I didn’t have a brother. I was a soldier, and I never felt anything for anyone before. I was incapable of loving. I was broken. Meeting you and your family, healed a part of me. If I’m dead, I am at peace. Please don’t mourn me.
I want you to take over my security company. I’ve already had my attorney put provisions in my legitimate will. You are my beneficiary. I don’t trust anyone but a man I love to run a company I built from nothing. I know you’ll make it flourish.
Take care of Kat for me. She’s going to need you. She’s going to be so hurt, but I couldn’t say goodbye. She’d know I was going on a mission I wouldn’t come back from, and I can’t make her suffer more than she is because of Nat’s death.
Please love her for me.
Kiss your wife goodbye for me. I’ve left her a letter, but I want her to know that I love her and always will. I’m sorry I walked away from you both to do this. I wasn’t strong enough to stay. I’m broken inside, and your love held me together. For that, I’ll always be grateful.
I didn’t get to see Sadie born, and I didn’t get to bury Natasha. I couldn’t do it. It was a new beginning and a painful end. I can’t bury the child I loved and raised as my own, and on the same day hold another angel. Viktor will come for Kat and her child.
I have to do what I can to stop him. I have to take care of Viktor. He is my responsibility and it’s my fault that he’s aimed himself at our family. Imagine if Dante was running around killing people. He’s yours. You’d own it. I have to do the same.
Thank you for being my best friend. You were the ONLY one I’ve ever had, and I was damn lucky. I never wanted or needed a best friend until I had one, and then I couldn’t imagine my life without you. You mean the world to me. You mean so much to me, that I leave you my last sister. I leave her in your care. Please love my child. Love her for me when she mourns me.
Sam will be blessed to have you as a father. He should have been yours from the start. Adopting him was selfish of me. If I could go back, I’d tell him no so he didn’t have to hurt again. Please tell him I loved him to my last minute. Let him read this. I love you, Sam. You were my treasure. I know you’ll make the family proud. You are, and forever will be, a Gideon. I will wait for you, son. Thank you for choosing me.
Greyson, you are my brother. You are my best friend. You understood me, and that was precious. Our journey hasn’t ended here. I’ll see you on the other side, my brother.
Until then.
Love,
Maximillian.’
His words touched him.
He was his best friend, and after reading that, he definitely couldn’t blame him.
Greyson pulled down Emma’s letter and tucked it into his pocket. Because he was his brother, and best friend, he would be embarrassed by whatever was in it.
He didn’t doubt it.
For Dimitri, he’d help him save face.
Heading into the man’s bedroom, he found his wife in one of Dimitri’s T-shirts and sweats, and with him curled into her body. When he heard him approach, he opened his eyes.
Greyson saw the fear.
He’d never seen it before with this man—not ever directed at him.
“Hello, Emma,” Greyson said, leaning down to kiss her on the lips. She smelled like Dimitri, but at least she was inside the Villa and not out wandering the streets.
There was too much on the line.
“Hey, handsome,” she said, smiling up at him. “I missed you today. Look who we found all shot up and bleeding,” she teased.
That was the look of victory in her eyes if he ever saw it himself. His wife was smiling because Dimitri was back, and he was alive.
Barely, but they’d take it.
“Hey, partner. Nice to see you again,” he said, taking a seat.
Calling him that said it all.
Dimitri had bailed on the man he’d sworn to protect, love, and stand with against the crazies in Vegas.
And he’d run.
Dimitri released Emma and tried to push away from her with his one good arm.
“That’s one hell of a memento from this,” Greyson said, waiting for the man to say something.
“He’s going to be good,” Emma said. “He’s back, and that is all that matters.”
Was it?
Dimitri had left a letter, but now Greyson needed to speak to him. It was only fair. The truth had to come out.
“Emma, give me some time alone with our friend. We need to talk.”
She stared at him.
That didn’t sound good.
“What?” she asked.
He didn’t look away from Dimitri—not for a single solitary second.
“Greyson.”
“Emma, now.”
She didn’t know what was going on, but his tone spelled trouble.
“There’s food. It’s on the counter. Give me ten minutes, and then we’ll eat, okay?”
“Greyson,” she said, worried what was about to go down. She hoped she wasn’t wrong.
“Please. Emma, and shut the door.”
She padded barefoot out of the room.
Greyson waited for the door to close. When it did, he reached for Dimitri’s arm so he could assess the wound.
“How bad is it?” he asked when Dimitri flinched away like he was going to be struck.
Yeah, it was bad—more so emotionally than physically. It appeared that Dimitri Gideon was, indeed, broken.
“I’ll live, unfortunately.”
Greyson stared into his eyes. That stormy silvery met that aqua blue. That was the last thing he wanted to hear from the man. He didn’t want Dimitri to die.
He didn’t want him to suffer.
So, he tried to help lead him back. Only Dimitri could do it, and that meant walking beside him through it.
“Thank you for the letter.”
“OH, SHIT!” he said, trying to get up. He’d forgotten that he’d left them. More importantly, he’d forgotten that he’d left some emotionally charged one for Emma.
“You can relax.”
“I need to get Emma’s from the…”
Greyson pulled it from his pocket.
“I imagine whatever you said in it is personal, deep, and full of meaning. I imagine you’d be mortified for me to read it, and for her to read it since you’re alive.”
He didn’t speak.
It was the truth.
He’d said a lot in that letter, and he didn’t want Emma to read it now that he was still alive.
“Here,” he said, handing it to him. “Since you’re not dead, it’s not needed to be said. I’m sure she feels exactly the same as you do. I would bet money on it.”
“Greyson,” he said, holding the envelope. He knew what was in it, and it was personal. It was a goodbye to a woman who he loved more than he possibly deserved.
“I missed you, Dimitri. When you left, you broke my heart. I understood why you went, but it still hurt.”
Dimitri listened.
He owed him that much.
“I forgive you, and now, I need you to forgive yourself too. You need to stop looking at me like I hate you or I’m going to shank you. I would never do that.”
“I deserve it. I left you and Emma unprotected. She could have been hurt. You could have been hurt.”
Greyson pointed at his wound.
“And you paid for that. Are you home to stay? Or are you going to disappear once we nurse you back to health?”
“I’m here until you kick me out of your lives,” he said, adding his third choice to the selection of options.
He touched the man’s head with his big hand.
“Dimitri, I won’t ever do that. You’re not garbage. I won’t ever throw you away. You’re my brother, and I’m glad you didn’t die. Had you, the hole in my heart would have been huge—like the one you feel with Natasha’s passing. It’s the same thing. You’re the same to me.”
He didn’t know what to say.
“The letter…”
“I feel the same. You’re mine. I’m a better person because of you too. It’s not a one-way street, my friend—my best friend.”
Tears filled Dimitri’s eyes.
“I don’t understand any of this. I walked away. I betrayed you both before Natasha died, and still…you still treat me like this. I don’t understand any of it. You should hate me. I hate me. Why do you not hate me?”
Tears began falling.
Greyson wiped them with his thumbs.
“You’re family. You’re mine. Hate is the last thing I will ever feel for you. All I feel is love.”
“But, again, I walked away from you.”
He understood that.
“I’m telling you that there’s nothing you can do to me that will make me hate you. There’s nothing you can do that will make me throw you away. Nothing, Dimitri. You can always come home. Sometimes, we have to leave, but there’s always a safe harbor here when you want to return to your family.”
His whole body shook.
“I’m so sorry.”
God!
Greyson wished the tough nut was back, but he got it. He’d lost his sister, he’d nearly died, and he had to face them. This wasn’t so much about fear, but guilt and emotional overload. No one had ever loved this man.
Not as a baby.
Not as a boy.
Not as an adult.
He’d been conditioned to never feel anything in life, and that had made him.
Now, when faced with love, he didn’t know how to handle it. He didn’t know how to accept that emotion. Well, he’d show him.
Greyson pulled him against him and held him through the storm.
“Ya lyublyu tebya.”
Dimitri looked up and the tears slipped down his cheeks at the words. “Why do you love me? I’m unlovable. I’m nothing. Why learn my language?”
“I learned it so when my son is born, he can learn the language his uncle speaks. I learned it to say it to him and to you, Dimitri.”
That astounded him.
Then he focused on the other part of that. They must know for sure.
“A boy?” he asked. “You’re positive.”
He nodded.
“Yes, we had an ultrasound in New York. We’re having Maximillian Atticus Christopher Croft. We’re going to call him Mac to cut down on the name confusion for the poor kid. I wanted him to have one name from each of my best friends and my brothers. I have three—not one.”
That rocked him to his core. He closed his eyes and rested against Greyson as he held him. It felt safe.
It felt nice.
“Ya khochu, chtoby on byl takim, kak ty Khrabryy,” he said, holding him. “Like you, my brother. I want him to be brave like you.”
Dimitri reached for his hand.
He was far from brave.
It was time to own that too.
“I’m losing this fight, Greyson. I’m losing the war. Help me,” he whispered. “I’ve let so many people down. I’m not strong anymore. Natasha was my child. I loved her like she was my little child, and I lost her. She was mine, and she’s gone.”
He kissed him on top of his head as he leaned against the headboard and held him.
“Tell me how to help you. Tell me how to save you, Dimitri, and I will do it. I’ll do anything you ask to pull you back from the brink. I know you’d do it for me.”
And he had.
When he wanted to go out and kill Thomas Christ, they’d tied him up and locked him down.
He owed his brother anything he could do to save him.
Family first.
“Help me find the man who killed my sister. I need to be the client for a change. I can’t be the one who hunts for him. If I do, the darkness will swallow me. I’ll become him. I’ll become my father. I need you to help me end this nightmare.”
He would do that.
Greyson held him as the door was opened.
“Is everything okay?” Emma asked, carrying in the three takeout containers.
“We’re taking on Dimitri as a client. We’re going to find Viktor and stop him.”
She smiled because she’d told him the same exact thing. They would help the man they both loved.
“I figured.”
She sat on the bed and handed Greyson one container. Then she opened Dimitri’s and began feeding him the spicy noodles.
“Emma, you should feed you and…”
She hushed him.
“Let me mother you, Maximillian. Let me take care of you. You need it now. One day, I may need it.”
“I swear to you on that day, I’ll be there. I will be there for you, Emma. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I left you both.”
Her smile helped him.
“Will you be there with me when I deliver my baby?” she asked.
He looked horrified.
“Isn’t that his job?” he asked, pointing at Greyson. “I mean…”
Greyson laughed.
“Oh, you get to see the goo,” he said. “I hope you don’t get it on you. I know how you are with mess. All that placenta and blood.”
“You’re tormenting me, right?” he asked, his accent thick. She knew he was in pain, so she pulled a bottle out of her pocket.
He lifted a brow.
They’d been there and done that before.
“See? Pain not tranquilizers,” she said, showing him that she wasn’t going to drug him so he’d rest. He had been resting pretty peacefully.
That love she felt for him...
That compassion...
It sealed the deal for him.
“I will be there,” he said. “I will catch the goo,” he said, still looking horrified. “And look at parts of you that I should NOT be seeing,” he added since brothers tormented each other. It was a play from Dante’s book on how to deal with a Croft.
Now Greyson looked horrified.
Emma laughed.
“It’s all fun and games until he torments you back,” she teased.
“Well, shit. I walked into that one,” he admitted.
“Oh, I know. Oh, and Dimitri met a girl,” Emma teased. “And he likes her. I can tell.”
Dimitri stared at her.
“Really, Emma?”
Greyson played along.
“Oh, who, dear? Is he bringing her to dinner?” he said, eating his noodles and then feeding his wife some as she fed Dimitri.
“Oh, that’s a splendid idea, Ward. We should have her over to see what she’s like.”
Dimitri sighed.
“It was two kisses. That’s all. She was trying to keep me alive.”
“In a sleeping bag. ALL. NIGHT. LONG,” she teased. “I bet that was one very toasty bag of nuts, Mr. Gideon.”
He laughed.
“I know what you’re doing, June. You and Ward are transparent. We had a television in Russia. I am not being named after a furry animal with buck teeth.”
She leaned over and kissed him soundly on the mouth.
Then she kissed Greyson.
“Oh, and I promised she could question me about the incident,” Emma stated.
He didn’t look happy.
Greyson either.
“Before you go there,” she began, “I have no choice. She’s working the case, and she’s going to dog us until she gets her answers. We have no choice, Mr. ‘I talk a lot of shit when I’m shot’.”
She had a point.
He’d spilled the beans, and now it was time for the payment for his stupidity.
“Can we trust her?” Greyson asked.
“She feels like a good person,” Emma stated. “She brought him back, kept him alive all night, and isn’t pushing. I remember her from the homicide division. I think we can trust her.”
God!
He hoped so. They really didn’t need more of a mess going on around them.
“When is she coming?” he asked. “I worry about her,” Dimitri said, as Emma fed him more noodles.
“Why?” Greyson asked.
; “She said she was going to go after Viktor. You have to stop her,” he stated. “He’ll kill her. In fact, he’ll hurt her a million times worse because she’s been in contact with me.”
Emma touched his cheek.
“You and I will sit with her.”
“I told her too much,” he said. “I told her everything, and that will get me thrown in jail and get her killed.”
Emma told Greyson about Anastasia.
The entire time, Dimitri looked worried, and it wasn’t about him killing the woman, but how Greyson would judge him. He’d killed his own wife and child.
That to anyone would be irreprehensible.
It was to him, and he’d done it.
Greyson didn’t bat an eye. He knew the man.
“We’ll handle it,” he said, continuing to eat his noodles without any more comment or judgment. “Tomorrow is the gala. We’ll cancel. Blackhawk will have to go alone.”
Dimitri shifted and tried to move his arm. “What is he doing here? Do I have to kill him?”
“Okay, leftie. Slow your roll. A lot has happened since you went camping with a cop.”
“In my defense, she is beautiful. Who better to go camping with?” he asked.
Emma smiled.
That Dimitri even noticed what she looked like and said it out loud…it said everything.
He was smitten.
That was a good thing. Since Marissa Pierce broke something in him, Emma didn’t think he’d ever think about a woman again.
That he was…
Yeah, it was a good thing.
“I think we should still go tomorrow. Security will come sit with him.”
He sat up like he had just been doused with a cold hard bucket of reality.
“I need to get you security!” he blurted. “Oh, hell! I’ve really screwed this up.”
Greyson patted his good arm in reassurance.
“We have it. We’re safe.”
That wasn’t good enough for Dimitri. This was far from over. He might be back, but he needed to do the right thing.
“I need to see Chris and apologize to him,” he said. “I didn’t protect Natasha. That’s on me.”
She stopped feeding him.
“You are not to blame. What happened was horrible, and this is on that asshole—not you. Don’t blame the wrong Marchenko.”
He swallowed that for now.
Still…he carried that blame and always would.
Greyson looked at his watch. They had twenty minutes until the show began.
True Justice Page 29
