Page 13 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Eleven

Dimitri

We didn’t know how to re-cork a bottle, unfortunately, but that was what YouTube was for, thankfully.

We did a pretty good job at it, considering that at dinner no one was the wiser when the wine was brought out.

I swore Griffin sucked in a breath and held it as the wine was poured in front of our father.

I managed a straight face, I always could.

It was what I excelled at. Griffin? He was an absolute mess.

He kept glancing down at his phone, and Don was a saint.

He knew exactly what we did, but his face hadn’t moved a muscle since the drinks were brought out.

Only once did his eyes twitch to my face before his face went neutral.

I loved people who thought like me.

Griffin? He was such a loose cannon. He was going to ruin everything if he kept twitching. He couldn’t hide anything to save his life, literally.

Griffin was too good for this life, and I hoped one day he would get out unscathed.

I tried to keep my eyes off of our father as he took the first sip of his wine.

He yanked the glass from his mouth and scowled.

Griffin dropped his phone and ducked down beside the table.

He was such a mess. I was glad he wasn’t witnessing this or he would be losing his shit. I flipped him off under the table.

“Something isn’t right,” My father’s voice cut through the room for the first time since we all sat down. “Something is… off.”

Griffin popped back up in his chair, looking like he just crawled out of a grave. Ace narrowed his eyes at both of us.

Ivan was the only one acting normal.

Well, I was acting normal too—aside from the fact that I was a little drunk and had just flipped off my idiot brother.

Nothing got past Ace. His gaze sharpened, moving between me and Griffin.

Mother frowned as she took a sip of her own glass, then sniffed the rim. “It isn’t bad… but…” Her brows knit together. “It isn’t good either. Different.”

Ace’s eyes landed directly on me.

I smiled. Might as well.

Father’s nostrils flared as his gaze cut to the bottle on the table. “Call the sommelier.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I resisted the urge to facepalm. Griffin was not going to survive this.

“I’m sure it’s just your taste buds going soft as you age,” I said smoothly.

The room froze.

Father’s icy glare snapped to me. “Is there something you’d like to say?”

I lifted a single brow. “No, just stating the obvious. You are getting older, and many things change. Haven’t you heard of erectile dis?—”

Ivan cut me off. “What the fuck?”

Mother gasped.

Ivan rolled his eyes and slammed his phone down. “What is happening? Why are we talking about erections at dinner? Why does the wine taste like ass? What is happening to this family?”

Ace looked physically pained.

Carina, his wife, had one hand clamped over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she tried—and utterly failed—to contain her laughter.

Griffin?

Bright red. Fucking losing it.

He was seconds away from breaking down completely.

It was teetering on the edge of not-so-funny anymore.

Which meant, obviously?—

I had to push it just a little further.

I leaned back in my chair, swirling the whiskey in my glass as I said, casually, “I think this is all pretty normal, considering we all hate each other, this is all a farce, and what’s one more thing? Right?”

Silence.

The kind of silence that sinks its claws into the air and doesn’t let go.

You could have heard a pin drop. The smallest, thinnest pin in existence.

Then—

The slow, scrape of my father’s chair against the polished wood.

My eyes tracked his movement as he stood, controlled as ever, his expression unreadable.

His gaze leveled on me.

Flat. Cold. Calculated.

“Have a good evening.”

And just like that, he stormed out of the room.

I wasn’t sure if I should be proud of myself or utterly fucking terrified for poking the beast.

But here we were.

And I wasn’t taking it back.

I leaned back, stretching my arms over my head.

Checkmate?

Mother cleared her throat, her voice calm—too calm.

“So,” she said, her eyes sweeping across the table, “who switched the wine?”

The question landed like a gunshot.

Griffin lost his fucking mind. He collapsed onto the table, wheezing, his entire body shaking with laughter.

Loud, unhinged, tears-streaming-down-his-face laughter.

He pounded his fist against the table, gasping for air, while the rest of us just watched.

Don, ever the statue, didn’t so much as blink.

Ace was glaring daggers at me. Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a headache.

I sat back, finally letting a small smile slip. Griffin was gone. Utterly, hopelessly gone. Mother cocked her head at the both of us, watching Griffin absolutely fold, before?—

She smiled and then, a little giggle slipped past her lips.

The sound was so unexpected that even Don’s eyes flicked toward her, just for a second.

“I suppose it was about time that we had some fun around here. Though he will find out that it is boxed and he will be furious. I imagine his retaliation will not be good for any of you.”

Ivan threw his hands up in the air. “I didn’t have anything to do with this!”

Mother shrugged before she began eating, setting the tone for the rest of the table. The food was bland and tasteless like usual. But nothing compared to the food in other countries. When you’d been to as many places as I had, being home wasn’t impressive anymore.

Ace broke the silence. “Mother, would you mind giving me the numbers to your housekeepers in the city?

“Absolutely.” She put her fork down and frowned. “I thought you had a good housekeeper what was her name again? Casey?”

“Cassie.” Ace leveled me with a stare, and I felt the blood leave my face. “She stopped showing up for work a couple of months ago and no one has seen her.”

What was he saying? What was he insinuating?

Mother frowned as she picked up her wine glass. “Oh, thats unfortunate. I’ll have all of my contacts…”

I couldn’t hear anything else. I couldn’t hardly breathe. Cassie worked as one of his housekeepers? I couldn’t ask him. There was a reason he was going in a roundabout manner to tell me this. How could I find out the truth? I’d had her entire existence wiped.

“I think I’ll see myself out.” I shoved my chair back and Don followed suit. I couldn’t call Benson here. I knew my mother’s security was top-notch and I didn’t want to risk it.

Don was on my heels as I jumped up the steps, almost two at a time. “Thank goodness you didn’t drink tonight, Don.”

“Sir?”

“It’s time to go.”

Benson answered on the first ring. “What’s up? Enjoying time with your family?”

“I need you to look into Cassie.”

“I wiped her identity.” Benson’s tone left no argument. I didn’t care.

“There’s something I’m not seeing. Ace pretty much told me that she was one of his housekeepers, but that isn’t adding up. She told me she was only a stripper in one of Alexei’s clubs.”

Benson hummed into the phone as his keyboard clacked away. “It might take me some time, but I’ll do some digging.”

My phone beeped with an incoming call. “Thanks.” I ended it with Benson and answered Alexei. “Yes?”

“I know you’re trying to keep yourself all squeaky clean for the press but I have a little bit of a problem, and you’re one of the only ones that can solve it.”

“I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“See you at the Club House.”