The Devil's Beauty (Crime Lord Interconnected Standalone Book 2) (39 page)

“Did you make that appointment I asked for?”

Penny nodded. “Yes sir.” She squared her shoulders and turned her torso just enough so she was facing him with her phone held aloft. “The building I leased is being prepared as we speak. All sector heads have been contacted and informed to await further instructions.” She lifted her chin and peered at him. “All I need is a time that works for you.”

Dimitri peered at the sky barely visible over the looming skyscrapers. It was growing dark. The entire day was a blur. He honestly couldn’t recall what he’d done or what he’d accomplished. It felt like nothing when he thought of all he still needed to do.

“Tomorrow morning, first thing,” he decided, suppressing the urge to rub his eyes. “Find me men, at least eight. Strong, capable, ex-military.”

Penny’s thumbs flew over the screen, a blur of French tips.

“I might be able to help you with that, sir.” Frank turned his head over his shoulder and peered into the backseat. “I know a few very good men who could use the job.”

Penny paused in her note taking to peer questioningly at Dimitri, who gave a nod.

“Call them. Tell them to meet us at the hospital.”

Frank dug out his phone and did as he was told.

Penny’s phone took that moment to chirp. She peered down at it and Dimitri couldn’t help wondering what she’d do if she didn’t have the thing.

“Sir…” She scrolled through the message carefully. “I just received that information you requested.”

They were pulling up to the hospital. Saeed put his blinkers on and pulled up to the front entrance. He climbed out quickly and sprinted around to get Dimitri’s door. Penny must have instructed him to do so, because he hadn’t the first time.

Dimitri climbed out. Frank and Penny followed, but Dimitri focused on the blonde.

“Get the SUV, then come back. We’ll talk about that after.”

Penny inclined her head and turned to Saeed. “Let’s make it quick, yeah?” She checked her watch, grimaced. “Actually, sir, I need to get home after. Can I text you everything?”

Dimitri nodded. “Send Frank a copy as well. I want him to be prepared for anything.”

She was already bent over her screen as she took the seat Frank had vacated. Saeed shut her in and hurried around the hood.

Dimitri left them to sort it out and lead Frank inside. Neither spoke as they climbed into the elevator and rode up. The lights above the doors blinked on and off the higher they went until it finally dinged open on Ava’s floor.

John Paul stood at her door, phone at his ear. He glanced up when Dimitri approached. He said something and disconnected the call. His gaze moved past Dimitri to the man at his shoulder.

“Frank.” He stepped forward, hand not holding the phone extended. “It’s been a while.”

Frank accepted the shake. “John Paul. Good to see you.”

They separated.

“What brings you here?” John Paul asked.

Dimitri answered. “I’ve asked Frank to stay with Ava until we’ve settled things.”

That seemed to surprise John Paul. His eyebrows lifted as he looked to the other man.

“I thought you’d retired.”

“I have,” Frank drawled with just a hint of aggravation. “Mr. Tasarov was insistent.”

John Paul flicked a glance towards Dimitri, his expression unreadable. “Is that right?”

Dimitri ignored the snide remark and peered past his father. “Where’s Ava?”

He didn’t wait for a response. He pushed forward and glanced in the room.

She lay on the bed, a small, pale figure curled up on her side with two pillows stuffed under her head and IV tube taped to the back of her right hand. Her shoulders rose and fell in slow, rhythmic breaths. She didn’t stir when he crossed to her and took a seat next to her hip.

Even in sleep, she looked exhausted. Her face was drawn and pinched, and she didn’t budge when he stroked back her hair. He tugged the blanket higher around her and watched as she slumbered, resisting the urge to crawl in behind her and cradle her close.

“What did the doctors say?” he asked the quiet rustle from the doorway.

He didn’t need to glance up to know John Paul had followed him in. The other man’s fatigue and expensive cologne filled the space.

“Dehydrated,” he said, surprising Dimitri with an answer. “Bruised ribs. Nothing she won’t physically heal from.”

Dimitri glanced back. “Emotionally?”

John Paul shrugged. His hands disappeared into his pockets. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Dimitri made a mental note to find someone Ava could talk to, a professional who could help make her forget or at least feel better. He never believed in people who tried to understand the human mind. It was too complex and people were too good at lying, but if that was something Ava needed, then he would find someone. The best someone. A dozen someone’s. What ever she needed. He would help her through this. He promised her as much silently while combing back locks of tangled hair. The auburn was startling against the white pillowcases.

“I’m impressed,” John Paul continued. Dimitri had almost forgotten he was there. “Getting Frank is the equivalent of getting
Justin Bieber
to play at a young girl’s birthday party.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask how John Paul knew about Justin Bieber, but decided he didn’t care.

“Ava deserves the best,” was all he said.

“Oh, I agree.” He dared a couple more steps closer and stopped at the foot of Ava’s bed. “But I’ve already decided to send Ava to France to join her mother for a few weeks.”

Dimitri frowned. “France?” He turned his head over his shoulder to squint at the other man. “With her mother? Why would that be a good idea? Hasn’t she suffered enough already?”

A muscle tightened in John Paul’s jaw. “It’s not here and that’s what I want, for her not to be here.”

“And sending her across the ocean is your idea of a solution?”

Anger flared white hot in the other man’s eyes. “And what is your solution? Keep her here? Let her get killed?”

Dimitri waved towards the doorway where they could just make out Frank’s wide shoulder on the other side. “I found a solution.”

“So you want to keep her here,” John Paul argued. “Where she’s been kidnapped and nearly shot to death.”

“Do you honestly think sending Ava to France will stop Elena? Shipping her off will make no difference, except that we won’t be there to protect her. She’ll be in another country, alone.” He lowered his voice when Ava stirred. “I don’t know what Elena was thinking when she shot up an entire restaurant, but we both know that isn’t normal, not for Elena. It’s not smart. Elena would know better. She would know to keep low and stay hidden until she could find a way back in.”

The other man’s chin lifted a notch. “What are you saying? Someone else is after Ava?”

Dimitri shook his head, his brain too numb from the last week to function properly with thought. He needed sleep, proper sleep. The last time he even shut his eyes was on the plane home and that hadn’t been comfortable at all. He needed a bed and about an hour to reboot. His entire body was running on fumes and well wishes.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m just saying that this isn’t like Elena. You know that.”

“Erik—”

Indignation sparked to life in the pit of Dimitri’s stomach. “Erik would never—”

John Paul put up a hand. “That’s not what I was going to say.” He waited to make sure Dimitri wouldn’t interrupt again before continuing. “Erik might know where she is and not realize it. They’re siblings. They grew up together, have special places they used to go to, places of sentimental meaning.”

Dimitri had already thought about that, but hadn’t been sure how to bring it up to his uncle without causing a fight. He didn’t want Erik to think Dimitri didn’t believe him or that he wasn’t trying hard enough to find Elena. For all that she was and all that she’d done, she was still his sister and that made even Dimitri question Erik’s true intent. Not in the sense that he would betray everything. Erik wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t give up his position or territory and power, not for anyone. But he would do what he could—while keeping his hands clean, and that was what worried Dimitri, because unlike his uncle, he had no loyalties towards Elena. In this case, blood wasn’t enough.

“I’ll ask him.”

John Paul shook his head. “That might not be enough.”

Dimitri peered up at him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” The steady clip of footsteps filled the space as he circled to stand on Ava’s other side and peer down at her. “As it stands right now, we can’t trust anyone … but each other.”

That made Dimitri pause. Long enough that John Paul had the time to reach down and hook a bit of hair off Ava’s temple and push it back.

“We’ve never seen eye-to-eye, have we?” he went on when Dimitri said nothing. “We’ve never agreed on anything, except her. We both agree on her, on keeping her safe, on keeping her happy, on keeping her. I sometimes wonder what kind of men that makes us, being so completely weak when it comes to a single girl.”

“Woman,” Dimitri corrected.

John Paul snorted. “To you. To me, she’s still a gangly nine-year-old desperate for love. I promised myself that I would set the world on fire before letting anything happen to her. I failed.”

“We both failed,” Dimitri murmured. “We both let her down.”

The other man nodded slowly. “We can’t let her down again. We need to find Elena and make an example to everyone about what will happen if they go near Ava again.”

Dimitri couldn’t argue that. He didn’t even care what kind of example John Paul had in mind. Whatever it took to keep Ava safe.

“I didn’t find her,” he confessed quietly. “Remember I told you she wasn’t there?” He didn’t wait for a response. “She’d already been sold. I was too late. I don’t know how. I don’t…” He forced five fingers back through his hair. “I was five days early. I was there before the boat even ported. I was there. I should have … but it was too late. She was already gone. All I keep thinking is, what if she hadn’t been brought back? What if they’d kept her?” he broke off, unable to continue without crying or throwing up.

John Paul was quiet a long time. It became evident why when his exhale spilled into the room a shaky whisper.

“The man who brought her…”

“Julian Armando,” Dimitri supplied.

“What did he say?”

Dimitri shook his head. “Nothing. He just gave her to me and left.”

“Does Marcus know him?”

He lifted his face for the first time and met John Paul’s gaze. “I would think so. Hector did.”

John Paul considered something, then nodded. “We will have to extend a hand in thanks to this Armando and see what he has to say about things.”

He was right, of course. They would need to make the first move if they were to stay ahead of whatever may come. There was no such thing as a free helping hand or random acts of kindness. Not in their world. Julian Armando may have asked for nothing then, but that didn’t mean his actions didn’t come with strings.

“I have a matter that requires my attention in the morning,” he told the other man. “But I will meet you in the afternoon to see Marcus.”

John Paul agreed with an inclination of his head before he turned and headed for the door.

It wasn’t until later, when the hospital was a quiet buzz of machines and the occasional shuffle of feet around the nurse’s station that Dimitri realized that was the first time in thirty-one years that he and John Paul had ever had a civil, agreeing conversation about anything. It was the first time the man hadn’t sneered or snarled at him. It was the first time they’d spoken as equals, two men moving towards a common goal. Dimitri wasn’t a teenage girl so he didn’t believe for a minute it would last or happen again, but he let himself take in that moment for what it was worth, which was probably not very much. Ava would never believe him, or maybe she would. She always said all he and John Paul needed was a push. Maybe she was that push. Maybe everything that had happened was what he and the other man needed to finally get on the right foot.

Didn’t matter, he told himself, shifting to a more comfortable position in the chair at the foot of the bed. If it happened again, it happened. If it didn’t … well, he wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

He’d sent Frank home hours earlier with instructions to return at five to begin his shift. It was early, but it gave Dimitri time to shower and dress for his meeting with the heads of the north. He wanted to make sure he fit the part he was about to step into. It would be their first impression of him and it needed to be one that said power, strength, and leadership. It also meant he might need to get over his aversion to suits, which made him grumble a curse and shift in his seat. The very idea made his skin clammy. He could almost feel the tight clasp of a collar around his throat, the stiff fabric making him itch. It made no sense whatsoever why a grown man would willingly put himself in that level of discomfort. John Paul lived in suits. He was clearly deranged.

But he shot Penny a text despite the insane hour to find him a suit. Then a second one to find a good trauma counselor. Then a third text to Saeed, telling him to meet Dimitri at the hospital by five.