Twisted Throne (Bratva Born #2)

10. Dimitri

Dimitri

Barnaby’s face is a veneer of sneering superiority, but the vein in his neck tells a different story. It beats hard and fast. He’s scared. Nervous. But the superiority worries me. His eyes seem to be laughing at me, at this situation. They definitely hold mirth, and that concerns me.

I can’t let myself look at littleblue because if I do, he’ll see it. That I’ve fallen for her, and he’s such a fucker that I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt her rather than letting her go.

He has her wrist in his grasp, and he could break it easily.

My peripheral vision clocks her tension, though, when I call her a thing.

It’s purposeful, to make Barnaby think this is all about ownership and damaged pride. If he knows my obsession runs even deeper than his, that gives him an advantage.

“Give her back, and you can leave here unharmed.”

“I won’t have violence in my club,” Miss May says. Her voice is shaky, but it’s an act. The woman needs to keep plausible deniability so that Barnaby doesn’t come for her when this has shaken down.

“Sasha, please tell these gentlemen to leave and take this fight elsewhere.” She turns to him and gives him a beseeching stare.

“Please leave, now,” Sasha says. “All of you and sort this out in the parking lot.”

Yes, the parking lot, where my men and Damen are waiting, and so are the three Vs.

Sasha’s voice is firm, but this is part of the act.

“Well, hold up a minute now,” Andrius says. “This man, Dimitri, says that this man, Barnaby, has taken this woman from him. Is that true?”

“No, of course not,” snaps Barnaby. “She’s a family friend, and she’s with me willingly. Aren’t you, angel?”

I finally let my gaze slide to littleblue, and I hope she can see in the depths the very thing I want to hide from Barnaby. That I feel for her. That I’ve fallen. Hard and fast and deep.

I’m kicking against currents I’ve no chance of fighting, and I hope she sees it all, even as I try to keep my face a careful blank.

“No, I’m not.” Adriana’s voice is soft but firm.

“You fucking little witch,” Barnaby seethes. “You traitorous bitch.”

He raises his hand, but I’m there before he can complete the action. His wrist is now wrapped in my iron grip. “Finish that movement, and you’re a dead man. As it is, let me take the girl, and we will just leave.”

“Just leave? Just like that?” He laughs. “I don’t think so.”

“I mean, I might like to play with him a bit,” Andrius says. “Just for fun. I guess I’d quite like to know about this auction.”

Barnaby’s face pales. “Auction?”

“Yes.” Priest steps forward. “I’m intrigued as to the fuckers running it and how you connect to them, and how it all connects to the fact that my wife’s name has been in their dirty mouths.”

Barnaby frowns. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know your wife. I have armed men outside and two highly trained men in here.”

“You think your highly trained men can take on all of us?” I ask him.

“All of who? You and two men. These two?” He points to Andrius and Priest. “Maybe. Maybe not, but we all start fighting, and this precious thing you want back could get damaged.”

He squeezes Adriana’s wrist harder, making her cry out.

“We have armed men outside too,” I state.

“Oh, God, Sasha do something about this,” Miss May says. Her voice holds genuine anguish now. I had promised not to bring weapons into her club; I didn’t say anything about outside.

“Let’s all just calm down and talk,” Sasha says. “Barnaby, if you did take Adriana from Dimitri, then under the rules of our world, he’s entitled to take her back.”

Barnaby yanks his hand out of mine and drops Adriana’s wrist as he whirls around on Sasha.

Alexis takes that opportunity and pulls Adriana to him and behind him, shielding her with his body.

“She’s fucking mine,” Barnaby spits. “She always was and always will be. He interrupted my plans, but she’s mine. Mine , do you understand? Now, I have the full force of some very powerful people backing me, so you Volkovs need to keep out of it.”

Heavy footsteps sound behind me, but I don’t look around. I know who it is. “Yes,” Damen says as he enters the room, “and those people have upset my father-in-law, and if you know who Stamatis Kantos is, then you know it’s not wise to upset him.”

“Oh my God, is this a joke?” Barnaby laughs, and it holds an unhinged edge. “You expect me to be scared of the Greek Mafia? These people are from proper, serious nations.”

Damen chuckles, all laid back and unbothered. “Whatever, but they have to move their goods through our waters. That shipment of arms that’s stuck? It has to get through shipping lanes controlled by us.”

Barnaby’s face grows angry, and two red spots burnish his cheeks until they resemble polished apples. “Don’t you think the lady ought to have a say?” he asks. “I do.”

I shrug. As if she’s going to choose him. “Fine by me.”

“But first,” he adds. “A little word from a friend of mine.”

He opens his phone and brings up a video. My chest clenches because in the picture on Barnaby’s screen is the one fucker we still hadn’t found. Ari. He has a young boy on his lap and in his big, beefy hand is a knife, which he’s using to peel an orange. He glances up at the camera and grins.

“Hey there, Adriana. Thought you could screw destiny, did you?” He strokes the boy’s golden hair.

I want to rip that phone out of his hand and smash it, then pummel his face into nothing but a bloody mess, but I didn’t get where I did in the military by losing my shit. Controlled and calculated always wins the day. I lock that shit down.

“Oh my God. Cade. Cade, darling, are you okay?” Adriana begins to sob, and I know then.

She won’t pick me.

I’ll simply have to take her. I grab her, my arms around her waist, but she starts to scream and kick.

“I swear to God, you take her and he cuts that child to ribbons.” Barnaby’s threat is cold, and I know it is true.

Why the fuck haven’t our men found Ari yet?

“Cade? Cade! ”

“It’s okay, Dreenanna, Gwandpa is here, and he’s said it’s okay for me to peel fruit with Uncle Ari.”

“Yes, the grandparents came to visit which was an added complication, but they’ve been most pleasant since I pointed out the alternative to coming quietly with me,” Ari says.

Adriana is fighting me like a wildcat.

“Where’s that bitch, Hana?” she screams the words, and her heel connects with my shin as she tries to get away. “Let me go, Dimitri.”

“I can’t littleblue. He’ll kill you.”

“If you don’t, he’ll kill Cade, and I’ll kill myself. I swear it, I will. Let me go. I’ll hate you forever if you don’t. You will never touch me again, and I’ll not even look at you. You’ll be dead to me.”

Her words are venomous, but they’re also determined.

“Dimitri,” Andrius says, low. “This isn’t the way or the time.”

“No,” I say, holding her tighter to me.

She bends over, suddenly floppy, and I think she’s fainted. I loosen my grip, and she slips out of my arms.

She falls to the floor and crawls forward, standing as soon as she can and racing over to Barnaby. She grabs the phone from him. “Ari, if you hurt him, I’ll come for you.”

Ari laughs. “Ooooh, I’m scared.”

She stares at him through the screen, and I see something I’ve never seen in her before. A fierce rage. It lights her up inside like some demonic force that has possessed her.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” she snarls. “Cade, darling, I’m coming for you.”

Then she turns to Barnaby. “Tell him not to hurt him, and I will come back with you.”

“You realize it will be forever?” he says. “It’s your choice, Adriana. I won’t force you. I don’t want a visit from Andrius here. Your choice .”

“It’s not a fucking choice,” I snarl. I whip around to stare at Andrius, but his face is stone. “He’s not in charge here,” I say. “I am.”

Adriana turns around and glares at us in turn. “No, you fucking malignant bastards , I am . This is my choice. I will go with Barnaby, but only if Ari lets Cade go.”

Ari shrugs and lets Cade slip from his knee. “Go play with your grandpa, kid.”

“’Kay, Uncle Ari.”

The kid runs out of the room, completely unfazed and totally unaware of the way in which he’s a pawn in a deadly game. Barnaby hangs up the call and turns to me with a smirk.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t have a plan in place?” Barnaby asks. “I’ve been ten steps ahead of you the entire time, Baranov.”

I want to wring the life out of him, but first, I need to find Ari and put him in the ground because until I have Cade, I won’t get littleblue back.

She said they were a joint deal, and I tried to deny it, but I now understand just how much she cares. If she wants that kid so much, I’ll get him for her. I’ll make sure he’s safe.

An idea hits me. If his grandparents came and lived on my compound, they could care for him. They could take a house with us, be safe, and Adriana could live her life, not having to care for a kid when she still has so much living of her own to do, but right across the way from him.

“Dimitri, let me go. I need Cade to be safe.” Adriana stares at me, and her eyes are glassy, tear filled. “Cade has to be safe. And his grandparents... I can’t be responsible for the deaths of three people; do you understand? I can’t.”

She’s telling me to do what I’ve already decided. It means she will be left with this bastard, and while it tears me apart to do so, she’s right—it is her choice. Except, it’s my choice what to do next, and Barnaby fucking Kane isn’t going to like it.

“I’ll come for you,” I say to Barnaby. “You do know that, right? I have a veritable army.”

“He has my backing too,” Damen says, shocking me. “I’m already pissed at you and now even more so.”

“This is an unfortunate turn of events,” Andrius deadpans. “I had so wanted to talk with you, Barnaby. I guess it will have to wait.”

“Jesus, bro.” Nikolai lets out a long whistle. “You have the California Bratva, the Greek Mafia, and also Andrius pissed at you. I think you should let the girl go. Tell this Ari dude to leave the house and just walk away .”

I can see he won’t, though. Nikolai is right. Barnaby has so many men against him now from various factions that he’s a dead man walking, but his sick obsession won’t let him hand Adriana back.

“Come, my love,” he says to her. “Let’s go home. I think it’s playroom time.”

My hands ball into fists, but Adriana’s pleading gaze tells me I can’t stop this, or she’ll never look at me again. I know her well enough by now, despite how little time we’ve spent together, to realize it’s not an idle threat.

She walks by me, and I catch a scent of her perfume. It’s not what she normally wears, and I guess its something he’s given her.

Then she’s gone, and my rage has nowhere to go. I roar and punch the wall so hard the skin on my knuckles tears. I don’t even feel the pain.

“Fuck me, he’s a piece of shit,” Nikolai says.

“He is, but if we’d forced her to stay and the child had been killed, she’d never have forgiven Dimitri,” Andrius says, “and we’d have the death of a child on our hands. I won’t do that.”

“No, you’ll just let her go into slavery with that man,” I snap, still facing the wall and breathing hard. I’m worried I’m going to kill someone. I need to call Jacob because he’s back at the Volkovs getting the plane timeslots ready, and now we don’t need it.

“Not happily, and we will get her back. First, though, that child needs to be made safe.”

“On it,” Damen says.

“How?”

“Barnaby made that call to Ari, and he used his personal phone.” Damen shrugs.

“He did?” I ask incredulously. I just assumed it was a burner and would be encrypted end to end.

“Nothing like the arrogance of centuries of inherited wealth to make you overly confident,” Andrius mutters.

“Exactly,” Damen says. “Give me five, and I can have a location on Ari and the kid.”

Jacob is back at the club trying to sort out the jet, but also he’s there because I didn’t want to risk him being here, and if it went south leaving my mother with no protection. He was good to have in England to smooth the introductions, but he wasn’t essential for this part. I damn well need him alive if we all go and get ourselves killed.

Yuri isn’t here either, because I needed an attack dog I could trust implicitly back home. It means I have someone who can get a team together and go pay Ari a visit.

Damen grins and punches the air with his free hand. “Got it.”

“What? That fast?” I shake my head.

“Give me a minute to bring the location up.” He types something into his phone and then hands it to me.

It’s a map of San Francisco, with a pin, and as I zoom in, I know exactly where Ari is with Cade.

I place a call. “Yuri?”

“Da, boss. What is it?”

“I’m going to send you coordinates; get a team of twenty men together for an extraction. It’s Ari, we’ve found him, but make sure to prioritize the safety and life of the hostages. Adriana’s stepbrother, Cade, is being held there. His grandparents are also there, and I presume his mother, Hana, and Adriana’s father. Extract the family and get Cade, his grandparents, and her father to safety. Take Hana to a safe place and guard her. I want to talk with that bitch. Kill Ari.”

“I need to speak to him,” Andrius interrupts. “Remember? Find out what he knows.”

“I already have Dorian, the leader, and he’ll sing for you.”

“Then why is Ari off doing this side shit if Dorian is in charge? Dorian might not be the real power behind the throne.”

“Ari poses a risk,” I say. To Adriana, and to me getting my littleblue back. So long as he’s alive, he is a damn risk. Then I think about it, and a grim smile tugs at my lips, unless he’s hidden away in a place so terrible it scrambles his mind. “Yuri, take Ari to the cabin, but put him in the oubliette.”

“Christ, really?” Yuri asks. “For real? Like leave him there?”

“Yes,” I say. “By the time we get back, he’ll sing like a canary for Andrius.”

I hang up and turn to Andrius. “Happy?”

He’s staring at me like I’ve grown another head. “You have an oubliette ?”

“Yes. It’s a great interrogation tool. So much easier than beating people up. Half the time you just have to show them it.”

“I think we need to make some modifications back at the compound,” Andrius says.

“What’s an oubliette?” Nikolai asks.

Andrius begins to explain it to him, but I zone out. My mind is focused on nothing but Adriana and what she might be about to endure.

I can’t let that happen no matter what anyone else says.