Vasily's Revenge: The Complete Story (The Medlov Men Book 1)

by Latrivia S. Nelson

  Yakov lowered the gun just an inch. “And is this supposed to sweeten the deal?” he asked, stepping closer to her.

  Her brown eyes flashed with promise and determination. “I’m not going to lie to you; I want to live, Yakov. If you give me my life back, I’ll give you the diamonds; I’ll put him behind bars for a very long time and yes, I’ll make love to you.” She rested her elbows back in the bed. “I know that you want me, the question is do you want me more than you want to free that monster from his rightful cage.”

  Sweat had started to form on Yakov’s forehead. Licking his lips, he took his hand off the trigger. “I want the diamonds tonight.”

  “Done.”

  “And if you don’t testify, I’ll come back here, and I’ll kill you slowly.”

  Lilly clenched her jaw. “Understood.” She watched him put away his gun in his holster. “Do we have a deal?”

  Yakov crawled over her in the bed, covering her from sight. Dipping his head, he kissed her mouth slowly, moving her leg so that he could fit his large body between her supple thighs. “Yes,” he said, sucking at her bottom lip. “We have a deal.”

  Chapter 14

  Pulled away from their own families and their plans for the night, Dmitry, Anatoly, Gabriel and Vasily watched Dylan while he devoured his special meal of lamb kebobs, cucumber and radish salad and borscht with a dash of cream at the large kitchen table.

  In the background, the television on the counter played highlights of sports segments, while they all huddled in a mass of testosterone around the boy, oblivious to his world bending around him, to protect his future.

  While Dylan had never experienced Russian cuisine before, he seemed to enjoy it immensely. His face was covered with food as he dug in to the plates with the veracity of a grown man – much to Vasily’s quiet delight. A belch half way through his meal indicated that his episode might be coming to an end. However, as he reached for the sparkling water in an ornate little crystal glass and took another sip then emptied more salad on his plate, it was apparent that he just might be getting his second wind.

  They all sat quietly at the table, looking back and forth at each other and their cell phones, waiting for the boy to finish eating so that they could discuss the other business at hand, but Vasily insisted that regardless of what was happening outside of the house, he not go back on his promise to Dylan to have an uninterrupted and special meal.

  Amazed at the boy’s appetite, Anatoly finally broke his silence. “And when was the last time that he ate?” he asked sarcastically.

  Dmitry smirked. “He’s a growing boy. Growing boys eat.”

  “I don’t recall eating like that at his age,” Gabriel noted, utterly impressed by the boy’s endless hunger.

  “Mom said to always eat all of your food,” Dylan said, looking up from his plate with a big bright smile. His green eyes sparkled like polished jade. “Plus, I’m never going to grow as big as Vasily if I don’t get eight hours of sleep and eat plenty of food.”

  Dmitry raised a brow. “He has a point.” With a smile, he played into the boy’s happy moment. In truth, he liked children, liked their innocence.

  “At the rate that you’re eating, you’ll be Vasily’s size in two weeks,” Anatoly said to Dylan, reaching over and grabbing a lamb kebob from the platter. “The rest of us might as well dive in before it’s all gone. He’s going to be here for a while.”

  “The food does look tasty,” Gabriel said, grabbing a kebob also. “Plus, I love Gretchen’s cooking.”

  All of the men grabbed a porcelain plate from the center of the table and started to top them with the food prepared by the chef. Relaxing a little, they bowed their elbows around their plates, all except Dmitry who couldn’t fathom putting his elbows on the table during dinner, and settled in for a long night of strategizing.

  “Where’s the vodka?” Anatoly asked, scanning the table.

  “There is some chilled in the refrigerator,” Gabriel said, licking his fingers as he stood up. He came back with a large bottle of chilled Jewel of Russia vodka.

  “I’ll grab some glasses,” Anatoly said, pushing his seat back.

  Dmitry had a thought. Putting his food down, he looked over at Dylan. “Did your mother talk to Royal or Renee today?”

  “Yes. They all talked for a long time in your bedroom,” Dylan said, clueless as to why he was being asked questions, “but Anya and I had to leave, because they said it was private. And mom always says that children should stay out of grown folks business.”

  “My new favorite saying,” Anatoly quipped.

  Dmitry looked over at Vasily. “There is no way to get off this property unless you are one of us. Royal and Renee went to the shop earlier, did they not?”

  Anatoly poured a tall glass of vodka. “Why would they help her? They barely know her.”

  “Never leave a house full of women alone unless you want a war when you come home,” Dmitry said with a yawn. “Dylan, are you getting tired yet?” He knew that he was.

  The boy looked up with tired eyes, long lashes flapping like black wings, as he pushed away from the table also. He rubbed his tight little belly and nodded. “I think it’s time for bed.”

  “You have enough?” Vasily asked without knowing he was being completely paternal at the moment.

  “Yes, it was great,” Dylan said with a proud grin. “I ate as much as you.”

  “More than,” Anatoly joked. “But you did good.”

  “Boris,” Vasily called out.

  Boris, posted in the next room, turned the corner quickly and appeared in the room.

  “Take Dylan up to his room and see after him getting ready for bed while we talk,” Vasily said, rubbing through Dylan’s locks. “Now, for the sleeping part to grow.”

  Dylan reached over and gave Vasily a hug. “Good night.”

  “Nite,” Vasily said, hugging him back. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

  “I won’t. Is mom coming back before I go to bed?” Dylan asked.

  “Not tonight,” Vasily said, refusing to lie to the boy.

  Dylan cheeks blushed with embarrassment. “I know I’m supposed to be a big boy, but I don’t know if I can sleep in that room alone.”

  “Take him to my room,” Vasily told Boris.

  Boris nodded and offered his hand. “Come with me, little soldier,” he said, leaving the men to talk.

  Gabriel chuckled. “Could it be, Vasily, that you’ve found your calling?”

  Vasily made sure the boy was gone first, then ran a hand through his hair. “Boss, I need a paternity test.” His voice carried his disappointment.

  The room tensed at the words.

  “I thought you knew for sure,” Anatoly said deflating. He put down his food, feeling suddenly sick at the stomach.

  “Things have changed,” Vasily exhaled. He shook his head.

  “Spill it,” Dmitry said, pouring Vasily a glass of vodka.

  ***

  A knock at Renee’s bedroom door woke her from her peaceful slumber in her custom-made suite among dim mood lighting, plush carpets, million-dollar paintings, an impressive entertainment center, dozens of fresh roses and an attached nursery.

  Sitting up beside the baby on the king sized bed, she wiped her tired eyes, trying to pull herself out of her fog. Glancing over at the digital clock on the nightstand, she yawned.

  Anatoly would never knock on the door. It had to be someone else.

  “Come in,” she said afraid to wake the baby, rubbing her daughter’s hair as she slept in a ball beside her.

  At over a year old now, their baby had grown into a delightful bundle of creamy caramel joy with sandy locks, cherry red cheeks and pink pouty lips. With her knees pushed under her in her yellow cotton onesie and her hands under her chest, she slept peacefully beside her Mother in the dim glow of the beautiful room.

  Boris cracked the door open and stepped inside slowly, knowing it was the baby’s nap time. Out of respect, he barely looked Renee’s
way. “Boss Anatoly has asked that you come downstairs, please,” he said as low as his deep voice would allow.

  “What does he want?” Renee huffed, rubbing a hand through her wild natural curls. “I just got the baby to sleep,” her voice strained in sheer irritation.

  “I’m sorry,” Boris apologized, raising his palms to her. “The entire…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Boris,” Renee said, cutting him off. “I’ll be down in a minute.” She pointed her finger at him. “But tell Ana if this baby wakes up, he’s going to be responsible for putting her back down, not me, and not Dmitry.” Grandpa Dmitry loved putting the baby to sleep, and spoiling her and kissing her and allowing his son to get out of his fatherly responsibilities when he wanted to go outside and play with his dogs.

  “I will tell him,” Boris said, stepping out of the door without turning his back to her. As he closed the door, he sighed. “The Medlov men had turned this entire house into one big baby factory.”

  A few minutes later, still in her Snoopy pajamas and armed with a baby monitor, Renee arrived downstairs to the kitchen were Royal and Briggy stood, also summoned.

  The three women looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

  “What’s this about?” Renee said, pulling a seat out beside Anatoly.

  Dmitry was the first to speak. He knew who the ring leader was before he even asked. His wife was standing quietly in the corner making coffee with a smug, menacing grin on her face, like she had just spit in someone’s soup.

  “Now that we are all here, I want you to tell me where Lilly is?” Dmitry said, resting his large frame back in the chair.

  Royal turned slowly with her mug clutched in her hand. She took a sip and quietly asked, “What do you mean?”

  Gabriel cut his eyes at Briggy. “Are you part of this?”

  “Part of what?” Briggy asked in her thick French accent. She kept her eyes on her coffee as well.

  Anatoly shook his head. “Renee, what the hell?”

  Dmitry knew the smell of bullshit, no matter where it came from. “No one can get off this property unless they are one of us, so at least one of us had to help her. Now, was it one of you or all of you?”

  “All of us,” Royal said, sucking her bottom lip.

  Renee huffed. “Jeez, Royal, don’t crack under pressure.”

  “Please, he already knows. That’s why we are all here,” Royal said, walking over to the table. She sat down beside her husband. “Lilly needed to go.”

  Vasily frowned. “Why?”

  “Before you get to that,” Dmitry said, raising a long finger. “What made you feel as though you were the one to make that decision?”

  Royal rolled her neck and looked at her husband. “I’m sorry. Wasn’t it you that said that we needed to help this woman?”

  “Yes,” Dmitry said, scratching his brow. His wife never ceased to amaze him. “The operative word is we.”

  “Well, did you ask we when you decided that she should come here?” Royal asked, softly but sternly.

  “No,” Dmitry answered.

  “Well, we didn’t feel the need to ask you to help her to leave.” Royal looked over at Vasily. “She doesn’t want to involve you anymore, Vasily. Lilly just wants to make sure that Dylan is safe. And as a mother I can appreciate that. So can Renee.”

  “Why would she not want to involve me?” Vasily asked, glad that someone could give him some insight into what was going on around him.

  Renee chimed in. “After what happened to you, after all that you’ve sacrificed, she doesn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

  All three women had been moved to tears by the story that Lilly had told them about how he had saved her and they also understood after she told them what she had done, why she felt the need to leave and do this on her own.

  “How can she hurt me? Is the child not mine?” Vasily asked. He hated to know the answer, but he had to in order to move on.

  Renee shrugged and looked at her husband. “She didn’t say. She just said that she had to go and handle this by herself. And we could understand. That’s why we helped her.”

  “All three of us understood. It wasn’t that long ago that Briggy helped me get out of Prague to get to you in Sochi,” Royal reminded Dmitry.

  Dmitry felt a smile tugging at his lips. She was right as normal.

  “This isn’t child’s play,” Anatoly said, unable to be angry with Renee. Plus, this wasn’t his fight, and if he was going to fight with Renee, he knew that it had better be worth it. She was hell on wheels now that she was his other half.

  “Who in here is a child?” Royal asked.

  Dmitry shook his head, telling his son not to go there. “Where is she headed, baby?”

  Royal tightened her lips.

  Briggy and Renee both looked away from their men.

  Dmitry asked again. “Where is she?” he asked, putting a hand over her wedding hand. The heat from his body radiated on to her, melting her disposition slowly.

  Royal rolled her eyes at the affect that he had on her. Damn him. “She wants to do this on her own. You don’t understand.”

  “Make me understand,” Dmitry said, with an even voice. “Don’t forget that you are still my wife, and you may not owe anyone else in here an explanation, but you do owe me one.”

  Royal huffed. “She went to Chicago to confront some guy named Yakov about some diamonds she gave him to get out of town before her ex-husband was sent away. He evidently lied to Leo and told him that she had them. Well, she doesn’t. She’s flat broke. But at the same time, she can’t allow that man near her son. Knowing that he’s here is all that she needs. If he is safe, then she can focus on ending this once and for all. It was a mess that she created, and she feels as though it is a mess that she needs to fix instead of getting Vasily involved up to his ears again.”

  “How did you get her off the property?” Dmitry asked.

  Royal knew that Dmitry wanted full and concise details. His ego would not allow anything less. “We sent her down the laundry chute that comes out right by the garage. I had Renee go and distract the security guy that watches the cameras while we snuck her in the trunk of our car, and we smuggled her out. Even with the guys following us to the shop, they rarely watch the cars when they escort us inside. Once we went into the shop, she got out and hiked to the train station. We gave her some money and a cell phone.”

  Dmitry wiped his mouth and sighed. This woman might be the death of him. “I’ll have Boris put a camera on the laundry shoots and the entire garage as well as have a man watch the cars at all times when they are inside of the shop from now on,” he said, thinking more of how someone could have easily attacked them, if they wanted.

  “I’ll take care of it immediately,” Vasily said, refusing to neglect his duties, even during this horrific moment.

  “Net, you have other things to worry about,” Anatoly growled. “Let someone else do the heavy lifting for once. Gabriel, you take care of it.”

  “Prick,” Gabriel said, cutting his eyes at his cousin.

  “What kind of phone did you give her?” Dmitry asked.

  “One of the unopened drop phones from the stash,” Royal said. “The untraceable ones.”

  “Does she plan to call once she arrives?” Anatoly asked.

  “No,” Renee answered. “The deal was to help her get out of the house. Now, she’s on her own.”

  Vasily’s face was blank as he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “So, Yakov has the diamonds? He’s had them the entire time?” Strangely, he was relieved to find out that Lilly had not lied to him about that, but he wanted to tear the flesh from Yakov’s body for trying to set up Lilly.

  Royal turned to Vasily with a look of complete sympathy. “It was the only way that she could walk away alive. She told us everything. And I in no way blame her.”

  “No one is blaming anyone,” Dmitry said, pouring another glass of vodka. The last thing that he wanted to do was get all three of them w
orked up this late at night. “Where in Chicago is she going?”

  “Where you picked her up,” Renee said to Vasily. “Evidently, she thinks this Yakov character will go back to Chicago, because Leo didn’t know about his place there. Lilly still remembers how to get to the condo. She thinks he might have the diamonds there and at the least, she thinks that she can get them both in one place to confront Yakov about the diamonds in Leo’s presence.”

  “Fuck. He’s going to kill her,” Vasily said, standing up.

  Royal looked up at him. “You know, I know that we just seem like defenseless creatures, but we are not. If she left, I’m sure that she has a plan. She didn’t tell it to us, but you have to trust her. She seems to be a very resourceful woman.”

  Renee looked away. No one was going to tell Vasily everything that Lilly had done to stay alive. His wrath might have been more than they could handle. Instead, they’d let him find out on his own.

  Vasily had heard enough. “I need to go to Chicago.”

  “Take the jet,” Anatoly said, standing up also. “I’ll go with you.” He felt compelled now more than ever to help, especially since Renee had a hand in things.

  “No,” Vasily said, shaking his head. “I’ll take care of this myself. You’ve done enough.”

  “Just because you’re not blood, doesn’t mean you’re not family,” Gabriel said, standing and stretching. “If Charlie’s Angels can stick their necks out, we can. I’m going with.” He winked at Briggy, who blushed despite her issues with him.

  “Well, I guess that means I’m left babysitting,” Dmitry said, taking a sip of his vodka. “It seems we can’t leave these three alone by themselves for five minutes. Go on to Chicago. Take care of this quietly and while you’re gone, I’ll get Dylan’s mouth swabbed. By the time you get home, we’ll know for sure.”

  Royal raised a brow to her husband but said nothing.

  Vasily’s heart broke. “If he’s not mine…”

  Anatoly slapped his old friend on the back before he could finish. “He’s yours, regardless. The poor boy doesn’t have anyone else.”