Her Russian Billionaire (BWWM Alpha Male Romance) (6 page)

“Oh my God, did the police find it?” Maya noticed her necklace in her hands.

“No, Demitri did. Isn’t that crazy? I don’t know how he did it, but he brought it back to me because he said he knew how much it meant to me.”

Maya stared for a moment, secretly wishing that her boyfriend would do something even remotely sweet for her. None of the boyfriends she had ever had cared that much. The look on Tasha’s face planted a seed of awareness and Maya started to wonder if she needed to change the way she looked at dating.

“He sounds perfect, so when do we meet him?”

Tasha shook her head. She didn’t know if she was ready for that. She still didn’t know enough about him for him to meet Jonell. She had to make sure that he would never leave her first. She couldn’t take all of that again, and not matter how young Jonell was didn't want to put him through something like that. Tasha had to make sure it was real for him too. She was smitten, but that didn’t mean that he was. She had to keep reminding herself that it had only been two dates and one incredible night.

Chapter 10

“Tasha? What did you say Demitri’s last name was?”

“Ostvolv or something like that, why?”

Alice shook her blonde head and slid a paper over to her. It had been almost a week since Tasha had heard from him and she was starting to think she never would again. She didn’t know where he lived or much else about him. All she knew was that she missed him and then her heart broke. There on the front page of the paper was her Demitri. He was covering his face while the police led him away in handcuffs. There was another picture of him in the police car, as well as a picture of his car being towed.

“Billionaire heir to a Russian fortune, Demitri Ostvolv was arrested Thursday night as the ringleader of an illegal ‘dust’ drug enterprise.”

Tasha’s hand shook and she looked up at her friend. “Oh my God!”

“I know, can you believe he has that much money!”

Tasha wasn’t thinking of the money. She was thinking of the fact that she was in love with a drug kingpin. Her eyes kept reading, learning about the murder charges that had been filed over an overdose death. Her heart was breaking and she didn’t think she could breathe. He had been arrested the same day they had last seen each other. With everything going on in her head, for some reason the thought she kept going to was that he had not had a chance to call her.

She felt numb after she read the report. She didn’t know what to say or what to do. Tasha wanted to see him, to ask him why he didn’t tell her. Why he let her fall in love with him, knowing he was just going to break her heart in the end anyways? It all just seemed so suddenly unfair and Tasha did not know what to say. She felt like a fool and she wished she had never gushed about him. Now she just felt like an idiot, like a love-struck fool.

“What are you going to do, Tasha?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. What is there to do? I can’t have a man like that around Jonell, so it doesn’t matter what I felt about him.”

Even as she said the words, she knew it was true. It was true that even if she could get over the fact of his bad business, she could never be with him because of her son. Tasha tried to keep him away from that sort of thing and she certainly couldn’t marry him or be with him in a real relationship. She mourned what could have been and the most perfect night she had ever had in her thirty years on the planet. Tasha needed time to mourn the man.

*** 

Demitri bonded out as soon as bond was set. His lawyer beat him to the jail, as Rusco had called him in. Though he was there waiting with an open check, it still took almost three hours to book him and release him. The cops were taking their time, stalling so the rest of the squad could ransack his house looking for evidence from the warrant they had talked a judge into signing.

Demitri said nothing, refusing to answer any questions. At the CCTV arraignment, he pled not guilty and bond was set at half a million dollars. He smirked at the amount and he was out as soon as booking was finished. It was a ridiculous amount, but at least they had let him out. The prosecutor had tried to argue that he was a flight risk, especially since he had a dual residency in Russia.

The bond made his life miserable. He was not able to leave the country, even to go home to Russia. The Feds watched his every move. He had nothing in his possession involved with the dust business, because he had never known about it until a week ago. Demitri had spent all that time making sure that his family and employees were as far away from that as possible. He was not sure how they had come to him, but when he heard that his uncle had been caught with several pounds of the deadly synthetic, he had testified that Demitri was the boss and he was just a lackey. Demitri’s lawyer tried to assure him that it would all work out, but he was not so sure.

He tried several times to call Tasha and she would not pick up. He figured that she had seen the news report, but he couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t even give him a chance to try to explain. He didn’t know how he was going to, but he figured that she would at least let him explain himself. Demitri must mean more to her than a few newspaper stories, right?

“Tasha. Please call me. I don’t know how to talk to you if you won’t pick up. I promise it is not as bad as it seems. Please Tasha…I miss you.”

Demitri hung up the phone and sighed to himself. “Do you want me to try to talk to her, sir?”

He shook his head. “No, she just needs time I suspect.”

Rusco grunted, not giving his opinion one way or another. He had learned long ago to stay out of it as much as he possibly could. He had warned him and though he had said it was because of her, it was because of the way that Demitri had looked at her. Rusco had known then that he was falling and he wanted to save him.

“If she doesn’t forgive you, it just wasn’t meant to be boss.”

Chapter 11

Tasha listened to the message several times. There was something in his voice that heightened each time he called and left a message. She knew that she should call him or at least answer the phone and let him say his piece. Tasha just couldn’t. She was afraid that she would melt as soon as she talked to him, much like she did as she heard his recorded voice. It had been two weeks and all she did was think of him. Her eyes stayed on the lookout for more information about him. It seemed that he had pled not guilty, though the prosecutor was sure that he had a guaranteed conviction.

Pausing, she said goodbye to Maya and took off towards her job. Smokey’s was a welcomed reminder that she was going to be okay. It was like her life didn’t change at all. He was gone and she probably wouldn’t see him again, especially if he went to prison for drugs. Tasha groaned inwardly with the thought and her hand went to her necklace as she walked. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her and she couldn’t believe that he had. Now she wondered how he had gotten the keepsake back. The question that she asked herself was, wasn’t anything he had done worth it, to just get one small piece of her mother back?

The thought made her stop in her tracks. She shouldn’t care what the papers say, she loved him and he had to feel something for her. Or he wouldn’t keep calling day after day. She left a message saying that she was sorry she ignored him, but that she loved him no matter what. When she hung up, she was astonished that she had said that, though she knew deep down it was true. She did love him.

He never called back and Tasha wondered if she had come around too late. She called his cell phone again, leaving another message telling him that she was getting out of work soon. “If you can come down, please do. I miss you baby.”

***

Walking out of Smokey’s later that night, Tasha was sad that he hadn’t called her. She pushed her small braids back off of her shoulders and walked towards her home, ten blocks away. Like the night she had met him, Tasha had a strange feeling go up her spine. She didn’t see anybody though, so she continued towards her apartment and her son.

It was when she was a couple of blocks away from the bar, on the most isolated stretch of her walk that a van parked twenty feet in front of her turned their lights on. The light flooded around Tasha and she shielded her eyes to see past the blinding light. She heard the doors open and footsteps coming towards her. Reality set in and she turned away from the van and started to run. Her heart pounded in her chest, covering up the other foot falls on the pavement that were quickly catching up to her. She screamed out as one large hand grabbed her by the shoulder and hauled her back and off her feet.

Thick arms encircled her waist, while a bag of some sort was pushed over her head. Her attackers threw her into the back of the van and Tasha was left cursing behind the hood. She did not know who they were, but she had more rage inside of her then fear. “Let me go!”

“Shut up or we'll make you. You are here to make someone do as we want. You will not be harmed unless you do something stupid. Do you understand?”

The voice was harsh, but she had to believe him. She had no other choice and to think otherwise was enough to drive her insane. She had no idea what he was talking about, as far as the someone else was concerned, but she was sure that she understood the rest of the words. Don’t do anything stupid. She nodded her head vigorously.

The van started to move again and the only voices she could hear were muffled by the bag. Her heart raced and she could think of nothing else to do but wait. Her thoughts went to Jonell and wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him.

*** 

“Ah, dear nephew. How are you this evening? I hear you have trial tomorrow. Are you ready for it?”

Demitri looked at the phone crossly. He had been trying for almost an hour to call Tasha back, surprised when he had heard her messages. But now she was not answering, the phone just rang and rang. He looked at the screen and realized that he was talking to Lanzo from Tasha’s phone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight. He did not like the idea that they were together and there was something in the older man’s tone that he did not like.

“Why are you answering Tasha’s phone, Lanzo?!”

“Oh don’t be so touchy, Demitri. I am merely using it for a bit. She is quite lovely, is she not? So dark and mysterious, I can see why you are so enthralled with her. So I know that you will do the right thing by her, right?”

Demitri felt the vein in his neck bulge and the anger start to well up inside of him, making his face red. This was low even for his father’s ignorant older brother. He promised himself that when he had Tasha in front of him safe, he was going to make sure Lanzo never messed with him and his again.

“What the hell do you want? It better be good because you are dead to me after this. You hurt her, Lanzo, this is just going to make you dead to the world. Do you understand?”

There was a pause on the phone and then the man cleared his throat. “I do, Demitri. I know how you are. I want money of course, enough to live the rest of my life in hiding. I know that you will point in my direction and I can’t blame you. The evidence will point to me and I will need some more cash to get out of the country.”

Demitri knew that he had enough, but the greed in his uncle made him want more. For guys like Lanzo, it would never be enough, no matter how big the number. He would always try another angle to get more. “So how does Tasha fit into all of this?”

“Collateral.”

“How much is enough?”

“A million.”

Demitri almost balked at the number, knowing he probably had half as much in cash at his home. His greed knew no limits. “Fine. You bring her to me and then you get your money. If I ever see or hear from you again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care that you are my uncle. Are we clear?”

There was a noise on the other end and then Demitri hung up, telling him he would call soon, to set up the meet. He nervously paced as he waited for Rusco to transfer funds. The man was smart enough not to make any comments out loud so that they could be heard. He had seen the look in Demitri’s eyes before and he hoped that the outcome would be different than the last time he had seen him in this state.

He nodded and Demitri picked up the phone, punching the number of the woman he loved. He knew that now, that he loved her. He had not even blinked at the amount. He would have given it all up if that is what it would have taken to get Tasha safe and back in his arms. Demitri would have spent the rest of the time searching for Lanzo, but he still would have given it all up.

“Did you get it? Wow that was fast. It makes me think that you would pay much more for her. Is she carrying your baby or what? Why do you care this much?”

Demitri closed his eyes, his teeth pressed painfully together. He knew that it was never enough and through his own foolishness, he had opened him up for more.