Page 56 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Dimitri

“Cut the shit, Brody,” I leaned forward in the booth.

I pulled my phone back across the table.

Brody was a councilman from another district and was giving me pushback about trying to get regulations at the docks.

Tighter security and more police in the area.

But he wouldn’t budge. No matter what I tried, he was being difficult.

“The docks are already monitored by a private company. There’s no point in pushing this. You’re trying to get regulations in place that only you want.”

I clenched my jaw. “You saw what was on the phone, did you not?”

He rolled his eyes to the sagging diner ceiling. “What of it? You’re gonna tell my wife? She knows I have a mistress.”

“Does the rest of New York City?”

He laughed. “Are you living in the dark ages, Dimitri? Are you not aware that half of the city is progressive now? You’re the only one leaning toward conservative, and that doesn’t look very good.”

“I’m trying to clean up the city, I never said anything about being conservative.” I leaned back in the booth and crossed my arms over my chest. Brody was the only one who was giving me pushback. Once I showed that I had dirt or that I was looking for it, they caved. Brody, not so much.

“Look,” Brody sighed. “I’m not the bad guy here, okay? I just know that when you start trying to clean up this city, you find yourself six feet under or in the Hudson. Which is interesting, isn’t it? That used to be your stomping ground, am I right?”

I didn’t rise to his challenge. Brody was fishing—trying to get a reaction. Trying to see if I was still the same man I used to be, the one who wouldn’t hesitate to solve a problem with his fists instead of political maneuvering.

I wasn’t that man anymore. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t bury him if I had to.

“You’re avoiding the point,” I said smoothly. “I care about what’s coming in and out of the docks under your watch.”

He took a lazy sip of his coffee, not even flinching. “Like I said, private security handles it. It’s not the city’s problem.”

I let out a slow breath. “Not the city’s problem,” I repeated, my voice deceptively calm. “So if I told you I have firsthand evidence that minors are being trafficked through those docks, that’s not your problem?”

For the first time, something flickered in his eyes. Not guilt, not even fear—just hesitation.

“Those are serious accusations, Cristof.”

I leaned in again, my voice dropping to something lethal. “They’re not accusations, Brody. They’re facts. I have names, dates, and shipment logs. I know exactly which containers are being used, and I know exactly who’s paying to keep the police from looking too closely.”

That’s what was on the flash drives that Alexei retrieved from Oliver a week ago, a week after Scarlett was shot by one of my father’s men.

It had been two weeks since I’d left her apartment after pleasuring her.

She had me wrapped entirely too tightly.

I knew I couldn’t keep staying there, or I would never leave.

But I did take the vibrator as a parting gift.

His smirk faltered. Good.

I kept pushing. “Now, you can sit here and play dumb, or you can decide which side of this you want to be on when shit hits the fan. Because it will.”

Brody tapped his fingers against the table, pretending to think it over.

I could see the calculation in his eyes, the weighing of risks.

Finally, he exhaled through his nose and shook his head.

“You’re a real pain in the ass, Cristof.

” He hesitated another second, then muttered, “Fine. I’ll back your proposal. ”

“Good.” I slid out of the booth, adjusting my jacket. “You won’t regret it.”

Brody let out a humorless chuckle. “Oh, I already do.” I left him there, my mind already turning toward my next problem.

Vance’s name flashed across my phone as I got into the SUV waiting on the street. Don expertly navigated through the city traffic. “Is there a problem?”

“Scarlett is in bed for the night. Do you want me to stay?” I ground my teeth together. I hated that he was there watching over her. I knew everything there was to know about Vance.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, forcing down the irrational surge of irritation. Vance was good at what he did.

Reliable. Capable. Trustworthy.

But he was also young, just out of the military, and—according to Benson—every girl’s wet dream.

I didn’t need that kind of complication.

I didn’t need that kind of headache. Scarlett already had me twisted up in ways I hadn’t begun to unravel.

I didn’t need to add competition to the mix—especially not from someone like Vance.

But I also couldn’t go back to her place.

Ace had warned me last week that there were eyes on me.

My father’s suspicions were growing. He was starting to put pieces together, starting to question who had been behind the break-in at his penthouse.

If I kept showing up at Scarlett’s, if I kept making it obvious that she meant something, it wouldn’t take long before he turned his attention to her.

“No, take a break, get some rest. She’ll be fine. I’ll call you if I need you to go back over there.”

My knee bounced as Don maneuvered through traffic, the weight of frustration settling deep in my chest. I had to be careful. I had to be smart. But fuck, I wanted to see her. The call with Vance ended, and I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to think. Where could I go? What was my next move?

“Where to?” Don asked, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. I exhaled sharply, running a hand through my hair. “Take me to Alexei.”

Don lifted a brow but didn’t comment. He just nodded, changing lanes.

I leaned back against the seat, forcing myself to think logically. Scarlett was safe. Vance had watched over her for over a week without incident. If I went back there now, I’d only be drawing more attention. I had to stay away, at least for now.

When we got to Alexei’s townhouse, Audrey practically threw herself at me as we made it up the front steps. “You’ve been so busy! I’ve been trying to get you to bring your lady friend over for dinner for… I don’t know, forever now?”

“There’s no lady friend in attendance tonight, I’m afraid.” I wrapped my arms around her for the briefest of moments before I let her go.

She patted my arms like a drum. “When do we get to meet her?”

I rolled my eyes as I ducked under their front door. “Whenever she’s ready to meet all of you psychos.”

“We’re psychos? Since when?” Audrey pouted. Alexei was sitting at the dinner table, eating. He didn’t bother with getting up as we walked in, Don on my heels.

Audrey shimmied her shoulders. “I made tater tot casserole!”

“What the fuck is that?” My lips curled with disdain.

Audrey gasped dramatically, placing a hand over her heart like I’d just personally offended her ancestors. “Excuse you, sir, but tater tot casserole is an elite dish. A delicacy. A masterpiece of Midwestern cuisine.”

I turned to Alexei, looking for backup, but the bastard just smirked around a bite of whatever monstrosity she had put on his plate.

“I don’t trust food with ‘tater tots’ as a main ingredient,” I muttered, kicking a chair out and dropping into it.

Audrey scoffed, plopping down across from me. “That’s because you have no taste. But don’t worry, I made real food too. There’s steak in the oven, but you don’t deserve it now.”

I huffed a laugh, rubbing my temples. “I’m wounded.”

Alexei, finally swallowing, set his fork down and leaned back in his chair. “I assume you’re here for a reason and not just to insult my fiancée’s culinary prowess?”

Audrey beamed, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder. “Damn right.”

I sighed. “I need to know everything we have on our father. Everything. The drives, the ledgers—whatever Scarlett pulled, I need to go through it all. We don’t have time to sit on it anymore.”

Alexei nodded his head enthusiastically. “I’ve been waiting for you to get on board. Finally!”

I didn’t say it, but I’d been so preoccupied with Scarlett and the city council that I wasn’t worried about taking Father down in the shadows, though now I knew that was the only way it could happen.

As much as I wanted to publicly deface the bastard, I knew I couldn’t.

Our names would all go down with him—including our mother.

The FBI would be involved, and before we knew it, nothing would be left of us.

“I’ve been a little preoccupied with other pressing matters. Things aren’t as dire now, so I can focus on this. All of my attention goes to this.”

He nodded once, pushing back from the table. “Come on, then. Let’s get to work.”

Audrey groaned, throwing her hands up. “Oh, sure, just leave me alone with my casserole.”

Alexei pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You said there was steak in the oven.”

“I’ll eat some of the casserole with you, it would be my honor.

” Don placed his hand over his chest, and I swore Alexei and I made the same disgusted face.

So this was how he’d gotten into Scarlett’s good graces.

“Tater tot casserole is what my grandmother used to make for us growing up. I would love nothing more.”

Audrey beamed and shooed us down the hall.

Alexei shuffled papers on his desk. “So what are you thinking?”

I huffed out a breath. “I’m thinking we find someone in Father’s business. Someone with whom he works closely with. There’s a guy always at the docks, and he speaks directly with our father.”

“Okay, so we are placing blame on someone else then?”

I sucked my teeth. “Kind of. I don’t like saying it like that because I know Father needs to go down, but if he does… so do all of us. All of Ace’s assets. Our name. We are nothing.”

He nodded his understanding. “So we get a scapegoat? But what about everyone else?”

My smile was slow. “Oh, every single politician, celebrity, elite, and otherwise that has bought from our father is going down. Benson will do a deep dive on them and get as much dirt as possible. These people will not be able to live publicly again, if they don’t go to jail.

Benson can also send things to the FBI to tip them off. ”

“How do we keep Father out of this?” His lips curled as he shook his head. He didn’t like this any more than I did, but we had to protect our mother, our brothers, and their families—future children. We couldn’t do that if Father went down.

Alexei leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk. His smirk was sharp, calculating. “So we don’t just take out one monster—we take out the entire damn network.”

“Exactly,” I said. “If we do this right, we dismantle everything he’s built without ever putting our family name in the crosshairs.”

Alexei exhaled, nodding. “Alright. Who’s our scapegoat?”

I tapped the page in front of me. “Sergei Popov. He’s been handling shipments at the docks for years. He’s Father’s right-hand when it comes to moving product. If we push the right pieces, he’ll look like the mastermind.”

“What about all of the offshore accounts and LLCs?”

My finger went down the list spread out before me.

“All of these are technically owned by our father, but not a single one of them can be traced back to him. Benson tried to find as much dirt as he could, but Father actually covered his tracks rather well on all of this. That’s why we were so blindsided at the docks that day. We hadn’t expected him.”

His fingers sifted through the files, eyes narrowing as he read. “Benson can handle digging up dirt on the buyers. If we make this public, they’ll scramble—some will disappear, some will cut deals, and the rest will burn.”

I nodded. “The trick is controlling the fire. We give the FBI just enough to tip them off, but not enough to trace it back to us.”

Alexei rubbed his jaw, considering. “And what about Scarlett?”

I stilled. “What about her?”

“She’s the one who stole this information in the first place. If Father finds out it was her, she has an automatic target on her back. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

I rubbed my jaw. “I’m not okay with that at all. I didn’t want her involved in this. You’re the one who hired her, remember?”

Alexei let out a nervous chuckle. “I didn’t know she was your girl. Which, by the way, that’s kind of hot.”

I groaned. “Thanks?”

“How’d you find her anyway?” Alexei asked as he stacked the papers back up.

“She broke into my home.”

Alexei’s smile was slow and mischievous. “That’s super hot.”

“This conversation is over.”

“Are you ready for this war?” He asked, finally.

“I’ve been waiting my entire life for this.”