Russian Mafia Boss's Heir (12 page)

“But she and my stepfather wound up loving each other,” Tori reminded him.

“No.” Antonin adamantly shook his head. “She did not love that conniving bastard.”

Tori was reeling. Her whole life had been built on that notion. Her mother had loved her stepfather, and that was why Stanislas loved Tori too. She reminded him of his lost love.

Antonin reached across the table. “Perhaps you are right, perhaps I would have told you this no matter what. But it is important that you realize exactly what happened.”

“And what was that?” Tori asked, her voice thin and weak.

“Your stepfather was responsible for your mother’s death.” Antonin put his palm on the table and gave it a slap for emphasis. “Your mother came to me a few days before she died. She was excited. Can you guess why?”

Tori had a feeling that she
could
guess. She just didn’t want to imagine that it could be true. “Was she—could she have been pregnant?”

“Yes.” Her cousin bobbed his head. “She was. Your stepfather could not abide the thought of your mother having a boy and the possibility that the boy would be more Orlov than Vasiliev.”

“Would he have been?” Tori demanded suddenly. “Would you and your father and my mother have made sure that my little brother
was
more Orlov than Vasiliev? Why would you not do such a thing? It would have been to your family’s benefit.” Tori suddenly realized why she was there. She began to laugh. Was nothing in life ever real?

“What?” Antonin looked confused.

“Is that why I’m here now?” Tori asked quietly. “In case I get pregnant, you want to make certain that my child is more Orlov than Vasiliev. Is that right?”

Antonin didn’t answer, but then Tori didn’t need him to.

Chapter Fifteen

Mikhail paced the downstairs hallway of his home like a tiger penned up in the zoo. Truthfully, that was the way he felt. He was a man of action. He always felt better when he was in motion, doing something. Yet now he was standing here—waiting—without any notion of when that deplorable activity would come to an end.

The front door opened. Mikhail whipped around and stared until he thought his eyes might pop out of his head. Then Tori walked through the doorway and shut the door behind her. She didn’t appear to notice him or Dimitri standing there waiting for her. She turned toward the staircase instead and was already headed up.

“Tori!”

She paused, looking over her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m really not in the mood right now. I’m going to sleep for a while. Perhaps after that if you’re still horny, I’ll be in a better frame of mind to let you fuck me.”

Her words were a knife in his gut. Could what Jamie said be true? Did Tori honestly feel as if he treated her like a whore?

Mikhail swallowed the sudden lump that had lodged in his throat. “Tori, please. I want to talk to you.”

“Of course you do.” She heaved a giant sigh. “Why wouldn’t you want to talk when I’m exhausted and don’t feel like it. Any other time it would be fine. But right now I just want to go to bed.”

Mikhail should have been demanding to know where she was, but somehow that didn’t seem like the most pressing matter of importance. “Do you really feel like I treat you as if you’re my personal call girl?” He tried to remember exactly what Jamie had said. “Is that what you think?”

“Don’t you?” She raised both eyebrows and stared at him without a single emotion on her face. “You never talk to me. I bet you couldn’t even say what my favorite foods are, or my favorite color. I bet you couldn’t describe one detail about me like that.” Tori pointed at him, and he felt utterly convicted. “But I bet you could describe the color of my pubic hair and tell anyone who wants to know what my nipples look like and what sort of sounds I make when I come.”

“Of course!” Mikhail protested, his mind scrambling. “Those things are private things between a man and his wife.”

“Or a man and his favorite porno,” she retorted. “A man who loves his wife will know more about her than the physical characteristics of what she looks like while having sex.”

***

TORI COULD NOT believe she was actually having this discussion, and in front of Dimitri too. She suddenly pointed at him. “And I don’t know what you’ve done to my friend Maya, but she’s
your
whore now too. You use pillow talk like a weapon, and Jamie and I are sick of it.”

Dimitri looked taken aback.

Tori didn’t care. She turned and started walking up the stairs again. Then Mikhail grabbed her arm. She hadn’t even seen him move. She was that tired.

“Tell me what I have to do to make this better,” Mikhail said in a low voice filled with urgency.

“Leave me alone,” she told him. “Let me go upstairs. Let me sleep. Maybe if you have time at some point we can have a real date. You know, the sort of thing where you ask questions and talk about things that don’t revolve around where you’d like to have sex next.”

Mikhail let go, and Tori headed up the stairs. She wondered if it was truly a sad state of affairs when she didn’t believe in any part of her soul that her husband would ever make the time to actually sit down and get to know her. That wasn’t a necessary part of his life. Fucking? That was certainly necessary as far as he was concerned. Intimacy? Not so much.

There were tears on her cheeks when she reached the bedroom. She shed her clothing and climbed into the big comfy bed. Curling up with as many pillows as she could find, Tori shut her eyes and tried to let herself drift off. But it was difficult. She kept seeing her cousin’s face telling her the probably half true and half bullshit story about her mother. Antonin had wanted something from Tori too. Everyone did. Her stepfather wanted her to solidify an alliance with the heir to the Vasiliev syndicate. Her mother’s family wanted her to swear loyalty to them. Mikhail wanted her flat on her back with her heels behind her ears and a giant smile on her face. And in all of this, the only question Tori hadn’t asked was what did
she
want?

The idea was revolutionary and more than a little rebellious. What would make Tori happy? Of course, she needed to make sure she was going to be alive first. Maybe it was time to pay her stepbrother Alexei another visit. She hadn’t seen him in over a year. Of all the people in her life, Alexei was one of the only ones that Tori trusted to be completely honest. He was absolutely self-serving but completely straightforward about it.

Tori rolled over and yawned. She would get some sleep, and then she would go and see Alexei. She’d ask him a few questions about her mother and see what he remembered. Then she would—well, she had no idea what she would do, but she had faith that she could figure it out.

***

 “MIKHAIL?” DIMITRI’S MURMUR cut through the inner monologue playing inside Mikhail’s mind. He glanced over at his friend. Tori had been sort of right. Dimitri did use Mara to discover things about her friends. It was rather underhanded in its own way.

Mikhail shook himself out of his stupor. “What?”

“Stanislas is looking for you,” Dimitri said grimly. “I got a text from Pyotr. He says the old man is furious because you didn’t show up to a meeting this morning.”

Mikhail cursed in Russian. “I completely forgot about that meeting.”

“Shall we go make our amends now?” Dimitri gestured to the stairs. “It’s not likely that Tori will be down anytime soon. You can assign men to watch her if you want.”

“What?” Mikhail snorted. “And risk making her feel like a prisoner in her own home. No. We’ll go to Stanislas’s house, but it will be quick.”

It was quick. At least the trip over to Stanislas’s mansion was quick. But when they arrived there, the old man was raving like a lunatic. He was walking a huge circular pattern through his sunroom, waving his hands above his head and muttering in Russian about everyone taking advantage of him. Mikhail caught something about the devious nature of offspring before he walked into the warm room and gave a curt bow to show that he was still loyal and respectful of his boss.

“There you are!” Stanislas shouted, throwing up his hands and looking almost wild eyed with fervor. “I feared that you had betrayed me!”

“Why would you believe that, Boss?” Mikhail asked slowly. It was like talking to a crazy person. The man even appeared somewhat unhinged. “I am always loyal to you as I always
have
been. There is no conspiracy going on behind your back, Boss. I swear it.”

“That’s not true!” Stanislas’s tone was shrill. He pointed his finger at Mikhail. “My son is conspiring! He wants my position. He has always wanted it.”

“But he has removed himself from the syndicate. The council would never accept his claim.” Mikhail spoke slowly, trying to make the man see reason.

“I want you to go and execute him.”

Mikhail was stunned by the finalistic note in Stanislas’s voice. The man had absolutely made up his mind that this was the only option. That much was obvious.

Mikhail took a deep breath, searching for patience and wisdom. “Sir, I don’t know what good that would do. Alexei has no interest in your position. Besides, if he was going to harm someone over such a thing, it would be me. I am the one who took his place.”

“Exactly!” Stanislas eagerly grabbed Mikhail’s arm. “See? He is conspiring against you as well! He wants to kill you and kill Tori too! You must execute him before his devious plans come to fruition.”

Mikhail breathed in and out in slow increments. There was no way to win here. The man was absolutely beyond reason. If he had been anyone else, he would have been locked in a padded room by now. Around them, Mikhail could see the helpless stares of the other Vasiliev men. Mikhail had to take charge before things really got out of control.

“Mikhail!” Stanislas shouted. “You will do this for me.”

“As you say,” Mikhail agreed quietly. “I will take care of this for you.”

***

TORI COULD NOT decide if she was hurt or relieved that Mikhail and his men were gone when she woke up less than an hour later. It was just so damn typical! She had told her idiot husband exactly what she needed from him, and once again he had decided that work was more important.

Well, that was fine by her.

Tori got up, got dressed, and headed for the front door. Once again, she simply walked outside and left the property. She hailed a cab, and within half an hour she was standing in front of the bar where her stepbrother worked as a bartender. The place was nearly deserted, but the front door was open. To her relief, Alexei was the one behind the bar wiping down glasses and getting ready to open for the day.

“My, my, little sister is all grown up!” Alexei teased. “And what can I do for you? I do believe it’s been more than a year since you last came down here to visit.”

Tori climbed up on a stool and put her elbows on the bar. “You know damn well that I’m doing you a favor by
not
coming down here to visit. If Papa knew I was here, he would have a fit.”

“I spoke with your husband last night,” Alexei said suddenly. “I have a very strong feeling that Papa has lost his shit.”

Tori opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Mikhail had come
here
? It made so much sense! “Mikhail mentioned something about Papa being more demanding, but I didn’t realize that was what he meant.”

Alexei flung the towel he was using over one shoulder and placed both hands on the bar. “Do you remember anything from when your mother died? Anything at all?”

“Not really. You’re ten years older. You probably saw far more than I did.” Tori thought about what her cousin had divulged. Did Alexei know about the pregnancy? Was that what he was trying to say? “I heard,” she began slowly. “That my mother was pregnant with Stanislas’s child.”

“Bingo.” Alexei exhaled slowly. “Papa is paranoid and delusional. From the very beginning, he has freaked out anytime he thinks someone is trying to take over. Even when he’s the one who put that person in a position to do so. I’m telling you, the man is insane.” Alexei shook his head, looking almost sick. “I mean like clinically insane, Tor. The kind that requires medical attention, medication, and probably a stay in a mental ward.”

Tori had to admit that her stepbrother was on to something. She had just started to respond when the front door of the bar opened and Mikhail strode inside with five men at his back.

“Hello, wife. I’d like to say I’m shocked to find you here, but that would be a lie.”

Tori swallowed nervously. This was not likely to end happily for any of them.

Chapter Sixteen

“Hello, Mikhail,” Alexei drawled. “I take it I was disturbingly right about my father’s mental stability?”

“Tori,” Mikhail muttered. “Go wait in the car.”

“What? No! I have as much right to be here as you do.” Tori looked from her husband to her stepbrother and then back to her husband. “I can’t believe you came here to talk to
my
brother and didn’t even mention it.”

“I hardly think now is the appropriate time for this conversation,” Mikhail said curtly. “I could basically say the same about you. Why are you here?”

“I would guess I’m here for the same reason you are,” Tori shot back. “Because all of us know damn well that Stanislas Vasiliev is mad as a hatter, and none of us know what to do about it!”

Mikhail pursed his lips, looking more grim than Tori had ever seen him. “Stanislas ordered me to execute Alexei.”

“But Alexei doesn’t even have a claim to the syndicate!” Tori protested.

Alexei snorted, folding his arms and looking completely unconcerned. “Little sister, I told you. That man is clinically disturbed. It’s not going to matter whether or not there’s a good reason for anything. He’s just going to issue orders until someone has the balls to stand up to him and have his ass committed.”

“Can we
do
that?” Tori was appalled at the notion, and yet she couldn’t help but wonder if Alexei was on to something.

“The council would never condone it,” Mikhail argued.

Alexei shook his head. “Why would you want to bring them into it?”