Yakov stood up and grabbed his broken nose. Blood dripped down his chest and pooled down his abdomen.
Vasily put his hands over his lips and looked at Muriel. “Shh,” he said, gun pointed. “Take her over to the couch.”
“Don’t hurt her. She has nothing to do with this,” Yakov begged. He looked toward the door on the other side of the living room in desperation.
Vasily trailed his gaze to the door and walked toward it.
“Wait,” Yakov said, hands raised. His hairy, blonde chest expanded in fear. He forgot that he was uncovered.
“Can someone give him a towel?” Anatoly said, walking casually over to the bar connected to the small kitchen.
“What is all of this about, Vasily?” Yakov asked, trying to keep him away from his son’s room. “What do you want?”
Vasily walked to the bedroom door and opened it. Looking in on the small boy, he shook his head and closed the door again. “Where are the diamonds, Yakov?” His deep baritone echoed across the room.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yakov lied as Muriel sobbed.
Vasily looked over at Muriel. “Is worth it to lose your life trying to protect something that isn’t even rightfully yours?” he asked.
She shook her head, eyes blood shot red. Trembling, she begged. “Please don’t hurt my son.”
“I’m not here for your son. I’m not here for you. I’m here for Yakov and the diamonds,” Vasily answered flatly. “Take the gun from her head. She can’t think with that thing pointed at her.”
Anatoly didn’t flinch. This was Vasily’s show. He was just an observer for the moment, besides, he knew that the man would never hurt Muriel or the kid in the next room. But he would make her watch her husband be tortured if it meant getting what they came for.
When the gun was removed from her temple by one of Dmitry’s soldiers, she nearly collapsed against the couch. “Please,” she begged. “Leave us alone.”
“Just tell me where the diamonds are,” Vasily said, voice raising in irritation.
Still Muriel said nothing. Instead, she looked over at her husband.
“We don’t have all night,” Anatoly reminded.
“Let’s start with a question that you can answer then,” Vasily said, walking up to Yakov, who was still standing with hands in the air. He looked the man in the eyes as he stood butt naked. “When did you fuck Lilly?”
Yakov frowned. “I didn’t…”
Vasily put the gun to Yakov’s head and drew the hammer back. “Do you think that I’m fucking with you? Do you think that I came all the way just to fuck with you?”
“No!” Yakov screamed as the cold steel pushed against his temple. “I didn’t fuck her! I swear!”
Muriel’s face went pale. “What?”
“I didn’t,” Yakov said again as he shrunk from the weapon. “We stopped. Okay. The agent came back to the door to check on her and we stopped. I took the diamonds and I left. I never…” He shook his head. His voice leveled out as he looked at Vasily. “I never fucked her. I swear it.”
“One bit of good news,” Gabriel said, leaning against the door.
“But then you told Leo that she had the diamonds when he came to you the other day,” Vasily said, grabbing him by his blonde locks. He drug him into the middle of the room and threw him on the floor, emasculated in front of his wife.
“We had a deal. She got out of Manhattan and I got the diamonds. That was the deal. Yes, I told Leo that she had them, but I just assumed that you would keep her safe and no one would be the wiser. It wasn’t like he was going to come for you knowing that you worked for Dmitry Medlov,” Yakov explained quickly.
“Can someone please get him a fucking towel,” Anatoly said, turning around. “I don’t care to see his dick slinging around all night.”
One of the men darted in the bedroom and brought back a towel. He threw it over to Yakov. “Suka,” the man murmured.
“So, we are back to the first question,” Gabriel said, walking closer. “Where are the diamonds?” He stood over the man with his gun at his side, tapping his thigh. Looking over at Muriel, he asked her, “Do you know.”
“Just tell him, Yakov,” Muriel begged.
Vasily bent to him and looked him in the eye. “You were supposed to be my brat. And you sold me out. You watched me get shot. You tried to fuck Lilly and then you basically put a hit on her when you lied so that you could run off with your wife, your kid and the diamonds. You’re a real low life piece of shit. You know that?”
“I sold out Lilly. What the fuck difference does it make? She’s just some fucking bitch from Harlem. She’s not worth the trouble,” Yakov said, spitting blood. He shook his head. “What does it matter to you?”
“You’re not the only one with a son,” Vasily whispered.
Yakov looked up. “With her?” Suddenly, the theatrics made sense. He dipped his head in shame.
“Did you fuck her?” Vasily asked again.
Yakov paused and looked in between his wife and the men. “No,” he said, clenching his aching jaw.
Anatoly’s phone rang. He answered it quickly. Looking over at Vasily, he whirled his finger around and hung up the phone. “Let’s wrap this shit up. Police are on the way.”
“Take the woman in the room with the kid,” Vasily ordered.
“No,” Yakov screamed, fighting to get back up. “Don’t hurt my fucking family. I’ll tell you where they are. Just don’t hurt them.”
The men were obedient to only one voice. They drug Muriel screaming and kicking out of the living room. “I love you!” she cried. “Yakov!!!”
“Please!” Yakov fought to get up off the floor. “I’ll tell you anything. Don’t kill my family.”
Vasily had no intention of doing so, but he didn’t tell Yakov that. “Where are they?” he asked.
“Behind the entertainment center. In the back of the fucking television,” Yakov screamed. “They are right there.” He pointed at the old system.
Vasily nodded at the men. “Get them.”
They quickly knocked the system over on the floor. Video cassettes and DVD flew across the room. Kicking in the back of the older floor model 60 inch television, the found a box of diamonds. They opened it and brought it over to Vasily.
“Check them,” he said, passing them to Anatoly.
He took and look and nodded. “They are the real thing. It’s about $20 million worth.”
“Now, you have what you came for. Please leave my family alone,” Yakov begged. “Don’t let them hurt my boy.”
“We’re not going to hurt your boy,” Vasily said, standing over Yakov. “But I am going to let you see this coming.” Pulling back the trigger, he shot Yakov point blank in the shoulder and leg.
Anatoly laid the diamonds out on the counter.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked.
“Papa said to leave them. There would be someone to pick them up,” Anatoly answered.
“Who?” Gabriel asked, frustrated.
“The Feds,” Anatoly said, looking at his phone. “Lilly called the fucking Feds about the diamonds. We’re supposed to leave him here with them.”
“Alive?” Gabriel said, throwing up his hands.
“Yes, fucking alive,” Anatoly said, walking out of the door.
Vasily kept his gun pointed on Yakov, wanting to kill him more than anything. “The only reason that you aren’t dead, is because you didn’t leave me that way. But rest assured when you get out of prison, if you dare think about coming to find Lilly, I’ll finish what I started.”
“He’s been warned. Let’s go,” Anatoly called out from the hallway.
Leaving Muriel and her son locked the bedroom, the men exited quickly.
As they got back into the elevator, Anatoly looked over at Vasily. “You did well.”
“Fuck that,” Vasily said, hitting the side of the elevator. “I should have killed him.”
“No, you wanted to kill him. But you’r
e not the boss. Papa says let him live, we let him live. Besides, your girl made a deal, and it doesn’t work without all of the pieces.”
Vasily shook his head in disbelief. All of this for nothing. “Is she here in Chicago?”
“Arriving soon.” Anatoly tapped him on the shoulder. “There are plenty of people to still kill,” he said reminding him of Leo.
Chapter 23
As the sunlight crashed into the small room, Lilly woke up from her sleep to find that she was in Chicago. The train had come to a stop and she was finally at her destination. Pulling herself out the ball that she had curled up in on the cot, she sat up on the side and wiped her face. A nervous pang ripped through her at the thought of all that she had to try to do to keep her family safe, but she was more than willing. Besides, she was here now. There was no way to back out.
Grabbing her phone, she looked down at the screen and saw that it had gone dead.
“No,” she said, nearly crying. “No, no.” She picked the phone up and clutched in in her hands as she bent over and let out a groan. How was Agent Sheldon supposed to reach her now?
Rocking, she closed her eyes tight and bit down on her dry lips. A tear escaped, despite her best efforts to keep it at bay. “Lord,” she prayed. “Please Father, help me.”
She was so afraid. She felt so damned alone.
Standing up on shaky legs, she grabbed her bag and opened the door to her small compartment. People laughed and talked as they moved past her. For just a moment, she was envious of them, until she thought of Dylan waiting for her back in Memphis.
No, she wasn’t alone.
She was needed. She had to do this.
Wiping her eyes, she stepped out among the people and followed everyone as they exited off the train out into the terminal.
Looking for the exit, she headed toward the signs that led her out to the street. First thing first, she had to charge the phone and get to Sheldon, then she had to find her way back to Yakov’s apartment.
It has been a long time, but she still remembered two things. Lincolnshire and Rivershire. That location was the key to her salvation. And no matter what she wouldn’t leave until she handed Yakov and the diamonds over to the FBI. No more would she allow her past to cloud her future. And no more would she allow those men to bully her. Even if it killed her, she would stand up to them today.
Pulling her baseball camp down over her weary eyes, she walked out onto the streets of Chicago. The bustling city was busy with cars and people moving at warp speed. She had forgotten just how busy a city could be. Jackson was sleepy and slow and outside of a brisk walk down Main Street, she had never really seen Memphis. Though if she ever made it out of this, she promised to finally take Dylan on that trip and she planned to not to work so hard that she missed everything that made life sweet.
As she was about to hail a taxi, a hand gripped her arm and pulled her away from the edge of the street.
Looking back with adrenaline raging, she was shocked to see Vasily.
He stood there looking like Christmas morning. His green eyes burned through her with passion that she didn’t believe that she’d ever seen before. He was absolutely breathtaking in his jeans and t-shirt, looking like a normal guy. Muscles ripped out of his cotton t-shirt. His arms bulged with tattoos. She looked at him and saw him possibly for the first time in her life.
This was the man that she was willing to give everything for.
And it was worth it.
Her eyes immediately welded up with tears. Whirling around, she grabbed him and hugged him tight. “Vasily,” she said, trembling. “Oh my God. How did you know?” Her face was warm now, covered in tears of both happiness and sorrow.
The sunlight danced off her beautiful face. “What are you doing?” Vasily asked, rubbing her cheeks. “Why did you leave me?” He forgot his normally chilly disposition and relished the moment.
She looked at him with shock. “I wasn’t leaving you. I was trying to stay with you forever,” she said, voice quivering. “I was trying to make this right. It was my fault. I got you shot once, I wasn’t about to risk your life again. I couldn’t bear it. I knew that you’d take care of Dylan. I knew that you’d see to him being happy.”
Vasily buried his face into her hair and held her. “I thought that you had left me again to run off and…” He could not bring himself to say it now that he knew that truth. He had judged her so wrongly, but never again.
“No,” Lilly cried. She took in the smell of his cologne and rubbed his back. Swallowing hard, she released her words in his ear. “I love you.”
Just as she said the words, he raised up and looked at her. His face was no longer stoic. Studying her every feature, he smirked. “I love you both.” Looking up at the sky to keep showing to much emotion all at once, he let go of a sigh. “I can’t lose you again. I can’t go through it. I realized that the moment that I thought that I’d lost you.”
“I have to do this,” she said, shaking her head. “I made a deal.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.” She looked out at the street, debating what to do now. “I have to deliver Yakov and the diamonds, and if I can, I have to deliver Leo too. I don’t know how, but it’s got to be done or this will never end.”
Vasily touched her cheeks again. For her to be so little, she was so brave. He nodded. “It’s done.”
“What?” she asked confused.
He shrugged. “It’s done. The diamonds and Yakov. It’s done. Sheldon has both.”
“What? How?” she said, stepping back. Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to understand as long as you trust me. Do you?” Vasily waited.
Lilly nodded. “Of course, I trust you, Vasily. You’re the father my child.” She wiped another tear and nodded. “I trust you.”
Vasily smiled. “Da.”
“Da,” she said, hugging him again.
“Good. Then let’s go home,” he said, pointing down the curb to the black Yukon waiting on them.
Anatoly stuck his head out of the door, dawning a pair of Aviator shades with his ear pressed to the phone and smiled. “Let’s go. My folks are tired of babysitting your brat.”
Chapter 24
Dmitry was never a late sleeper, but today, he moved with purpose. After breakfast with the family, Dylan included, he headed with his men to Mother Russia. It was an unusually short drive this morning, most because he was eager to arrive.
As they arrived downtown, he gave his driver different instructions from normal. “Park out front,” he said, sitting in the passenger seat.
“Out front, Boss?” he driver asked.
“Da, you know where that is?” Dmitry asked with a crooked grin on his face.
“Yes, Sir,” he said, pulling up to the front of the restaurant. Dmitry stepped out of the white Bentley into the sunlight and looked around.
The hostesses saw him and immediately opened the doors. He breezed through with a hello, paper under his large arm and shades covering his ice blue eyes.
“Is there something that matter, sir?” the manager said, running from the back.
“No,” Dmitry said, looking at his watch. “How long has the truck outside across the street been there?”
“An hour,” the woman answered, looking out of the bay windows.
“Boris,” Dmitry said, headed to one of the private rooms in the back.
“Yes, boss,” Boris said, walking behind him.
“Invite our guests in and put out something to eat, ladies,” he said, opening the Tiffany glass covered French doors to the back. “Don’t bother patting them down.”
Boris turned on his heels and headed back in the direction that he had come.
Everyone scurried, except Dmitry, who took his time. He sat down at the head of the long wooden table and laid out his newspaper. Business section first, crime second.
“Would you like some coffee?” one of the waitresses asked, rushing into the room
.
“That would be lovely, Anjelica. Thank you,” Dmitry said, taking off his shades. He ran his fingers down the bridge of his nose and pulled out his glasses.
As he did, he heard a borage of footsteps on the hardwood floor, headed toward him. Boris was the first to appear in the room. “Boss, you’ve got company. Leo Rasputin wants to have a word with you,” he said, voice tight.
“Invite him in,” Dmitry said, not bothering to look up from his paper. He wasn’t about to give these yahoos that much respect. They didn’t deserve it.
Leo and Taras walked in with several men behind him. Dmitry ran his hand over the table and smoothed out his paper. “Gentlemen. Have a seat,” he said, softly. “Your other men can wait outside. Boris will tend to them.”
Taking a seat at the other end of the table, Leo looked down at Dmitry and clucked his tongue against the bridge of his mouth. “Nice place … Boss.”
“Thank you,” Dmitry said, slowing looking up at him. He detested insolence, especially from a man so insignificant. “How can I help you?”
Dmitry’s glare made Leo’s eye twitch. “I came to talk to you about one of your men.”
“Which one?” Dmitry asked, turning the page to his newspaper. “I have many.”
“Your right hand, Vasily.” Leo tried to maintain eye contact though it was getting harder by the moment. But there was no way that he could punk out in front of his men.
“What about him?” Dmitry asked as the waitress brought him his coffee. She set it beside him and looked down at Leo. “Can I offer you something to eat or drink, sir?”
“Anything you have would be great. I’m fucking starving,” Leo said, looking around the restaurant. “Coffee to start … please,” he said, sucking his teeth.
Dmitry nodded at Anjelica. “Coffee will be fine for now,” he said, smiling at her.
Anjelica nodded and quietly excused herself, closing the doors behind her.
“You were saying,” Dmitry continued. He sat up straight, showing his height more as his body went rigid. He glanced over at Taras, who stepped back into the shadows of the room out of the view of Dmitry.
“Vasily was one of my men. He crossed me over my wife and I shot him.”
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