Dmitry's Closet

by Nelson, Latrivia S.

  Dmitry walked over and ran a small hand towel under the faucet and brought it back to her. She took it and wiped her mouth.

  “Thank you,” she looked away from him.

  “What’s wrong with you,” he asked, helping her up.

  “I don’t know. Nerves, I guess. You have worried the shit out of me in the last day or two.” She sat down on the bench, while he ran her a hot bath. She refused to look at him.

  “You’re not a nervous woman.” Dmitry sat on the edge of the tub. His eyes were critical.

  “Could you get my robe, please?” Royal pulled her hair behind her ear and crossed her arms. “I’m freezing.”

  Dmitry raised his eyebrow at herbut did as she asked. He walked into the adjoining closet and retrieved her pink terrycloth robe. Passing it to her, he sat beside her on the bench and ran his hands over his head.

  He yawned. “You didn’t drink last night,” he said, watching her stand up and quickly cover herself.

  “Probably something I ate.” She went to the sink and grabbed her toothbrush. Her hands were still shaking.

  Dmitry scratched his head. “You didn’t eat very much last night.”

  “Well that’s probably it then,” she snapped.

  She turned on the faucet and grabbed the toothpaste. Looking down at the marble countertop, she saw her tears fall from her eyes. She tried quickly to wipe them away. Looking back up into the mirror she saw Dmitry standing behind her. She turned around and looked up at him.

  “I may have little firsthand knowledge in this area, but give me some credit, eh?”

  She read his face. He knew. There was no need to lie to him.

  “I told you the night that you proposed to me that children were not out of the question,” she said,allowing the tears to run down her hot cheeks. “I’m sorry for not telling you. I wanted to. The detention center just didn’t seem like the right place.”

  Dmitry scratched his stubby beard and smiled. “How far along are you?” He kissed the crown of her head.

  “Two months. I found out right before we left for Moscow. I was going to surprise you last night at midnight with the news.” She rolled her eyes. “But you ended up surprising me with your own.”

  Dmitry walked over to the tub and turned off the water. She looked at his long body as it slumped over at the news. All of that time he asked me for a baby, now he doesn’t want it, she thought to herself sadly.

  Dmitry took a deep breath and turned around. “I made you fall last night on the floor in the kitchen. I forced you upstairs. I made you scream and cry.” His face was distressed. “I could have hurt you and the baby. I couldn’t live with myself, if I did. I’m so very sorry.”

  Royal’s facelit up. He did care. She went over to him and slid in between his legs.

  “I’m sure that we’re fine.”

  Dmitry grabbed her arm and pulled at hergently. “Please, tell me that you want it, even though you know what I am. Don’t kill it. I beg you.”

  “Now you’re being ridiculous. This is mychild. I would never hurt it,and you know it. We were both orphans in a way, Dmitry. It’s up to us to make this right for our own.”

  He shook his head in disbelief of his initial thoughts and how strong Royal was. “I’m committed to making sure that both of you have the best life that I can provide you.”

  “I know, Dmitry.”

  He touched her face. “You just don’t know what you mean to me.”

  “No, but I’m sure in time, you’ll show me.” There was little enthusiasm in her eyes.

  Dmitry sighed. She still didn’t trusthim, but who could blame her. He had lied to her, deceived her, endangered her and impregnated her. For the life of him, he did not understand why she loved him. Even all the money he gave did not supplement forthe pain he had provided for free.

  “Dah, I’ll show you if it’s the last thing that I do,” he said, hugging her tightly. “Now, let’s get you in bed. And I’ll go and fix you some breakfast.”

  ∞♥∞

  Renée locked the diamond collection in the safe and closed the small vault door. Cory had just informed her that Dmitry had decided overnight to do a complete overhaul of the shop without notice and would have the place closed for at least the next two weeks.

  The large clientele list would be extremely disgruntled when they received notice, but Dmitry evidently didn’t care.

  “And I’m still going to get paid, even though we’re closed?” Renée inquired.

  “That’s what Dmitry said. Evidently, Royal is a little under the weather, and Dmitry has hired a contractor to come in and do a big overhaul. He would have told you himself, if you had answered the phone first.” He batted his eyes and turned off the lights to the boutique.

  “I don’t see why he wants to change it. He just opened. Seems like a waist of an investment,” Renée continued.

  She slipped her cell phone in to her purse and headed for the back door. “Maybe I should stop over and see Royal.”

  “Not today,” Cory insistedas he followed her out of the store. “She’s got a doctor’s appointments.”

  “Oh,” Renée was disappointed. She had not seen Royal since she left for Russia nearly three weeks prior. “Well, I’ll just stop by tomorrow since I’m off with pay.” She looked at him and raised her eyebrow.

  ∞♥∞

  Sorrello closed the door to the squad car and walked up the steep driveway of Agosto’s Central Avenue home. He looked around the property suspiciously, wondering how a young detective could afford such a pricey neighborhood.

  Agosto had a stereotypical,luxury southern home, com-plete with large white plantation-style posts on the front of the house and four very old rocking chairs on the porch; ivy vines grew up and down the sides of the house leading from a well-manicured lawn and garden that was at least a half-acre or more. Patriotic in stature, a large American flag hung from one of the posts, waving in the icy wind.

  The dark brick house was three stories tall with huge white shutters on every window facing the front yard. Two large oak trees with swings attached to the large limbs stood on either side of the lawn along with an array of toys that lined the porch.

  Sorrello was bemused. Agosto either married into money or was from money. Either way, his style of living far exceeded any lifestyle that Sorrello was used it.

  As he stepped on the porch, he heard the dog in the back yard barking. Before he could ring the doorbell, a beautiful black woman in gray business suit with her hair pulled up in a soft ponytail and her neck adorned with pearls opened the stately white door and stood behind the screen door.

  “May I help you?” she asked, her silky voice and bright smile warmed Sorrello’s freezing body for a moment from the winter weather.

  “Yes, Ma’am. I’m Agent Sorrello. I’m here for Agosto, I think. Hell, I might be at the wrong address.” He took in more of the mansion from door, instantly recognizing the large chandelier a few feet above her.

  “No,” the woman opened the door. “You’re at the right address. He’s in the kitchen having breakfast. Are you hungry?” She moved out the doorway and allowed him to come inside.

  “No. I just ate some McDonalds.” He passed her and came in contact with the fragrance of her Chanel cologne.

  “McDonalds?” The woman snickered. “Agent Sorrello that is not a hearty southern breakfast. Why don’t you come on in and have a seat. I’ll fix you a plate, and you can eat with Nicola.”

  “Well, since you’re gonna twist my arm,” Sorrello said shocked.

  The large diamond ring blinding him on her wedding finger confirmed it. Agosto had never mentioned that his wife was black, even after all of the snide remarks that he had made about Royal and Dmitry. He was terribly embarrassed.

  Mrs. Agosto escorted Sorrello down the long corridor to the kitchen where Detective Agosto was reading the newspaper and talking to two little boys, who sat in front of him obediently answering their father. He looked up as his wife came through the
door. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he stood up and took off his reading glasses.

  “Hey, man,” Agosto said,pulling out a chair. “You’re early.”

  “Yeah.” Sorrello looked down at the handsome twin boys, who watched him curiously.

  “My boys,” Agosto confirmed, proudly acknowledginghis two-year old sons. “Baby,” he looked over at his wife. “Can I get another plate?”

  “Sure,” she said, going to cupboard.

  “I really don’t want to be a bother, man,” Sorrello in-sisted.

  “No bother. Ivy always cooks too much. It’s good to have someone to help me and boys out.” He smiled and took the plate from his wife. “Thanks, baby.”

  “Honey, I’m late.” She reached in and kissed Agosto’s lips quickly. “Boys, put your plates away and let’s go.”

  “Okay,” they said in-sync, pulling away from the table and grabbing their small plates.

  “Agent Sorrello, it was pleasure to meet you. You’ll have to come by again sometime,” Mrs. Agosto said, grabbing her briefcase.

  “The pleasure’s all mine, Ma’am.”

  Agosto saw them off then returned to the kitchen where Sorrello sat at the table.

  “Alright,” he said as he made his way back over the counter. “You want some coffee?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Sorrello said, looking around the large brightly colored kitchen. “How old is this house?”

  “Over a hundred years old.”

  Agosto sat the coffee cup in front of Sorrello. “Ivy made us move into it from down the street when she found out she was pregnant again. We needed more room.”

  “Pregnant? She doesn’t look pregnant.”

  “She is. Couple months now.”

  “You guys are a baby factory, huh?”

  “Yeah, guess so.”

  “Well, your place is sure nice.”

  “Thanks.” Agosto smiled.

  “Look, it may be a little too late to say, but I’m sorry if I ever said anything to offend you…now that I know that your wife’s black…African-American.” He stumbled over his words.

  “It’s cool, man. You didn’t know.”

  Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

  “You have to learn to pick your battles,” Agosto sat down in front of him with his own cup and scratched his stubby beard. “I don’t work for the NAACP; I work for the MPD. More often than not, people in this city and on this force are going to have something negative to say about race. You can’t always be the verbal advocate. You have to walk the walk.”

  “I hear that,” Sorrello said,ready to move on. “So, have you heard from Royal?”

  “No. I gave her my card. Something will pop up. You get anything on the radar from Dmitry.”

  “My source told me there’s going to be a big meeting tonight at the restaurant.”

  “While it’s open?”

  “Probably going to close early tonight. I figure we can head down there a little after dusk.” Sorrello scooped his spoon into the hot grits, covered in real butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

  “Is it good?”

  Sorrello looked up and smiled. “Does Ivy have a sister?

  ∞♥∞

  The bodyguard at the front of the Medlov complex met Cory at the gate and escorted his little white Jetta Volkswagen to the front of the house. Once he was announced, he was sent down to the solarium to wait on Dmitry, who was still upstairs getting dressed.

  Cory had never been to Dmitry’s house, and in guests’ normal fashion, he was transfixed by its size and architecture. He stood in the large glass room admiring the beautiful flowers and plants and looking out into the vast, finely manicured back yard. With his hands tucked into his pockets, he marveled at what money could buy. Calm. Peace. The ability to forget that a war was waging only feet from your door step.

  Cory considered himself to be a good cop in a bad sit-uation. He had chosen his mother’s life over his moral obligations and only hoped that in the end, he did not have to pay the ultimate price for his choices. And no matter what, his mother would be alive; that was all that truly mattered. However, looking at the lavish lifestyle of his pseudo-boss, he often wondered if a fifty-grand-a-year job was good enough, when he could clearly make more for his children and his wife working on the other side of the law.

  “So, you got my message,” Dmitry said, walking into the room, fully dressed in a YSL black suit and tie.

  Cory turned quickly from the view. “Yeah. The shop is closed.”

  Dmitry walked up to Cory with a large envelope in his hand and passed it to him. He stopped and looked at the sun shining through the glass panes.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it? I never get a chance to come down here anymore, but I’ve always loved this room. When I bought the home, this was the best selling point for me. I, of course, had to make some alterations and get thicker glass,” he tapped his knuckles on the bullet-proof window. “You can never be too safe when you’re a gun dealer.”

  “I’ve never been in a solarium this damn big in a house.” Cory shook his head.

  “Well, now you have.” Dmitry snapped his fingers and the man standing in the doorway brought Cory a small leather satchel. “Anatoly cannot stay here and watch over Royal because his obligation is to the men, but you can. I don’t have any weapons in this house outside of the ones that the men carry on them, which are registeredfor liability reasons with the feds. So, this is a little insurance for me while we are gone today.”

  Cory looked in the bag to find four Glocks and stocked clips for his use.

  “This is a lot of fire power. Are we expecting some-one?”

  “No. But I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Dmitry turned and walked to door with his bodyguards. “She’s pregnant, you know.” He stopped and looked back, faintly showing a proud smile.

  Cory looked up surprised. “Wow. Congrats.”

  “You have to protect her with your life, Cory, until I can get her out of Memphis for good.”

  “What’s my cover story?”

  “You’ve just come to visit her while the shop is being worked on. Stay by her side until I return.”

  “I will,” Cory committed.

  Dmitry nodded his head. “Good. There are guards around the perimeter of the home. No one should disturb you. Should they… use the guns and call me immediately. If I can’t get to her, you know what to do.”

  “Yeah. I know the drill.”

  “Thank you. You have been most reliable.” With that Dmitry walked out of the room, and left Cory alone.

  When Cory was sure that Dmitry had gone for good, he curiously opened the large envelope to find bundles of crisp one hundred dollar bills and a note that said, “For your trouble.”

  Retirement looked closer than expected for him. He nodded his head, feeling a little better about his decision, better about his position in general.

  ∞♥∞

  Dmitry found Royal upstairs in her little officebefore he left. With the news of the baby and the move, she was anxious to get started on a new business plan for a shop in Prague. The idea of owning a shop in another country scared her senseless and excited her at the same time.

  She sat typing away at her computer behind her desk and looking down on the notes that she had written in her notebook hours before.

  She looked up when Dmitry walked inside of the room. He was different now, wearing a different face, one she had only learned recently. He was immaculate in his suit, commanding in with his regal looks.

  “You look different now that I know what you are,” she said absently.

  “How?” He walked over to her with a large Louis Vuiton bag in his hand.

  “Maybe like Eve saw Adam after she ate the apple,” she raised her brow and sighed.

  “This is not good analogy. They both ate apple in that parable. You didn’t expose anything life altering. That was all me.”

  “Are you forgetting the baby?”

  Dmitry smiled. No, how could he ever f
orget about the baby.

  “What are you doing?” he asked,changing the subject. He could tell that she was still clearly agitated by the entire notion of his true identity.

  “Working.” Her fingers tapped the keys.

  He walked behind the desk, set the bag beside her and placed his large hands on her shoulders. “I have a lot of loose ends to take care of today.”

  She looked up at him.

  “What does that mean, Dmitry?” She finally understood that he spoke in code, therefore requiring direct questioning of his activities.

  “I’ll be home late.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “You should never be worried. Haven’t I always taken care of you?”

  “It’s not me that I’m worried about.”

  “Well I am.”

  “What’s this bag?” She opened in and looked inside. Surprised, Royal looked up at him for an explanation.

  “That is just in case, I’m really late getting home.”

  She stared at him quietly with tears in her eyes. “You can’t just go off and leave me alone, you know. I don’t care how much money is in this damned bag. It won’t make a bit of difference if you’re dead.”

  “I don’t plan to die, and I don’t plan to leave you.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her lips gently. “There is a private jet waiting for you in the event that I am….” He looked down at the ground. “There is a new home for you in Prague, a nice shop already purchased. It’s on a cobblestone road like I promised.”

  “What does any of that matter, if I cannot have it with you?”

  “I plan to come back to you tonight and every night for the rest of my life, but should my plans change, I need to make sure that my child and my soon-to-be wife are protected and safe. There is enough money for you to make sure that you live well for a thousand lifetimes.”

  Royal nodded. “You have to find a way to come back to me, Dmitry.” Tears fell down her cheeks. “Don’t you love me more that you love them?”

  “Yes. I do,” he whispered. It was the truth, but he felt a strange betrayal to the Vory v Zakone for saying it aloud. It went against every code of the Thieves-In-Law to love and cherish her as much as he did.