Chapter 58 What He Wants
Nikolai stared at him. "You want Anya."
"I want Anya." Dmitri's voice was calm, certain. "I've been watching and studying her for years, she's smart, stronger than she knows, more dangerous than anyone in this house understands. She's the key to everything her father built and I want her."
He moved back to the desk, leaning forward, his hands flat on the wood, his face inches from Nikolai's.
"Give me the girl, Mr. Volkov. Give me the Key she's carrying and the chance to finish what her father started, on my terms and for my purpose." His grey eyes were cold, utterly without mercy. "My father's protection will be yours forever, not just for now but until the next crisis.”
Nikolai's heart was pounding, his palms slick with sweat. He'd known Dmitri was dangerous but he hadn't known how dangerous until this moment.
"The Key is hers, she has it and without her, we can't access it so the evidence will become useless."
Dmitri smiled. "Then find her, bring her back, convince her that the only way to protect her mother, her future and her life, is to accept what I'm offering." He straightened, his hands sliding into his pockets. "I'm not asking you to do anything you weren't already planning to do. I'm just telling you what happens when you succeed."
He moved toward the door, his footsteps light with relaxed shoulders, he paused with his hand on the handle, looking back.
"I was told that she's in love with your son, Dima. Your heir and enforcer, the man who let her walk out of this house without looking back." He let out a deadly smirk, "that's going to be a problem for her, him and you." He opened the door, stepping into the hallway. "Find her before I do Mr. Volkov because if I find her first, I won't be asking for her hand, I'll be taking what's mine."
He left, closing the door softly behind him.
Nikolai slumped in his chair, his hands shaking like leaves. Dima's face kept flashing in his mind, that stubborn look he got when he'd made up his mind which made Nikolai's gut twist. Dima would die before letting Smirnov have her unless he doesn’t have a choice.
Nikolai picked up his phone. His fingers were steady now, his voice calm.
"I need to know where my son is, every move, calls and person he talks to." He paused, his eyes fixed on the door where Dmitri had disappeared. "And I need to know where the Petrova girl is hiding before Dmitri Smirnov finds her first."
He hung up, the phone heavy in his hand.
\---
At the blue house, Anya sat in her father's chair, the key to Zurich pressed against her chest, her father's letter still in her hand. She'd read it so many times, couldn't close her eyes without seeing his face, hearing his voice and feeling the weight of everything he'd left her.
Natalia was in the kitchen, the kettle whistling, the sound of cups being set on the table. She moved quietly, giving Anya space and time but she was there waiting and watching.
Anya looked at the photograph of Dmitri Smirnov, he's young and handsome, standing beside a woman whose face she couldn't see.
"He was supposed to be different," Anya said, her voice soft. "My father thought he could save him."
Natalia appeared in the doorway, a cup of tea in each hand. "Your father thought he could save everyone."
She crossed to the table, setting the cups down, taking the chair across from Anya.
"He was wrong about some of them but not about you."
Anya looked at the key, letter in her lap and the photograph of a man who had been hunting her since before she was born.
"He wants me not just the Key but me."
Natalia nodded slowly. "That's what Dima said when he came to the gate. He said Dmitri made his terms clear that Nikolai should find you, bring you back and hand you over while in exchange, Smirnov's protection lasts forever."
Anya's chest tightened. "Dima came back? When?"
Natalia was quiet for a moment. "This morning before dawn, he stood at the gate for an hour but he didn't call or knock." She paused, her voice softer. "He said to tell you he's sorry, that he should have told you, trusted you and he'll wait as long as it takes for you to talk to him."
"What do I do?" she asked. "What do I do when the man who killed my father is hunting me, and the man I love is waiting for me to forgive him, and the only thing that can save me is a key I don't know how to use?"
Natalia reached across the table, taking her hand. Her fingers were warm, the hands of a woman who had spent fifteen years waiting for this moment.
"You fight," she said quietly. "You find the strength your father always knew you had. You use the key, open the safe, release the truth and when Dmitri Smirnov comes for you, you show him what happens to men who hunt women who refuse to be hunted."
Anya looked at the key in her hand,she closed her fingers around it.
She was ready.
\---
Dmitri Smirnov stood at the window of his room, looking out at the dark grounds. Somewhere out there, a woman was hiding, a woman who had been running her whole life, from her father's secrets, mother's fear and the truth she was only beginning to understand.
He smiled.
She was smart, strong and everything her father had hoped she would be. Everything he'd wanted in a daughter he never got to raise.
But she was also alone, afraid, desperate enough to run, hide and make mistakes.
And when she made her mistake, he would be there.