know where he is, but I don’t want to involve him in that mess. He might want to act against Maxim and his brothers, and that will not solve or help anything.

“Dad, just give Maxim and the other Dubrov brothers some time. We”re working on it.”

“What do you mean, ”we?””

“I mean my husband and his family are working on finding out what happened. They will get to the bottom of it.”

My father draws his hand away from me and picks up his coffee. His face is dark, his eyes narrowed and his brows knotted. Muscles feather along his jawline.

I lean back, sighing and feeling hopeless. I just want to help him.

“I need to speak to our allies. They need to be warned against the Dubrovs. We can’t be associated with them like this.”

“Dad,” I say, shocked. “You can’t do that. It isn’t them. They are not the ones behind all of this.”

“All of the business deals that Stefano was seeing to are going to be lost. He is not here to handle them, and we are going to suffer for it. I can’t let that happen.”

My father wants to retire; he”s tired of doing this, handling these things, and I can see it all over his face. I don’t want to force him back into the mayhem, especially not with everything that”s going on.

“I will handle those deals in the meantime. Just until Stefano comes back.”

“You?” he huffs, and I feel a sting of insult.

“Yes, Dad, me. I studied business, and I know how everything works. I can handle it.”

He quickly regains his composure. “Sorry, Chiara, I didn’t mean that you weren’t capable, I just meant—it’s not safe. I arranged a flight for you last night. I want you on the jet this afternoon. You have to get out of here. Somewhere safe. You can stay away until things settle down, or better, you never have to come back. I should never, ever, have forced you into that marriage with those monsters.”

“I am not going anywhere, Dad. I am not leaving you.”

“Chiara, I am so sorry about all of this. I didn’t really understand the position I was putting you in—”

“Dad, my husband can manage your clients until Stefano comes back. He isn’t like his brothers, you know that. He”s different. Let him handle the deals, and that way you won’t lose any business.”

“He isn’t like his brothers, I know, but he is still a Dubrov.”

“It doesn’t matter. He will do this for me.”

My father sits with his head in his hands, trying to find another solution, but I know he won’t. This is his best chance to stop his business from falling apart while Stefano is out of the picture.

He sighs.

“Do you trust him? Maxim?”

“I do. He can handle it without his brothers even knowing.”

“I don’t really have a choice,” he grumbles. “The deals are already arranged, and I can’t lose them.”

The truth is that I do trust Maxim. But last night I realized something else.

I am in love with him.

He is everything I have ever wanted, without knowing that I wanted it.

I can’t lose him, and I can’t have my father talking to our allies, destroying his reputation.

“He won’t let you down, Dad. Everything is going to be okay.”

I sit with my dad for another hour, just letting him know that I am here for him and trying to be as supportive as I can. I”m determined to sort everything out for him. He has always solved my problems, helped me financially, and encouraged me when I wanted to go and study. Now I want to help him.

When he walks me to my car, he pulls me into a tight hug.

“Thank you, sweetheart, I can’t tell you what it means to me that you”re here for me. I wish you”d get on the plane and leave, but you are a grown woman now, and I can’t force you to do that.”

I chuckle. “I don’t need to, Dad. You”ll see. Maxim is going to fix everything.”

***

Sitting at the dining room table in Maxim’s house, we”ve been discussing different options for over an hour.

“I can set up the meeting with our allies, the clients your father has waiting, and let that information out. But then, a few hours before the meeting, I give them a different venue, redirecting them to another location,” Maxim suggests.

“That’s not a bad idea. That way, we can distract whoever is behind this with the false location and keep everyone safe, but Maxim can still meet with the clients. Do we have an empty warehouse available?” Paval asks.

“Yes, and we can ensure it stays empty. No workers, no one in harm’s way.”

Around the table everyone nods, and mutters of agreement fill the air. This plan just might work.

“We need to keep the second meeting venue secret, right up until we tell the client. No one outside of our two families can know anything. And Maxim has to go alone.”

Again, everyone agrees.

Beneath the table, my leg begins to bounce as nervous energy fills my body.

So many things can go wrong, and with the amount of explosives used in the past attacks, I”m terrified that something is going to happen to Maxim, his family, or my father. What if the people who are behind this start adjusting their tactics? What if they up their level of aggression? I bite my lip, and my leg continues to bounce.

I feel Maxim’s hand run over my thigh beneath the table. He glances over at me, his brows slightly knotted, his warm blue eyes questioning.

“Chiara, will you help me in the kitchen? I think everyone needs a drink.”

“I’d love one,” Kiril responds.

“Me too,” Paval says.

“Sure, I can help,” I agree, standing up and hoping that my legs can hold me steady enough.

Maxim wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me against his side as we walk out of the dining room.

“Are you alright?” he whispers.

“What if it doesn’t work, and what if they attack you in a different way? What if I lose you? What if they go after my father at home? What—”

“Babygirl.” His rich, deep voice flows calmly from his lips. “I won’t let anything happen to your father, and I promise you, I am going to be more careful than ever making sure that I stay safe as well.”

“I don’t know, Maxim. I can’t lose you,” I say softly, fear tugging at my heart.

In the hallway, he presses my back against the wall and leans into me, his body covering mine and his arm slipped protectively around my waist. His hand brushes my hair behind my ear. “My beautiful girl, you are not going to lose me. My job is to keep you safe, remember. And I can’t keep you safe if I don’t keep myself safe as well. This plan is a good one.”

I nod, still feeling anxious. He lifts my face with his thumb beneath my chin. “Everything is going to be alright,” he says calmly, his lips curling into that gorgeous grin that sets my heart on fire.

I lean my head against his chest and let him hold me. Slowly, the tension eases out of my body. This man is my rock. He is the one who can calm the storm inside me.

Two days later, the meetings are set, and I sit nervously waiting with Kiril and Paval.

They have one man hidden outside of the first meeting location, and Maxim is in his car, ready to head to the second meeting place he”s confirmed with the clients.

Paval has his phone on speaker, and it sits on the table in front of us. On the other end of the line is the security guy with his eyes on the first location.

“Anything?” Paval asks.

“Nothing yet—”

A loud, distorted blast comes through the phone, and we all jump.

“What was that?” Kiril yells into the phone. Paval leans close to it, looking worried.

“An explosion…warehouse…there was…but—”

The line cuts dead. “What did he say? I couldn’t make out most of it,” Kiril snaps, full of heated tension.

“That was definitely an explosion.” Paval is frantically dialing again.

Their security guy picks up.

“Luke? Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. Listen, it’s bad. Give me a second. I need to call you back.”

We sit tensely. What is going on?

After what feels like an eternity, Paval’s phone rings. He answers quickly.

“Luke?”

“Yes, sorry, I left the scene. The entire warehouse went up in flames. But you need to know something. They made it look like it was the Dubrovs. After the explosion I ran in to see if anyone was there, and there was a very carefully planted piece of evidence, the remnants of an explosive device. The thing is, it wouldn”t have been the actual device used, as it was in the wrong area. Someone put it there, to be found, specifically to frame you.”

“Are you okay? Do you have the device?”

“I was far enough away. I’m fine. I didn’t manage to pick up the device, the place was in flames. I had to get out of there. I was worried there was a second explosive.”

“Get back here.”

He hangs up the phone, and we all stare at each other.

“Get Maxim on the line, let him know what happened. He must get to the second location and meet with our allies. He needs to explain to them what happened and convince them that we”re not involved in all this shit. They need to understand that he just saved their lives.”

Fyodor is dialing Maxim on speaker and pacing up and down the room. All of us have our eyes locked on him as we sit in silence, listening to the phone ring.

“Fyodor. What happened?”

“There was an explosion, as we expected. You have to get to the new location and—”

“I have to go home. My team just let me know that Stefano escaped.”

“Fuck,” Fyodor mutters.

“It must have been him,” Paval snaps.

“We have to get back to the scene and get that evidence before anyone else finds it,” Kiril says.

“Agreed. We have to go now. The meeting is going to have to wait.”

Through the speaker, Maxim’s voice interrupts their conversation. “Guys, I have no idea what”s going on there on your side, but I have to go and find Stefano.”

“No problem, we have things covered. Go.”

Fyodor hangs up the phone and the brothers all stand. “Let’s get to the warehouse. We have to move fast. It might not be the only device that was planted to implicate us.”

“What about the meeting?” I ask, feeling overwhelmed by everything that”s going on.

“We can’t worry about that now. Maxim will call later and apologize and reschedule.”

The brothers start talking between themselves, and I shake my head. We can’t just leave the clients stranded there without knowing what is happening. I study their preoccupied faces.

In that moment, I decide I”ll go to the meeting. They”re busy with things that are too important to interrupt, and Maxim is chasing after Stefano. I can handle a business meeting. I know what the plan was, and I can fill in for Maxim.

I leave the room, heading out to my car. “Where are you going?” Paval asks.

“To the second meeting location,” I say, as calmly as I can manage.

“You can’t do that—”

“I can, and I”m going to. You guys have to deal with everything else, but we can’t lose these clients. I can do this. Trust me.”

Paval’s face tightens for a moment, but then his intense gaze relaxes. “Fine. Stay in contact.”

“I will,” I say with relief. I expected him to fight me on it, and I feel quite pleased that he has enough faith in me to let me do this, though I guess at the same time he didn’t really have much choice. It had to be Maxim or me since it”s my father’s client.

“Chiara,” he calls as I duck into the car.

“Yes?”

“I mean it. Stay in contact with me.” The seriousness in his expression catches me off guard. Is he concerned about me?

Then he disappears and I shake myself into action, heading toward the arranged location of the real meeting.

It doesn’t take long before I arrive and park my car outside. I lean over to grab my handbag, but my attention snaps to the driver’s door as it gets yanked open.

I scream as someone drags me out of the car and a hood is thrown over my face.

I kick and scream again and a hand clamps over my mouth.

“Who the fuck is this, I thought we were meant to capture a guy?”

“I don’t fucking know, just get her in the truck.”

My heart is hammering against my ribcage. It is beating so hard I feel like my insides are going to bruise.

I am lifted off my feet. I can barely breathe. Whoever has their hand over my face is cutting off my air, and the world is begging to spin and grow darker.

I am thrown, heavily, onto a hard metal surface, and then I hear a van door slamming shut.

“Drive,” someone shouts.

“What the fuck is going on?”

The voice causes me to freeze.

I know that voice.

I have known that voice all my life.

The hood is yanked off my face.

I stare into my father’s eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Chiara?” he snarls, his glare angry and his voice full of darkness.