Dimitri's Forbidden Submissive (Submissive's Wish) (31 page)

“I am coming for her.”

“The
hell
you are,” Rock growled. “I told your brother the same damn thing.”

“She is not his woman.”

Rock laughed, and it wasn’t a nice sound. “Look, I don’t give a fuck who fancies himself her man, neither of you are taking her anywhere.”

Dimitri frowned, wondering if he needed to have a talk with Alex about who Rya belonged to. It was one thing for his brother to help him protect her, but at the end of the day Rya was his. While he felt guilt that his relationship with her was obviously bringing up painful memories for Alex, he would never share her with his brother again.
No one
, not even her family, was going to keep him from Rya. “Do not try to keep me from my woman. Rya is mine.
My
woman and I will be coming for her. I will die to keep her safe, but she is coming with me.”

“No fucking way, Dimitri!”

A woman’s voice came from the background and Dimitri’s heart leapt into his throat as he heard Rya say, “Is that Dimitri? My Dimitri?”

Rock tried to placate her and tell her it wasn’t, but his woman was having none of that. After a minute of berating Rock, Rya’s beautiful voice, slightly rougher than usual, came through the phone, “Dimitri?”

“
Zaika moya
.” He spoke softly, not wanting to frighten her. “I am so sorry.”

She gave a harsh, broken laugh that sliced through his soul. “I told you I could take care of myself.”

“You did good, very good. I am proud. You did exactly as you should have.”

The soft, pained noise she made had his anger rising again. “I need you.”

That settled it. “I coming for you, Rya. Hold on,
dorogaya moya
, I will come for you.”

Her voice trembled as she said, “Dimitri, I’m scared.”

“No, no fear, my Rya.”

“I can’t wait to see you.” She gave a sharp jagged laugh. “How fucked up is that? I’m glad someone tried to kidnap me because that means I get to see you again.”

“You do more than see me. You come home with me.
Da
?”

“You want me to come back to Russia with you?”

“I cannot shield you in America. You come home with me. I would want to die protecting you than live without you.”

She began to cry and a moment later Rock’s voice came over the phone. “You are not taking her to Russia with you.”

“Is not up for discussion. I am coming for Rya. I do not want you as enemy, but no one stands between me and my woman.”

“You want a war with me? I…”

“Enough,” Dimitri shouted. “You are upsetting her and I do not have time to argue. They will come for her again and again, putting you, your family, your people at risk. I can keep her safe.”

Rock was silent, but Dimitri could hear Rya in the background stating adamantly that she was going with Dimitri and if she had to cut the throat of every motherfucker who stood in her way she would. God, he loved her.

“You gonna treat her right?”

When Rock said that he sounded less like a pissed off man and more like a worried father, allowing Dimitri to let go of some of his anger. “I marry her if she would have me. I tried to keep her safe, did everything I could, but it not enough. They know her now. If I take her to Russia with me they will not bother you. I will send out word that you are under my protection.”

Rock laughed, “And I’ll send out word you’re under my protection.”

“I will send a bodyguard loyal to me for Rya. He will arrive before me and will help keep her safe. I need to get paperwork for Rya, but will be there tomorrow. I must go now.”

“We’ll keep her safe for you, but Dimitri, if you get her killed you better hope you die as well because if you don’t, I’ll be coming for you.”

That made him smile. “She is lucky to have good father. Get her ready. Pack suitcases, can ship rest of what she wants.”

“Hey, Dimitri, you wouldn’t happen to be called ‘the wolf’ would you?”

Confused, he nodded. “Yes, I am Rya’s wolf.”

“That’s what I thought. We’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

Dimitri hung up and took a deep breath, then turned to face Petrov who was sitting behind his desk, busy typing on his computer. “You know about Rya, don’t you?”

Without looking up, Petrov nodded. “And just like your foolish brother you did not bother to ask me for protection for the woman you love.”

“What?”

Petrov flicked an irritated glance his way. “When will you understand that you are not alone? That you have friends who will help you protect your woman?”

He gaped at Petrov. “But it puts your family in danger.”

“My family is always in danger, it is the world we live in. I know of your negotiations with the Boldin Bratva, and I know that four years ago you helped to rescue two of the daughters of the Boldin Bratva from your father.”

Stunned, Dimitri sat down before he fell down. “How?”

“Who do you think Alex took them to in order to hide them? Who do you think managed to get two fifteen-year-old Russian girls into the United States under assumed names without anyone being the wiser? Beautiful twin girls who’d just survived a kidnapping at that? I had help. While your father was torturing you to find out where they were, we were putting the girls on a plane for the US. My only regret is that we did not find you sooner.”

A weight lifted from his soul. “They are alive?”

“Yes, alive and well, living with relatives of mine, waiting for your father to die and the new power structures to come into place before they can return to their family. This feud between the Boldin and Novikov Bratvas is bad for everyone. Our women, our children have always been off limits, everyone knows this.” He gave Dimitri a steady look. “If you and Alex had not sought peace, I would have helped bring your Bratva down for the threat presented to my family. Alex was stupid to believe that hiding his woman would keep her safe, that they could disappear together and lead a normal life under assumed names in some insignificant Irish village. He should have come to me. I would have helped him, but I will help you, because keeping you and Alex in charge of the Novikov Bratva is very important. You are good men who do evil deeds and that is hard to find.”

His mind flashed back to four years ago. Their father had been acting especially irrational, but Dimitri and Alex had been so preoccupied with helping Alex to leave the world of the Bratva and vanish with Jessica that they hadn’t paid as much attention as they should have. While things were going badly back in Russia, Dimitri had been busy setting up new identities for his sister-in-law and brother, immersed in trying to provide them such deep cover that no one would ever find them and Alex had been consumed with completing his last hit for the Novikov Bratva.

While many people thought a man named Maks was the Novikov’s ultimate hitman, it was actually Alex who was the best assassin Dimitri had ever met. Both men had been too distracted to give much credence to the increasing rumors from home that their father was doing crazy shit until it was too late. At the time, they hadn’t realized their father’s medication was being tampered with, sending him into a psychotic episode.

They only found out how bad things had gotten when the head of the Boldin Bratva contacted them and begged for the return of his daughters. Alex and Dimitri had found them, thankfully unharmed, and managed to free them but they had to kill some of their father’s men in the process. While Alex fled with the girls, Dimitri’s father had Dimitri taken to a small house on the outskirts of Moscow where he was tortured before one of the men loyal to Dimitri managed to rescue him and hide him while he recovered. A month later, once again taking his meds, Dimitri’s father had been apologetic about the ‘misunderstanding’ but it was already too late. Jessica was dead and Dimitri would carry the scars from his torture for the rest of his life. Whatever small amount of loyalty to his father he had left vanished, and together with Alex, they began to plan their father’s downfall.

It did his heart good to know the girls were doing well, but he had no idea how deeply Petrov had been involved. “Why did you help?”

“Because it was not only the right thing to do, it was necessary to keep a war from starting.” Petrov looked up from his computer. “There are those who would benefit from such a war between Bratvas. A war would weaken everyone, leaving them vulnerable to the carrion feeders who would move in to take over territory. It almost started when your father kidnapped the Boldin girls, but whoever talked your father into doing that was not counting on you and Alex being honorable men. But, did you ever wonder who whispered into your father’s ear the poisoned words that made him take those children? Or who switched out his pills?”

“Of course, but we could never find out who did it.” Stunned, Dimitri stared at Petrov. “Why do you tell me this now?”

Petrov held his gaze. “Because you finally have someone to fight for, Dimitri. You finally know what it is like to love someone more than you love yourself. This Rya, she is your weakness but also your greatest strength. You will be ruthless for her. You will destroy anyone who threatens her, but you will also seek a peaceful resolution to conflicts.” Petrov leaned back in his chair and laced his hands over his chest. “Sun Tzu said,
‘In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.’
If you have someone you love, someone you have children with, you will work hard to leave them a legacy that is strong, solid. If you are alone and consider only yourself, only of the present, then destroying everything around you will not matter as long as you have your hollow victory. That is your father’s problem. He only wants the victory, or in his case, the vengeance, not a future.”

Before Dimitri could respond his phone rang and Alex’s name appeared on the screen. Still watching Petrov, he answered it. “Hello, Alex.”

“I have the documents needed to bring Rya back home with us and our jet is getting prepped as we speak.”

Dimitri tried to keep calm at the possessive tone in his brother’s voice, trying to tell himself that he was imagining it. “You will stay here. I will get Rya.”

Anger replaced the tension in Alex’s tone. “No, I’m coming with you.”

He was tempted to tell Alex to fuck off, but now was not the time or place for an argument so he tried to keep his tone even as he said, “I need you to stay here and get everything ready for her arrival. I need you to make sure
my
woman is as safe as possible.”

If he had any questions about Alex’s feelings for Rya, his brother’s next statement cleared it up. “If you’re bringing her into our family she is
our
woman.”

“Listen to me very clearly, Alex. Rya is my woman. If you cannot understand that I will not allow you around her.”

Alex swore softly, then sighed. “I understand. Forgive me. She reminds me of Jessica, but she is not. I promise you I will not step over the line with Rya, but I do care about her and it is bringing back many bad memories for me. Please, let me help you keep her alive. You are my brother, Dimitri, and the thought of you suffering like I have is abhorrent to me. I want you and Rya to have the long, happy life together that I almost had and I will do whatever I can to make that happen for you. I will not lie, Rya is very beautiful, but she is yours and I understand that. I would never do anything to try to come between you, but I will do everything in my power to keep both of you safe.”

Gentling his tone, all too aware of Petrov listening, Dimitri said, “I understand. I’m going to get what I need for the trip, while I do that I need you to contact Maks and send him to protect Rya until I can get there. He’s in New York, correct?”

“Yes. I’ll pull him off his assignment.”

“Thank you.”

Petrov spoke up. “Tell Alex to call me in an hour. You can have my place in the same building that Ivan is living in with his fiancée. It will help Rya adjust to have another American woman she can talk with, and Gia is lonely. It will do her good to have a friend from her native country. Consider it my early wedding present.”

Startled, Dimitri looked up at Petrov. “Are you sure? It might be dangerous to have Rya near Ivan and Gia.”

Petrov nodded. “Rya has my protection, and having both of you living near Ivan will send a strong message. Besides, you know I designed the security for the building and it is safer than a fortress.”

“Thank you.” Dimitri spoke into his phone to Alex. “Did you hear that?”

Sounding stunned, Alex replied. “I did.”

“Good. I need to go. You know what to do?”

“Yes. Be careful, Dimitri. I’ll try to hide this from Father as much as possible, but someone will tell him eventually.”

Swearing softly, Dimitri stood. “I know, but it doesn’t matter anymore. My life is Rya’s now, and I will keep her safe at any cost.”

Rya sat in the largest communal area of the Ice Demons Club house and tried to keep from fidgeting beneath the combined stares of Maks, the bodyguard Dimitri sent, and Gears, her self-appointed bodyguard who was none too happy with her. When he’d found out about Rya’s involvement with Dimitri he’d flipped out and had to be dragged out of the club house while Terror took care of her injuries. Then her mom found out that her daughter had hooked up with a Russian mobster, and she made Gears’ fit look like a toddler’s tantrum. If Rya hadn’t been so hurt she was pretty sure her mom would have locked her up in the basement of the club house for getting involved with the Russian mafia. Hell, her mom had almost tried to kick Maks’ ass when he showed up last night, but fortunately for Maks, Rock held her back.

Oddly enough, out of everyone, Rock seemed the most supportive of Rya’s decision to go back to Russia with Dimitri. She felt bad because her mom was super pissed at Rock, but at the same time she appreciated that he wasn’t trying to guilt her into staying. When she asked why he was being so cool he simply said that she was her mother’s daughter, and that when a woman like that fell in love with a man, neither heaven nor hell was going to get in her way. Though he also added that if Dimitri hurt Rya he’d end up at the bottom of Niagara Falls.