Chapter Twelve
Nadia was surprised she didn’t get pulled over on her way to Jelena’s house. Dominic loaned her one of his fastest cars, and the Lamborghini drove so smoothly that she didn’t notice she was going past a hundred miles an hour until she glanced down by accident. Nerves made her foot press reflexively harder on the gas pedal.
What’s wrong with Papa? Why couldn’t Jelena simply tell her? Had he gotten in trouble? Maybe shot? Who had he screwed over this time?
When was he going to grow up?
She zipped into Jelena’s curving driveway, stopping short in front of her gate. She punched in the code by memory. For all she knew, her father was genuinely dying. It wasn’t kind of her to blame her father for…
She grimaced at herself in the rearview mirror. For one brief moment, she didn’t care if it was kind. She was getting tired of cleaning up his messes.
The gate swung open, and she drove up to the front door. By the time she got to it, Jelena was already there, opening it for her. She looked different, Nadia noticed, although the differences would probably only be noticeable to someone who knew Jelena well. Her clothing was different: no longer the pristine matched suits that pegged her as a society wife, she was wearing clothing that was a bit more clingy, a bit more revealing, if just as sophisticated. She seemed to be wearing a bit more makeup as well. No, not more…just different. Sexier. The overall effect was not one of seduction, however. If anything, Jelena was…
Nadia frowned. Intimidating seemed to be the only word that applied.
Since when had her pliant trophy sister been intimidating?
“It took you long enough,” Jelena snapped, grabbing her by the arm and shutting the door behind her.
“Where’s Papa? What happened?”
“Upstairs.” Jelena followed her, typing in numbers hastily on a cell phone.
“He’s here? Are you keeping them all here? What happened?” Nadia stopped, crossing her arms and scowling at her sister. “Damn it, what’s going on?”
“What, are you on a time limit?” Jelena asked sharply. “Are you only allowed a few hours of freedom?”
“I’m asking about Papa, and you’re still carping about Dominic?” Nadia shot back. “Dominic loves me—and even if he didn’t, he’s not your problem. Don’t worry about my life.”
“Somebody needs to,” Jelena said. “How does he trust you to get back in anyway? Does he wait at the gate or something?”
“What happened to Papa?”
Jelena’s dark expression was one of muted fury. “Nothing’s wrong with Papa.”
It took Nadia a second to realize what had happened. “Jelena…tell me you didn’t lie to me just to get me away from Dominic.”
“I wouldn’t have if I thought there were some other way to get you free from that prison. He doesn’t let you leave. He doesn’t let you breathe. And worst of all, you actually think you enjoy it!”
“This has nothing to do with you!” Nadia stormed.
“Really? Did you have to beg for him to let you loose? Do you honestly think if it hadn’t been life-threatening, he would have ever let you go?”
“Right,” Nadia said. “He hates father, and wanted to kill him…but he’s enough of a soft heart to let me leave because the man’s sick. Or so I thought. What do you think? Do you really think he’s a bastard? What, are there rules I don’t know about?”
Jelena’s eyes were a little wild. Something was wrong. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
“I’m not going to let you make the same mistakes I made,” Jelena said, and her voice was frantic. Crazed. “I’m not going to watch you throw your life away for a man who doesn’t de serve it. Who mistreats you and who should be made to pay for it!”
“What happened to you, Jelena?” Nadia asked softly, in Russian. “What’s broken you this way?”
Jelena let out a short, barking laugh tinged with madness. “Does he let you have free run of the place, then? Are you the mistress of his house? Do you know the code to get back there, or do you have to ring him at the gate like a delivery woman?”
“It’s not like that,” Nadia said, feeling anger and fear mixing like gas and fire.
“What, are the gates simply wide open, then?”
Nadia huffed impatiently. “What difference does it make? The car,” she snapped. “It’s got something in it; I can get back in whenever I want. But that’s not the point. I know it’s his house, and his car, and I am just a guest. But he cares for me. We might not have the relationship I wanted, but nothing’s perfect, and besides, that’s my problem, not yours. I’ll figure out what to do with it.”
Jelena’s expression softened slightly. “I can’t watch you get hurt,” she muttered. “I’ve stood by blindly for too long. I just…I can’t bear it.”
Nadia sighed, then reached out and hugged her sister. “I know,” she breathed. “And I’m sorry. But, honestly, in this family, don’t you think it’s time we started letting each other make some mistakes, and learn from them?”
“You didn’t let Papa learn from his mistakes.”
“No. No, I didn’t.” And it had gotten her Dominic. But even Dominic had not wanted her to pay that price. And now…“But it’s the last time.”
“Easy to say,” Jelena scoffed.
“No. From now on, if someone makes a mistake, he’s going to pay for it on his own.”
Jelena eased herself out of Nadia’s arms. “I’m glad you said that.”
Then she shut her cell phone with a snap. Nadia stared at the phone, puzzled. “What was that?”
Jelena shook her head. “A friend. Someone who’s going to help me.”
There was the sound of tires squealing in the driveway. An engine roaring to life, then disappearing down the hill.
Nadia ran down the stairs, ice forming in the pit of her stomach. She threw open the door.
The Lamborghini was gone.
She turned back to Jelena. “What have you done?”
“Dominic Luder needs to pay for his mistakes, Nadia,” she said, and her voice rang with a fierce sort of triumph. “And he’s going to pay with his life.”
“No!” Nadia felt panic, sharp as a razor, slice through her. “You’ve got to help me stop them!”
“What’s the problem? He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”
I promise I won’t leave you. I don’t ever want to hurt you.
“He’ll think I betrayed him,” she said, feeling a greasy, nauseous panic churn in her stomach. “My God, if he dies…”
“Don’t worry,” Jelena said, finally calm. “You won’t need to worry about him after this. He won’t hurt you, no matter what he might think before he dies.”
Nadia spun and slapped Jelena, hard enough to make her hair tumble around her shoulders. Jelena stared at her, cradling her face.
“I love him.” She screamed it. “You don’t know his life, and I’m starting to realize…you don’t know mine. He’s been screwed over and maimed and he just wants to be left alone. He’s tired of being attacked. I could have built a life with him and now you’ve ruined all of that!”
Jelena’s expression was one of fascinated horror.
“Give me your keys,” Nadia said.
“What?”
“Your car keys!” Nadia shoved Jelena back in the house. “I have to get to him. I have to stop this!”
“It’s too late,” Jelena said, her voice sounding numb. “You don’t know the people who are after him.”
“The people you sent,” Nadia growled. “I don’t even know you anymore. Now give me your damned keys!”
“No. You might get killed.”
Nadia wanted to rip her hair out. “I will get there, don’t worry,” she said, walking toward the door. “And if anything happens to him, God help you, Jelena.”
“I’m your family,” Jelena said. “Does that mean nothing?”
Nadia stopped for one second, closing her eyes, feeling the years of pain and sacrifice and…and sheer stupidity, lashing at her, like a multitude of bruises.
“Just being family does not excuse this,” she said. “I love you. But I’m not going to let the people I love hurt me. Not anymore.”
With that, she walked out the door and into the night.
“Stop that,” Dominic said, with no heat in his voice. “She’ll come back. She promised.”
Max whined softly, then took his place at Dominic’s feet, curling up on the rug in front of the fireplace.
It had only been a few hours since Nadia had left. He’d been living like a hermit for, what, some three years since the explosion. It wasn’t like he couldn’t fill the time somehow. He was an intelligent man.
Of course, he was now a man in love. Apparently that had a few drawbacks—like a touch of obsession and a tendency to pine.
He gritted his teeth, heading to his computer. He’d see who was online at the forum, play some chess. See about increasing his ranking. No…chess gave him too much time to think, and in his current mental state, he’d probably get creamed by a fourth grader. Halo. He’d play Halo, shoot stuff. Get some of the viciousness out of his system.
Except he wasn’t feeling viciousness anymore. It was just ache, longing, and—without her—loneliness.
God, he was pathetic.
Max looked toward the doorway, then in a flash was on his feet. Dominic heard the sound of a door opening.
“Nadia?” He couldn’t stop himself from calling out.
There was the sound of footsteps. A lot of footsteps. Max’s hackles rose and he snarled.
Shit. It definitely wasn’t Nadia—although, technically, only Nadia had an access code ring.
Shit.
He got to his feet. Why didn’t he have his gun with him? Why had he gotten so lax?
“Don’t bother, Dominic,” a familiar voice purred. “God, you’re a mess. I keep forgetting just how extensive the damage was. You’re not beautiful at all anymore, now, are you?”
“Alexis,” he responded, feeling weariness seep into his bones. “Been a while.”
Alexis stepped into his living room, surrounded by five garden-variety thugs. “Too long,” she said, and her violet eyes glittered dangerously. “I should have gotten around to this years ago. I had no idea you’d be so difficult to kill.”
“I’ve always had a strange talent for self-preservation,” he agreed. “Even when I didn’t give a shit about living. I’m not entirely sure how that worked out.”
“It’s not going to help you today,” she snapped. “But don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on killing you quickly, anyway.” She turned to her group of quasi-henchmen. “Take him out, but don’t kill him. We’re definitely going to hurt him first.”
He sighed. This was going to be a pain in the ass.
Two of the thugs were just hired help; druggies, more than likely, from the manic look in their eyes and their gross overconfidence. Someone needed to teach these assholes that a couple of tattoos and a leather jacket didn’t make you a badass. Dominic guessed he’d be the teacher of that particu lar lesson. But the other two…the first, a tall, pale blond man, thin and withdrawn, with a quiet studiousness that suggested he knew what he was doing. And the other, a short olive-skinned man with onyx eyes who looked like he’d like to make a career out of torturing people. Which, come to think of it, he probably had.
Problematic. But at least for a few minutes he wouldn’t be thinking of…
“So tell me: who’s Nadia?” Alexis asked, trying to sound bored but simply sounding jealous. “I certainly hope she didn’t mean much to you.”
Dominic’s blood ran cold. Suddenly, his mind shifted into a crystalline clear focus.
The amateur thugs rushed him. As he suspected, they were clumsy, inept. He kicked their asses easily. One got knocked out. The other went running, much to Alexis’s disdain.
“You should hire better help,” Dominic suggested, not even winded.
“They couldn’t all be you, Dominic,” Alexis returned sourly.
“A compliment?” He shook his head, still keeping his eyes fixed on the other two combatants. “You’re getting mellow, Lexy.”
The dark-haired man giggled. Yes, giggled. Creepy little fucker, that one.
“You never did answer my question,” she said. “Who’s Nadia?”
“Little busy here, Alexis,” he answered, as the blonde and the short guy started to circle him. “Can I get back to you after I get rid of your other flunkies?”
The blonde produced a knife, the short guy a gun. Which meant taking the short guy out first. A knife wound he could live with. Even though the caliber on the gun didn’t look like much, he’d rather not…
“Oh, wait,” Alexis interrupted with exaggerated cheerfulness. “I know Nadia! She’s the lovely girl I got your cute little Lamborghini from.”
Her comment had the desired effect. He met her eyes for a moment, gauging her sincerity. Like a well-orchestrated maneuver, the blonde rushed him as the short guy shot him in the leg.
“Fuck!” he shouted as he toppled over like a demolished building. The two men pounced. He felt the blade at his neck as the short guy quickly and effectively bound his wrists and feet, hog-tying him.
“Careless,” Alexis said, hovering in front of him. “This Nadia must’ve really meant something to you.”
He didn’t like her use of the past tense. “If you hurt her,” he said, between gritted teeth, “I will personally make sure your last breaths are incredibly painful ones.”
She knelt down, grinning evilly. “You aren’t really in a position to make threats, you realize. But don’t worry. I didn’t hurt your little friend.”
She was gearing up for something, he realized as the binding around his wrists tightened.
“I didn’t have to,” she added. “She gave me the car quite easily.”
Pain stabbed at Dominic, and it had nothing to do with his restraints. “Nice try,” he said, glad his voice was steady.
But how did Alexis get the car? His subconscious nagged at him. It probably wasn’t that hard. Nadia was upset—thinking her father was dying. It’d be easy to boost it from her.
Or she betrayed you.
He ignored the internal chatter.
“You’re so confident, then, that a spurned lover wouldn’t be angry enough to want you dead?”
“Alexis, I’ve never said this, but…” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Now she was the one to look shocked. The expression quickly shifted to wariness. “For what, exactly?”
“For leading you on,” he said. “For not being what you wanted. Taking you for granted. Basically, for being an arrogant, egotistical ass.”
She laughed, a brittle sound. “You don’t honestly think that an apology this late in the game is going to change anything.”
“No,” he said. “But I still needed to say it.”
She sent a quick, sharp look to the blonde. The blonde responded by kicking Dominic in the kidney. Pain radiated up through Dominic’s back, and he let out a hiss.
“You deserve this,” she said. “You may be sorry, but I don’t forgive you.”
He would have shrugged. If he had the freedom of movement anyway. Instead, he simply looked bored.
“Your Russian girlfriend agreed with me.”
He was moving past bored, heading toward downright Zen. “You’re lying,” he said easily.
“Really? How do you know?”
Because she said she loved me. He didn’t even bother to respond.
“Money changes everything,” Alexis mocked. “I paid that little bimbo handsomely to finally get my hands on you, Dominic. And I’m going to make sure that you realize that for the few excruciating hours you’ve got left to live.”
He shook his head.
“You don’t believe you’re going to die?” Alexis’s voice rose in pitch, clearly agitated.
“I think I’m probably going to die,” he said. “But I’ll tell you one thing I know: Nadia would never betray me.”
Funny, that it took this to clarify that statement. He was about to die, and he finally knew, with complete certainty, that he’d fallen in love with the one woman on earth he knew he could trust.
Nadia, I was an idiot.
Too bad he’d never get the chance to tell her.