Page 32 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dimitri

I’d called an emergency meeting. I was furious but I needed to know that none of my brothers were involved with our father.

I needed to know that they would do what was right, at least for women—if for nothing else.

We’d been taught so much better than what our father was doing.

Did our mother know? Grandmother? Nana? My head spun.

I sat at the head of the long mahogany table in my brownstone, my jaw locked so tight I thought my teeth might crack.

The air in the room was thick, heavy with the weight of what I had discovered.

My hands curled into fists against the cool wood, my nails pressing into my palms as I leveled each of my brothers with a glare.

Alexei leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, a bored expression masking whatever was going on in his head.

Ivan sat stiffly, his fingers drumming against his knee.

Griffin, the softest of us, was visibly shaken, his pale blue eyes darting between us, looking for answers none of us had.

Ace? Ace was late. Of fucking course, he was.

“Does anyone in here have a secret?”

Each brother looked at each other, but no one answered. I let out a growl. Griffin jumped at the sound of it, and I rolled my eyes. He was certainly not harboring any massive secrets, and if he was, it wasn’t anything that had to do with trafficking.

I leaned forward, my forearms braced against the table as I scanned each of my brothers. The silence stretched thick between us, but I wasn’t buying it.

“Let me rephrase,” I said, my voice dangerously low. “Does anyone here know something that I don’t?”

Ivan’s fingers kept drumming. Alexei’s lips curled into something close to amusement, but I knew him better—he was just waiting to see how this played out. Griffin was still too shaken to do anything but shrink under my glare.

And Ace?

Ace strolled in like he owned the place. Like we weren’t in the middle of an emergency meeting about the depths of our father’s depravity. Like I wasn’t one second away from throwing this entire table across the room.

He tugged his cuffs, then smoothed his tie before finally, finally, looking at me. “I don’t like the way you phrased that,” he mused. “Secrets imply guilt. And I, dear brother, have nothing to feel guilty about.”

“Nice of you to finally join us,” I muttered as I rubbed my temples. This was the absolute last thing I wanted. I also hated that we were doing it at my home, but it couldn’t be helped. We couldn’t meet anywhere else. I didn’t trust anywhere else.

“I had business to attend to. What’s all of this about? I don’t have all day.”

Alexei let out a humorless laugh. “Of course you do, because you’re Father’s little bitch.”

Ace’s brows shot up as he turned toward the other brothers around the table. “Do you have something you want to share with the rest of the class?”

“Why is he here?” Alexei leveled me with a glare. “He shouldn’t be here.”

Ace held up his hands. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”

Alexei slammed his palms down on the table and stood up slowly. “We could start with the fact that you knew what Father had planned for after your wedding, and you never stopped it. You could have warned us.”

Our older brother blinked slowly. “What?”

“Don’t play fucking stupid, Ace.”

Ace shook his head as he took a seat as far away from Alexei as he could. It was a smart move. “I’m not playing. I know something happened, but I didn’t know it was going to happen. I might run around for Father, but I am not in on his day-to-day dealings. He has a lot of shit he keeps from me.”

“Apologize, or you aren’t a part of this.” Alexei ground his teeth together as he sunk back down into his chair.

Ace rolled his eyes to the ceiling and let out a breath. “I tried to warn you. I tried to help you. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do more. I love Audrey, she is my wife’s chosen sister. Carina would have taken my balls if I’d known anything.”

Alexei pressed his lips together, waiting.

Ivan sunk down in his chair slightly and let out a sigh. Griffin still looked like he was ready to bolt. I desperately wished Benson could have made it to this meeting.

“Fuck,” Ace let out after a beat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Why are you working for Father?” I asked.

Ace looked at all of us around the table. “Because I have nothing else. He was preparing me to take over the legacy and be his heir. He controls all of my money. He controls almost everything about me.”

“Do you want it to be like that forever?” Alexei asked this time.

“No,” He looked down at his hands in his lap. “I do not want to do this any more, but if I stop, I will lose everything, and he watches me very closely. I won’t support you in your office seat.”

I ran my tongue over the front of my teeth. I knew he wouldn’t. “Okay, so you plan to tell father what I’m doing.”

“No,” He looked up and leveled me with an icy stare. “When he is gone, I plan on taking his place.”

I wished it were that simple. I wished I could tell him that he would be able to do that, but when I was done with him… There would be nothing left, if I got the FBI involved and if they were in on it… All of the Cristof fortune would be frozen—seized. I needed to come up with a plan.

“Can we get on with this?” Ivan said suddenly.

“I’m running for office to dismantle our father,” I began.

They collectively rolled their eyes. I guess it was that obvious.

“Alexei and I have been working together in the shadows as of late because Alexei has promised his bride-to-be that he won’t get his hands dirty.

” I was sure we all collectively rolled our eyes to that one as well.

“So I’ve been somewhat getting mine dirty on the sidelines.

We found out that a certain Tony has been trying to move in on Cristof land.

Not just our father’s but Alexei’s restaurants, bars, and strip clubs. ”

Ace sat back, arms crossing as he let out a low chuckle. “So let me get this straight—you’ve been playing politician by day and vigilante by night?”

I dragged a hand down my face. “I wouldn’t call it that.”

“I would,” Alexei smirked.

Ivan exhaled sharply, his fingers drumming on the table. “Tony’s an idiot, but he wouldn’t be making moves this bold without someone backing him. If he’s stepping into Cristof territory, that means Father either doesn’t know, or worse, he does know and doesn’t care.”

I spread my hands over the table. “That’s why I’ve called this meeting. Tony is dead, and I found out who was pulling all of the strings.”

Alexei watched me as he waited for me to drop the news.

“Father.”

Ace laughed then. It was deep and jarring and completely inappropriate for the news I’d just dropped. “Father? Sinclair Cristof hired a thug to do his dealings? He has everything at the tips of his fingers, and he would hire that loser? I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it.” I held my phone out with the video on it.

Ace recoiled from it. “What the fuck is that?”

“This is why Father is using a basic thug for his dealings. He is restarting on the backs of women. He is trafficking Russian women.”

Ace rubbed his jaw. “This can’t be leaked. We would lose everything.”

I gritted my teeth. “What would you like me to do?”

“Stop him from buying up land in the city? I don’t know. Whatever it is councilmen do.”

I rubbed my face. It was going to be a lot of work and even more paperwork. “I’ve thought about reintroducing zoning laws, but it would affect Alexei. He owns strip clubs and businesses in the same districts.”

Alexei leaned forward and steepled his fingers on the table in front of him. “I’ll sell them.”

“Every single one of them?” Ivan snickered. “Yeah, right.”

He wiped his hands. “Every single one of them.”

“I’m going to propose a late-night business restriction,” I opened my notebook and read off my notes. “Most of his businesses are in high crime areas. It won’t be hard to enforce.”

“The other councilmen aren’t going to want zoning changes like that in their districts.” Ace shook his head, already giving up on the notion.

“Benson already has dirt on more than half of the other councilmen, and I’m sure he can get dirt on the rest.”

Alexei grinned with all of his teeth. “Blackmail, I like it.”

“Dark cohesion more like it.”

I pulled out a color-coded map. Every single bar, strip club, and illegal gambling ring was highlighted in green.

Every one of Alexei’s was highlighted in blue.

My district was circled in yellow. “The plan is to introduce a curfew. I would frame it as a public safety operation. Reduce crime, protect workers, and curb illegal operations.”

“And if you can’t find illegal or shady stuff on the rest of them?” Ace looked over my map thoughtfully.

“Favors, funding, and political backing, baby. But that’s the last resort.”

Griffin leaned forward to grab the map. “What if you don’t actually sell your companies? What if you sell them to shell companies owned by one of us?”

Alexei’s lips curled in amusement as he drummed his fingers on the table. “Now that’s an idea. We keep the businesses, but on paper, it looks like we’re playing along. If we control the shell companies, we control everything. Father won’t see it coming.”

I nodded. “Exactly. We make it look like we’re stepping away from the nightlife scene, washing our hands of it, while in reality, we’re locking down tighter control. Father won’t be able to tell what’s ours and what isn’t.”

Ivan, who had been quiet up until now, smirked. “And if we play it right, we can frame it like we’re complying with city policies while actually strengthening our hold.”

Ace exhaled, rubbing his jaw. “This is risky. If anyone digs too deep, if someone connects the dots?—”

“That’s what Benson’s for,” I leaned back and stretched my arms over my head. “Do you actually think I would go to these scum bags myself? No chance. That’s how Father would 100% find out.”

Alexei nodded his head. “Solid. I like it. But we still have a lot of work to do.”