Her Russian Brute: 50 Loving States, Idaho (13 page)

T
here were very
few things in life that Alexei Rustanov could say he knew for sure. After all, how could a man who’d started out as the scion of a Russian mafia family, only to end up one of the youngest and richest oligarchs in the world, be 100% sure of anything?

But in that moment, on this particular Christmas Day, he knew one thing for sure. He did not like his sister-in-law.

Alexei stood with his fellow losers in the living room of his brother’s Georgian mansion. Glaring at his sister-in-law as she waved his baby niece in the air and crowed over Boris’s victory as if it were her own. A nicer man would have appreciated how far his tortured younger brother had come with this woman’s love. A nicer man would have been happy for Boris, who now held up the trophy that had been Alexei’s until five minutes ago.

But Alexei was not a nice man, and he was already plotting his brother’s downfall in the next round of diaper changing dominance—

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!.... Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!

His scheming thoughts were interrupted by the electronic chirping of the phone in his pocket. He pulled it out, and smiled when he saw the name on the screen.

“It’s Ivan,” he announced, and a hush fell over the formerly noisy room.

Because Ivan—the young cousin who’d become a recluse after his horrible accident and made a habit of not returning his calls—was calling Alexei on Christmas. It seemed to Alexei, and probably to everyone else in the room, like nothing less than a Christmas miracle.

A sentimental string tugged at his heart as he answered the phone, preparing to say, “
Schastlivogo Rozhdestva
”–Russian for “Merry Christmas.”

However, Ivan started talking in a blur of Russian before Alexei could so much as get the first syllable out.

Of course he responded to his young cousin’s requests as best he could. But by the time they got off the phone, Alexei was even more agitated than he’d been when he’d merely been plotting the takedown of his brother and sister-in-law.

But family was family…

He turned to Suro, the head of his American security force, a man who’d become one of his most trusted friends over the years, and said, “Ivan needs a helicopter sent to his home in Idaho.”

“That can easily be arranged,” Suro assured him with a small bow.

“Is he coming here?” Boris asked, hope lighting his normally stern face.

“No, I don’t think so,” Alexei answered, not bothering to keep the bafflement out of his tone. “He wants it for…a girl.”

The whole room went silent with shock. The Ivan Boris and Alexei had known before the accident had been so spoiled and pampered, he wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help a woman out of a car, much less with something as big as what he’d described to Alexei on the phone. And the Ivan they all knew now was more likely to callously insult a woman than go through such great lengths to help her.

Which was why it felt like his sister-in-law was speaking for the entire room of when she said, “Girl? What girl?!?!”

B
rian may have had
difficulty contacting Alexei Rustanov. But Ivan not only got in touch with his cousin as soon as she updated him about Brian, he also convinced Alexei to send them a ride out of Wolfson Point.

The only thing Sola found harder to believe than the sight of the black machine touching down in Ivan’s backyard, was that he was coming with her.

“You don’t have to do this!” she said after they’d settled in their seats and put on the special noise-cancelling headphones that allowed them to still hear each other over the
thwump! thwump! thwump!
of the helicopter blades. “I’ve always taken care of things with Brian. I can handle this myself.”

He sneered. “I told you, Sola. I take care of you now,” he answered over the headphone’s private line. “I will not leave your care to a drunk who is now in jail.”

Harsh, but Sola was too grateful for the helicopter to fight him on this. A few minutes later, she was ascending into the air on her first ever helicopter ride. The last thing she saw of the strange mountain town she’d been living in for two weeks were several Wolfson Point residents—many of them still in their Christmas pajamas—spilling out of their houses to see what was causing all the racket.

A few of waved, and she waved back, not knowing how to feel about the town she was leaving behind. Or if she’d ever see it again.

The feel of a large hand squeezing around hers brought her out of her thoughts.

“Thank you,” she said to the man sitting beside her. “If not for you…”

“You would not have been trapped here in the first place,” he finished, his tone flat and angry. “Do not thank me for this, Sola. Do not thank me for any of it.”

This was no longer the Ivan she’d come to know over the past few days. The unexpectedly warm and sensual man was gone, replaced with a cold commander who gave clipped instructions to everyone he encountered. And he didn’t seem impressed at all with the fact that they were in a helicopter. A freaking helicopter! Or even with the private jet that met them at a nearby airfield to ferry them back to Van Nuys .

And the limo that picked them up on the tarmac in California? Nope, not a hint of wow! ever made it onto Ivan’s face.

By the time they reached the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, the reality of how different Ivan was from her was beginning to settle in. They might have connected on a deep level in Idaho, but out here in California, it felt like their two worlds couldn’t be further apart.

A slim lawyer with a great tan and an expensive suit met them at the station doors. In what might well have been the most anti-climatic Brian episode of Sola’s life, the lawyer explained to her that he’d already “arranged” for Brian’s release, which apparently included getting those pesky assault and disturbing the peace charges dropped, too.

He smiled at her with a mouth full of shiny white teeth as if to say getting art school professors out of bar brawl charges was all in a day’s work.

“He’ll be out any minute,” he assured Sola.

“Thank you,” she said, completely stunned by this turn of events and grateful beyond words for the lawyer’s work on Brian’s behalf.

But Ivan didn’t say anything. Just… “And the other matter?”

The lawyer sobered. “Yes, perhaps we should discuss that outside.”

Ignoring the questioning look she was practically drilling into his back, Ivan disappeared through the main doors, speaking a whole bunch of Russian with the lawyer who she assumed was either Russian or bi-lingual.

“Marisol! Marisol!”

She turned at the sound of Brian’s voice and ran across the station straight into his open arms.

“Thank goodness you’re all right, dear girl!” he said, hugging her tightly and kissing her head. “I was so worried about you! How did you get here? Did that Russian brute let you go? Did you escape? And if so, how did you get out of that godforsaken town?”

Sola had to laugh that he seemed way more concerned about her than the fact that he’d just spent a night in jail on assault charges. “Brian, I’m fine. But how are you?”

“None the worse for wear,” Brian insisted, smoothing a hand over his very wrinkled clothes. “I think I may have burned a bridged with J.J., however.”

“Yeah…” She withdrew from the hug, thinking of the bartender who’d called her countless times to get Brian with a wince. “I’m pretty sure you’re no longer welcome there.”

“No, I suppose not,” Brian said regretfully. He shook his head. “What a bizarre night. I don’t remember any of it, you know, but I’m told I became rather, ah, rough with a young fellow. I tell you, I would’ve paid good money to see me engaged in fisticuffs! I don’t think I’ve been in a fight since my Vietnam days…”

He chuckled.

But Sola didn’t. “Brian. You got in a fight. At a bar. Like an honest to God bar fight. Do you know what could have happened to you if Ivan’s lawyer hadn’t stepped in?”

“Ivan’s lawyer? Brian repeated as if she’d just introduced a totally foreign concept into the conversation. “Do you mean to tell me that Russian brute is the one who arranged to get me out of jail?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Sola answered. “And if he hadn’t, you could have been sued, lost your job, had this on your permanent record making it impossible for you to get another job…”

“I know, dearest Marisol, I know,” Brian insisted, patting her shoulder and guiding her toward the station doors. “I’m sorry about all of this, I am, but I’m going to be better from now on. I promise.”

“That’s what you said last year in New Mexico.” All those missed morning rehearsals, one of which had been a full dress. Sola’s gut churned just thinking about it. And she was graduating this year. Who would take care of Brian then?

“But I mean it
more
this year,” Brian insisted with an impish smile. “Trust me, nearly twenty-four hours in the pokey gave me quite a bit of time to think about the error of my ways. But enough about me, dear girl,” he said, before Sola could argue with him further. “I want to hear all about how you got that Russian fellow to get me out of my latest debacle. I’m guessing there’s quite a story behind this deus ex machina!”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a deus ex machina,” she said as they headed for the station doors.

But then they walked out to find Ivan leaning against the passenger door of the limo. Seeming so much bigger and more powerful than any other man she’d ever known.
Not God,
her strict Catholic upbringing reminded her. But definitely god-like.

Brian must have felt it, too. He was uncharacteristically quiet in the limo. Sitting next to Sola, both hands wrapped around one of her arms. Like a child afraid of his father’s rebuke.

Like she was the mentor and he the mentee.

“Sola tells me I have you to thank for all of this,” Brian finally got up the courage to say to the glowering hulk of a man sitting across from them in the back of the car. “I really am very sorry for any trouble I’ve caused.”

He looked over at Sola, his face wrinkling with sorrowful confusion. “I don’t remember much about last night. Just that I’d had a bad day with Eddie, and I was oh so worried about you, dear Marisol. I thought a drink or two would help calm my nerves…”

“Do not,” came Ivan’s clipped voice from the other side of the car. “
Do not
put this on Sola, old man. My cousin says he never heard from you. Not one word.”

“That’s because I didn’t know how to reach him. He sent me up to that town to check on you, but when I tried to call his office to ask him to help Sola, his assistant said he was out of town and wouldn’t be taking calls for the next two weeks. I didn’t know what else to do…”

“So you just gave up?” Ivan asked. “This girl, who considers you a second father, who dropped
everything
to come to your rescue, who gave up her schooling so you might return to your husband…she did
all
of this for you and you repay her by to abandoning her? To get drunk in bar and cause her even more trouble by fighting and getting arrested?”

By the time Ivan was done, he was dropping articles and his Russian accent was as thick as Sola had ever heard it. But Brian must have understood every word. For a moment, he wilted under the heat of Ivan’s scorn. But then he rallied with, “It wasn’t my fault! None of this is my fault.” He squeezed Sola’s arm. “Surely you understand that, dear girl. I don’t even remember what happened last night, exactly!”

“Exactly,” Ivan snarled, his tone laced with acid. “That is because you were too drunk to remember. Too drunk to take care of your spouse or Sola properly.”

This was getting out of hand, Sola thought. “In all fairness, it’s not his job to take care of me,” she pointed out to Ivan. “I knew what I was getting into when I accepted that deal with you, and he has Eddie at home—”

But Ivan cut her off. “Sola, do not do this,” he said, leaning forward to take her free hand in both of his. His eyes gentled, but his tone was low and fierce as he said, “I know you care for this man, but he is a drunk hiding behind a young woman. My cousin Alexei had no idea he had drinking problem, but you have not seem surprised by any of this. I think this is because you are a very nice girl who has been covering for this man you love for too long. This cannot go on.”

Ivan’s words hit her like a ton of bricks, even as she realized their truth. She loved Brian. And she’d been bailing him out for longer than she could remember now, making so many excuses for him that it was hard to see the truth of just how bad he’d gotten until Ivan laid it out in front of her in his stark, Russian way.

As if on cue, the limo came to a stop and Ivan said, “We are here.”

Both Sola and Brian’s eyes widened when they looked out of the tinted windows and saw where “here” was. Not their Valencia home, but a gated property with a discreet sign bearing the words, New Promises.

Sola wasn’t a recovering anything, but she’d seen enough of her fellow art students get whisked away by worried parents after one too many drug binges to know this was a rehab facility.

“No! No!” Brian whimpered beside her.

As gentle as his tone had been with Sola, Ivan shot Brian a look cold enough to freeze. “Sola cares about you deeply, and she wants you to remain in her life for reasons I do not quite understand considering all you have put her through. I, however, am not Sola. I am not so blinded by gratitude and loyalty to you that I am willing to see past your faults.”

Ivan glared at Brian, his crystal blue eyes hard as ice. “I will not have her hurt. By you or anyone else. So here is my offer. I will make sure your bar fight stays out of the public record. I will pay all your outstanding medical bills. I will hire additional help for Eddie, so the burden of his care is not so much on you. But
only
if you go into this rehabilitation program.”

Brian thought about Ivan’s offer for a moment, but then shot back with a mutinous frown, “And if I say no?”

Ivan glowered, but before he could respond, Sola turned to her mentor.

“Brian, why would you say no?” she had to ask. “You’re drowning in medical bills, and…” She didn’t realize the truth of her next words until she said them out loud. “You can’t go on like this. You’re killing yourself with alcohol, and if you keep it up, the next fight might end in something far worse than assault charges.”

“What could be worse, Marisol?” he suddenly demanded with ugly derision in his voice. “Watching the man you love become increasingly demented and catatonic, day in and day out? Knowing he only has a year at most left, and things will just get progressively worse for him until the end? This is not the life that beautiful man deserves! He’s being taken from me, bit by bit, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Not one damn thing!”

“Oh, Brian,” Sola said, when the older man broke down in helpless tears.

She pulled him into her arms. Rocking him back and forth as he cried for the man he’d expected to share the rest of his life with only to have everything upended by cruel fate. “Life isn’t fair. This isn’t fair,” she said. “But…you have
got
to accept Ivan’s offer.”

“Marisol, it was just one fight,” he sobbed into her shoulder. “I’m not usually that bad, am I?”

Sola loved him. Loved him as much as if he were really her father. And because she loved him, she told him the truth.

“Brian, the only reason Alexei hired you to spy on Ivan, the only reason you still have a job, and the only reason you’re still getting hired for summer opera gigs, is because I’ve been covering for you since Eddie first got sick. I know watching him go through this has been more than upsetting for you. But you’ve got to be better than this. For him. For me. Most of all, for yourself. You’re not the man I respect and love when you’re drinking. So please take Ivan’s offer. Get better. That’s all I want for you.”

Brian sniffed. Then he sat up and rubbed a shaking hand over his face. “Oh, dear, I really crapped the bag on this one, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Marisol.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she returned, her own eyes filling with unshed tears. “Just go in there and get through this.”

She and Brian walked hand and hand to the gate, and she gave him a tight hug before he disappeared into a pretty stucco villa with an intake counselor. “Thank you,” she said to Ivan when she returned to the limo.

He didn’t answer, just kept staring out the window. All gentleness was gone from his face again, and this time it stayed gone. This should have felt like a happy ending, with Brian tucked safely away in a rehab facility, Sola didn’t feel very happy at all as they rolled away from New Promises. In fact, there was something very bleak hanging in the air between them. Something that made her feel like they’d already lost everything they’d had together over the past week, even though Ivan was sitting across from her.