Page 30 of Scarlet Promise (Yegorov Bratva #4)

Chapter Twenty-Four

ALINA

“Albert, why is this such a mess?”

He doesn’t answer, and I’m not sure he cares, since his attention is once more on the bag of food Svetlana sent with us.

Because he’s a good dog, he just watches it and doesn’t try to get into it.

I can see Magda taking high offense at the food and then doubling down and sending back a bigger bag of better food.

“Shit, Albert…” I ruffle his fur. “Are you starting a war? Is your goal to be eating filet mignon with a caviar chaser?”

His eyes roll to me as if to tell me not to be silly, that he prefers fresh fish to caviar.

I smile and keep pretending for the moment that this mess is only a battle of the housekeepers.

Of course it isn’t, and of course my phone starts to vibrate to remind me of that.

I turn on my Airbuds as I answer.

“What’s up?” I ask Demyan as cheerfully as possible.

He growls. It’s a low, menacing sound that makes my stomach flip and surge.

“You know damned well what’s up.”

“No—”

“What the fuck kind of game are you playing?”

We turn into the final stretch that’ll lead us to the mansion, a place I’m definitely not looking forward to returning to.

“Game?”

“Alina.”

I sigh. “You left me no choice.”

“You have choices.”

“You mean the one dictated by you?” I ask, holding Albert. “Because that’s not a choice. It’s do what I say or do what I say. No. Choice.”

Something crashes in the background of wherever Demyan is, and voices rise in hurried Russian.

“Don’t be a child,” he spits out.

I sigh heavily. “I’m not. You left me no choice but to sell my shares when you refused to allow me access to my trust fund.”

Another shout flares in the background, and Demyan muffles the phone as he shouts angrily back.

“Look, Alina?—”

“No,” I cut him off. “You’re in the middle of something. So can this wait until we’re both home? This isn’t a conversation I want over the phone, especially with you distracted.”

“I can multitask.”

I force myself to breathe. “You don’t listen, Demyan. I want the conversation in person. Okay?”

“Fine,” he snaps. “I’ll be home in an hour.”

When he hangs up, I whisper to Albert, “Hang on to your hat. I think this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

Demyan isn’t home in an hour, but that’s nothing new. Things come up in the business, and even the more boring events have a way of twisting into time eaters.

But I don’t mind.

Talking with him isn’t on the top of my list, and the topic doesn’t hold much joy. The children and Erin are out, so it’s just me, the staff, and Albert.

Not to mention a busily cooking Magda, who did not take the gift of food well.

“There’s only going to be one winner,” I say to Albert. “You.”

He lifts an ear but remains curled next to me on the living room sofa as I balance my computer on my lap.

I’m researching the block of land to see the prices when the landlord had it for sale.

He’s asked for outrageous amounts only a few times, and they’re far below the amount I’m willing to spend.

Demyan walks in ten minutes later, frowning.

“You’re late,” I say.

“You don’t know how to check your phone, Angel.” He pours himself a drink from the bar and holds the bottle out to me. I shake my head. “I texted to let you know I’d be forty-five minutes late.”

I set my computer down on the coffee table and grab my phone from the other side of Albert.

There’s the text. When I look at the time, he is, of course, exactly to the minute of the revised time.

Demyan comes over, takes my laptop from the table, and sits opposite me on the other sofa. The toys sprawled out in one corner catch a dark look from him, but also one tinged with love.

But then he refocuses on my laptop screen.

He sighs heavily and puts the laptop back on the table, sipping his vodka. “You’re really not about to give up on this…plan, are you?”

“No,” I say with a shake of my head.

He gestures at me. “There are other ways to perform your act of rebellion.”

My hackles rise and prick. “It’s not an act, and it’s not rebellion.” I study him. “Despite what you might think, I’m passionate about this cause. Look at Albert, how happy he is. And I love him.”

I almost say Ilya loves him, too, but I stop myself.

“He wouldn’t have a life if Eva hadn’t saved him, and I improved that by adopting him.”

“You can’t adopt them all.”

“But I can make their lives better. Help more dogs. Cats, too.” I take a breath. “It’s given my life some focus and meaning. Can’t you see that?”

Demyan taps a finger against his glass, but finally he nods. “Fine. I’ll agree to letting you access your trust fund, up to the amount you originally asked for, because I have to watch out for your future, Alina. For the future of any children you might have, because if something happens?—”

“Don’t.” I shake my head. “I understand that better than anyone here. And I’m not asking for more. I’m asking for enough to do this properly.”

He holds up his hand. “I have another caveat.”

“Which is?” Fear grips me.

He could try and use Ilya?—

“You drop the idea of selling your share in the club. That is there to protect all of you. My family. You, Erin, Sasha, Nadya.”

I nod. “Deal.”

He rubs a hand over his face. “I hate it when we fight. But more so, I hate what our relationship’s become.”

Resolve flickers, but I ignore it.

“That’s on you, Demyan.”

His eyes glitter coldly. “No, that’s on Ilya. He’s come between us, causing problems. And things will end up reaching a point, Angel, where you’ll have to choose a side.”

“I know,” I say, trying to stay calm. “I told you that. If you could?—”

“I’m your brother, Angel. I’ve gladly sacrificed a lot for you.”

I stare at him. “I never asked you to.”

But it’s Demyan, and he’s not listening.

“After your mother died, who raised you? Not the piece of shit who called himself our father. He might have doted on you, but we both know he cared to the point you were his, a commodity he could barter a deal with.

“You might not have ever been wrong in his eyes, but he didn’t know you like I do. And then when he died not long after your eighteenth birthday, I took on even more. I know you. I kept you on the good path, Alina. Because of love.”

I frown, eyes blurring. “And yet you want me to choose sides.”

“I said it’ll come down to that.”

“And I’m trying to say it’s not that simple.” I swallow hard against the burning lump in my throat.

“No, you want it your way. That’s not life. Ilya was my friend, and he screwed me over by trying to take you, and here you are, fawning over him.”

His words feel like a slap to my face. “That isn’t true at all. It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?”

I get it. I get everything he’s saying. Demyan’s more than just my brother. He was the one I went to, the one who reprimanded, who held me when I was sad or hurt, who went to battle for me. Dad gave me whatever I wanted, told me I was a princess, beautiful, a treasure. But Demyan saw me.

Demyan loved me and gave me everything that my father couldn’t. I know he might not have been so miserable and wouldn’t have tried to impress Dad if I weren’t there. But he wanted to prove himself to help protect me. To make it so he was always the one who’d be in charge of me.

So he gave up relationships, friendships, softer paths to victory to show our father he was capable.

And our father didn’t care. No, our father was jealous that Demyan was better than him. But he also believed if he died, then Demyan would carry out his wishes and use me as a bargaining tool.

No one ever noticed that I saw all that. No one, that is, apart from Ilya.

I drag in a breath and try to answer Demyan. “It’s complicated?—”

“Oh, bullshit, it’s complicated.” His light-blue eyes burn with anger. “Family comes first. You know that. You and me, we’re family.”

“And Erin?”

“You know she’s family. She’s my wife.”

“And Ilya?—”

“I’ve always, always , put you first, Angel. Always,” he snaps. “So tell me, how is it complicated?”

“It’s complicated because I’m pregnant.”

Silence crashes down at my revelation. I clench my hands as we both rise. Demyan sets down his drink.

“You’re what?” he asks.

“I’m pregnant,” I say, raising my head. “And not only that, but I love him.”

He sneers, but I shake my head.

“I love him. You have to understand how huge that is for me after losing Max.”

Demyan looks trapped.

But then he sighs and starts to pace. “Jesus, Alina.”

“I don’t think he had anything to do with it.”

That earns me a side-eye.

“Why Ilya?” he asks, spinning to face me mid-pace. “Why? Of all people? Why him?”

I let him continue pacing, and then I speak.

“For the same reasons Ilya’s been your best friend, a brother to you, for years.

He’s loyal, funny, smart… He’s an amazing person, Demyan.

He even stands up for you now. Can you even believe that?

Erin and I can’t. But he has the ability to see things through emotions, and that’s one reason why he’s amazing, and you know it. ”

“So he’s good at business.”

I snort. “He’s good at people. He’s a good person. The best. He’s the kind of person you should be happy I have in my life.”

“So he’s a replacement for Max?” he asks.

My breath hooks something that causes a brief shaft of pain in me. I stare at him.

“People aren’t replaceable,” I say. “But I’ll tell you this—Max liked him a lot, and Max would approve. In fact, everyone approves but you.”

Demyan opens his mouth, then he shuts it with a snap.

He shakes his head. “I can’t do this right now. I need space.”

Demyan stalks out of the living room, leaving me there to stare after him.

Ten minutes later, I’m calm enough, my stomach settled enough for me to think.

Albert’s barking brought Olga in, and she took one look at me, set her mouth, motioned to the sofa, and disappeared.

Then she returned with jasmine tea she swears helps, as well as some crackers.

After she fussed over me for a bit, complete with a throw tucked around me, I sent her off with a smile and went back to researching.

Albert sighs as he rests his head on my free knee.

This whole endeavor’s going to be more complicated than I thought. I could buy the block from the landlord. I’m positive about that. But the other places have leases, that while I could break them, seems a little unfair.

Then I’d have to wait to expand and maybe look around for more properties.

Also, while it seems the landlord just wants to make as much money as possible each time he puts the block on the market, there has to be some kind of reason why no one actually buys it.

Even if there isn’t…

I start researching other listings, all of them near parks.

Parks always have foot traffic.

“If we’re serious, Albert, we should start serious and go from there. Find a bigger space we can just buy without dealing with this other landowner who might be problematic and save more dogs. Even some cats.”

He whines, and I scratch his ears.

“What about something with a yard? Maybe two storefronts or an old house we can convert?”

There are places all over that could be bought and renovated ground up, or just converted. And the cost of land seems a fraction of what that other landowner wants.

I’m in the middle of hour two when I stop, my heart beating so fast that I find it hard to breathe.

There it is. A house on a street of businesses, and two of the businesses, a clothing store and a hardware store, are for sale, too. I bookmark it. The house itself is twice the size of Eva’s shelter, and it’s not that far from it.

I try to tell myself not to be excited yet, but I can’t help it. I am.

My phone starts to buzz, and I fit my earpiece and press answer.

“ Malyshka ,” Ilya says, his voice sending ripples of longing through me. “I’ve been thinking of you. Are you okay?”

Am I?

I actually think I am.

There’s the issue with Demyan still not accepting everything, but now he knows the truth, all of it, so hopefully the only way to go now is up.

“I’m good,” I say. “I spoke to Demyan. We came to an agreement. He’ll let me have the money from my trust fund I asked for, and not a penny more, as long as I don’t sell my shares in the club.”

“And are you okay with that?” he asks.

I laugh because it’s so Ilya. He knows I am, but he likes to check. Just like he always has.

“Absolutely.”

What I don’t do is mention the fight about him, or my inadvertent blurt about the baby, because that’ll lead down paths I’m not ready to step on. I don’t want to hurt Ilya. Not any more than Demyan already has.

“Actually, I’m thinking of buying somewhere bigger to expand the shelter, and I think I have a place, but obviously we’ll have to have it looked at…”

“If you want it, go for it, malyshka ,” he says. “And whatever you need from me, you have it. You know that, right?”

Warmth spreads through me. “I do.”

For the first time in a long time, it’s like I finally have a plan for my life.

A good one.

And best of all, I’ve got Albert and Ilya to share it with.