Dmitry's Closet by Nelson, S. (read people like a book .txt) 📕

her body against the plush rug. The world shifted. She went from looking at the floor and holding on to his iron gripto catching glimpses of the vaulted ceiling. He laid over her, connected to her inner core, deep inside of her troubled heart.

Her screams started again and were intermingled with Dmitry’s deep, masculine groans. Tears formed in her eyes as he continued. He looked at her with tears in his owneyes . In them, there was a glimpse of humility – sorrow for the way that he had deceived her. She had never seen him cry until tonight. It was frightening to her.

In the silence of the room, she held him tight as he moaned and tensed up, releasing himself into her body. His mouth converged on hers in a long, passionate kiss and deep, frustrated sigh. His deep breaths vibrated against her sweaty body. He covered her, hiding her from God and man. She looked up at the ceiling beyond his large arm and smiled. How could she deny him when he loved her beyond words, beyond barriers, beyond life?

Too weak to move, Royal stayed under him shaking until he finally sat up. She breathed free air as he did. On his knees in front of her, he wiped the tears quickly from his face, embarrassed that she had seen him show so much emotion.

He looked down at her with a now expressionless face and then picked her exhausted body up off the ground. She closed her eyes and lay against him nearly asleep. Naked, he carried her in his wounded arms, up to their bedroom.

Chapter 26

Ivan took a drag of his cigarette, while he watched the sun rise above the horizon. Spitting over the balcony, he propped his long leg up on the railing and listened to the local news on the television just inside the patio door.

Although there had been no reports of an arrest of his brother, Ivan’s contact told him that Dmitry had been detained by the FBI. However, he suspected that it was not for long enough, so, he and his men had relocated in the middle of the night to a vacant studio apartment downtown. It was right under his brother’s nose, but the last place Dmitry would think to look – directly across from the restaurant in view of everything.

Ivan’s men were ready to battle and hungry to take over the new territory. They were not skittish like Max and Nicolai’s men, and they were not blindly loyal like Dmitry’s drones. His men were like him – opportunistic, ready to carpe diem. Most of them had no official ties to Vory z Vakone. They had no true understanding of the code, but they were aggressive, moral-less, vile creatures willing to do anything to make a buck.

Ivan preferred them that way, instead of true soldiers. He would have less remorse should he ever have to kill them all – all except Dorian, his only true brother, whom he would never kill. It was a pity that a division such as this had to bring them together and tear he and his real blood apart, but at least he did not walk away empty handed.

Dorian walked out on the patio beside him and took off his acrylic work goggles.

“The payload is ready,” Dorian said confidently.

“Then it will happen today,” Ivan confirmed. “Doom’s Day.” He smiled.

“Only this is no Normandy,” Dorian said yawning. “I suppose I should get some sleep then. I’ve been up for thirty-six hours.”

“After this evening, you can sleep for days. There will be no more threats for either of us.”

“Have you decided about the girl?”

“Dah. She’ll pay too. She’ll pay for Ari.” Ivan still said her named with reverence.

“I don’t know if it’s right. Ari was one of us – a killer, a warrior, part of the resistance in Georgia. This Royal doesn’t seem to be a fighter at all.”

“Do you say that because she’s black, brother? Do you feel some sort of kinship to her?”

Dorian smiled. “Nobut if I did, I wouldn’t have any shame in telling you. I just wonder if going after an innocent won’t damn you.”

“Innocent?” Ivan huffed. “Why do you think she’s in-nocent?”

“I don’t know her. I’ve only seen the pictures of her, but she doesn’t look like she should be involved.”

Ivan thumped his cigarette over the balcony and turned to Dorian. “Well if you feel that way, I would suggest that you not stick around for the grand finale. It might turn your stomach.” He winked at Dorian and went inside.

Dorian sincerely cared for Ivan. He was like his broth-er, and he sympathized with him for all that he had lost because of their alliance, but it did not stop him fromseeing that at times Ivan was evil to the bone. It was because of Ivan’s malice that he decided that this favor to him would be his last. He would not have a hand in ravaging a young woman to avenge Ivan’s murdering and conniving late wife.

∞♥∞

The sun rose over Dmitry’s bedroom and casteda glow over Royal’s naked sleeping body. Dmitry on the other hand had not slept since he carried her up to their room many hours before. Instead, he sat across from the bed in a leather-backed chair watching her sleep and thinking of what was surely to come.

Nighthad receded behind dawn’s rising call, and Dmitry still had not moved. It was News Year’s Day. He had spent the night before fighting demons of a past that had come back to haunt him at his most inconvenient time, and he still could not determine if he had won. While the beast he called his lust had been tamed, and Royal thoroughly satisfied, he wondered if the good feeling of the previous night would still be there with him when she woke.

Without Royal’s knowledge, he had planned a very ro-mantic evening for them the night before, but it had been rudely interrupted by a truck full of feds