Chapter 18 Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dimitri's POV
"Alexei?" I whispered.
The figure stepped closer into the light.
And I saw the face.
It wasn't Alexei. It was Mikhail.
His face was grim and tired. He looked like he had aged ten years overnight.
"It is just me," he said quietly.
Relief and rage warred inside me.
"Untie me," I demanded. "NOW!"
"I cannot do that," Mikhail said. He pulled a chair over and sat down beside the bed. "Not yet."
"Mikhail, I swear to God…"
"You will what?" He interrupted.
"Threaten to kill yourself again? Try to start a war that will get everyone killed? Destroy everything we have built?"
"I do not care about what we built!" I roared. "I care about HER!"
"I know," Mikhail said sadly. "That is the problem."
"There is no problem except you keeping me locked up like an animal!"
"You put a gun to your own head, Dimitri," Mikhail said. His voice was hard now. "You were going to pull the trigger. Over a woman. Do you understand how insane that is?"
"She is not just a woman," I said through clenched teeth.
"Then what is she?" Mikhail asked. "What is she that is worth your life? Worth the lives of all your men? Worth destroying everything your parents died to build?"
"She is everything," I said. "Without her, none of it matters. The money. The power. The empire. It is all meaningless without her."
Mikhail leaned back in his chair. He looked old and defeated.
"I loved your mother," he said quietly.
I froze. "What?"
"Before she married your father," Mikhail continued. "I loved her. We were together for two years. I wanted to marry her. Build a life with her. Leave the Bratva behind."
I had never heard this before. I never knew.
"What happened?" I asked despite myself.
"Your father happened," Mikhail said. "He saw her and wanted her, he took her. Just like that. And I let him. Because he was more powerful. Because I was a coward. Because I thought letting her go was the smart thing to do."
He looked at me now.
"Do you know what happened after?" he asked. "I spent the next thirty years regretting it. Every single day. I watched her marry him. Have his children. Build a life that should have been mine. And I did nothing. Because I was being smart, being practical, and being a good soldier."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Because I do not want you to make the same mistake I did," Mikhail said. "But I also do not want you to make the opposite mistake. To throw everything away in some grand romantic gesture that gets you killed."
"So what do you want me to do?" I demanded. "Just accept that my brother took her? Live the rest of my life knowing she is out there somewhere with him?"
"No," Mikhail said. "I want you to be smart about this. To use your head instead of your heart. To plan instead of charging in blind with rage."
"I gave you twenty-four hours to plan," I said. "And you failed. So now we do it my way."
"Your way will get her killed," Mikhail said flatly. "Is that what you want?"
I said nothing.
"If you go to war," Mikhail continued, "Alexei will disappear. He will take her somewhere you will never find them. And you will spend the rest of your life wondering if she is alive or dead. Is that what you want?"
"No," I whispered.
"Then you need to calm down," Mikhail said. "You need to think. And you need to trust me when I say I am working on this. I have people looking for them. Quietly and carefully. Without alerting every Pakhan in Moscow that the Volkov twins are at war."
"How long?" I asked. "How long do I have to wait?"
"I do not know," Mikhail admitted.
"Days, maybe weeks. But Dimitri, you have to be patient. You have to…"
"I have been patient!" I pulled against the ropes. "I have waited, I have trusted and where has it gotten me? Tied to a bed in my own interrogation room!"
"To keep you from getting yourself killed!" Mikhail stood up. His voice rose. "You were going to blow your own brains out! What was I supposed to do? Let you?"
"You should have let me!" I screamed. "You should have let me die rather than live like this!"
"No," Mikhail said firmly. "Your mother asked me to take care of you. To keep you safe. Even from yourself if necessary. And that is what I am doing."
"My mother is dead," I said coldly. "Your promises to them mean nothing."
Mikhail flinched like I had struck him.
Good. I wanted him to hurt the way I was hurting.
"I am going to keep you here," Mikhail said slowly, "until I figure out a way to get her back that does not end with everyone dead. Whether that takes days or weeks or months."
"Months?" I laughed. "You think you can keep me tied up for months?"
"If I have to," Mikhail said. "Yes."
"I will never forgive you for this," I said. "Never."
"I can live with that," Mikhail said. He walked to the door. "As long as you are alive to hate me."
"Mikhail," I called out.
He stopped and turned.
"When I get out of here," I said quietly, "and I will get out eventually, you and I are done. No more godfather. No more family. You will be nothing to me."
Pain flashed across Mikhail's face. "I understand."
"And Ivan," I continued. "The guard who shot me. When I get free, he will die slowly and painfully. I do not care whose orders he was following. He betrayed me. And that is a death sentence."
"It was my order," Mikhail said. "I told him to shoot you if you tried to hurt yourself. So if you want to blame someone, blame me."
"Oh, I do," I said. "Believe me, I do. But Ivan still pulled the trigger. And for that, he will pay."
Mikhail said nothing. He just looked at me with those sad eyes.
Then he left and closed the door. And I was alone again.
I lay there, staring at the white ceiling. My wrists were bleeding from the ropes. My heart broke in my chest.
Somewhere out there, Irina was with Alexei, scared and alone. Thinking I had abandoned her.
And I could do nothing.
Nothing except wait, and plan. And dream of the day I would finally be free.
The day I would make them all pay.
Everyone who stood between me and getting her back.
They would all pay in blood.
I closed my eyes. I tried to picture her face. Her amber eyes, her soft smile.
"I am coming," I whispered to the empty room. "I do not know how. I do not know when. But I am coming for you. I promise."
And I always keep my promise.
Even if it took the rest of my life.
Even if it cost me everything.
I would get her back.