Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (75 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE

Max

I decided that I
needed to go visit Babi. I told my driver the destination, and then sat back as
I thought about what Dementyev had said about Papa. I knew my father was a hard
man, but to have ordered a hit on his own son was beyond the pale. Or was it? I
wanted to talk to Babi and find out what was really going on with Papa.

When we pulled up
in front of her building a little while later, I noticed that the house was
dark, and I wondered if she was even home. Sometimes, Babi went out visiting
and stayed the night at friends' houses when the hour got too late to get home
safely. I knocked on the door and waited. When I got no response, I used my key
to let myself in.

"Babi?"
I called as I moved through the dark front room. "Babi, are you
home?"

"Vladimir?"
came the response from the kitchen. "Vladimir is that you?"

"Babi? What's
going on?" I called as I raced to the kitchen and found her sitting curled
up in a corner on the floor. "Babi! Are you okay?"

"Maksimka!"
she cried as she stretched out her arms. I pulled her up off of the floor and
sat her in a kitchen chair so I could check to see if she'd been injured.

"Babi, what
happened?" I asked as I pushed the sleeves of her robe up so I could see
her arms. There were fresh bruises that looked like someone had gripped her
very hard, and I looked up at her and asked, "Where did these come
from?"

"There were
men here, Maksimka," she said in a grave voice. "They were very bad
men looking for your father. They pushed me around and they looked for
information, but they did not find it. I wouldn't let them."

"Babi, what are
you talking about?" I asked as I got up and dug through the freezer until
I found a couple of bags of frozen corn. I wrapped the bags in dishtowels and
put them on the bruises. "Babi, what bad men? How did they get in? Who
sent them?"

"Maksimka,
your father has a lot of enemies," she said as she looked down at her
arms. "He's been a target since he left Moscow, and now, they are out
searching for him. "

"How do you
know that?" I asked.

"I know
because a mother knows," she said looking back up at me. "I know
because Vladimir warned me that these men would come looking for him and that I
should never give him up."

"Babi,
Kristov is dead," I blurted out. I had no idea what my father had told her
and after my talk with Dementyev, I wasn't sure what was true.

"Kristov?"
she asked. A look of confusion washed over her face. "Kristov is
dead?"

"Babi, he was
executed in his home," I said. She looked at me and then shoved the ice
packs off of her arms before bringing her hands up to cover her face. She shook
as she tried to hold back sobs, but before long, she was wailing as the tears
flowed.

"Not my
Kristov!" she cried. "He was a little boy!"

"Babi, what
happened with Papa?" I asked, trying to be gentle, but knowing that time
was of the essence if I was going to figure out what had happened. "What
did Papa tell you?"

"He told me
that something bad was happening and that bad men were coming to find him, just
like in Moscow," she told me as she gulped back the sobs. "He said
they wanted to take everything away from him and kill his family and that I had
to help him hide."

"Babi, why
did he think that they were coming for him?" I asked.

"Maksimka,
you're father is not a bad man," she said as she looked up into my eyes.
"He was just trying to do what he had to do to survive. Life wasn't easy
for us after the wall fell. You know that. Your father did what he had to do to
protect us."

"What did he
do, Babi?"

"He got
involved with some men who promised a way out of the country for you and your
mother," she said as she tried to replace the ice packs on her arms. I
reached out and repositioned them. "They got you all out of Moscow before
the police came to try and arrest your father for desertion."

"Desertion?"
I asked. "He always said he retired with honors from the KGB."

"Don't be
stupid, Maksimka," she scolded. "No one retires from the KGB. You are
KBG for life or you are dead. Your father deserted so he could relocate his
family, and those who remained paid the price."

"You?" I
asked afraid to hear what she would say.

"No, I was
one of the lucky ones. I was able to hide with friends until your father could
make arrangements to get me out of the country," she said. "But other
family members were not so fortunate, and when the KGB came to extract
information, some of them did not survive."

"That's
barbaric," I breathed.

"You have no
idea what barbaric is until you see the people you love slaughtered by a
government that despises dissent," she sighed sadly. "I couldn't help
them, no one could help them. So, I waited until your father sent word and then
I trusted complete strangers to move me out of the country in the dead of
night. I was loaded onto a truck carrying chicken carcasses to a farm in Poland
and driven out of the country. It was disgusting – the smell of rotting chicken
and death. But, it was better than staying and waiting for the police to come
and question me."

"But you
didn't do anything."

"Maksimka,
you don't understand, you didn't have to do anything," she said. "You
just had to be accused of doing something, that was good enough."

"But what
about Papa?" I asked.

"Your Papa
did what he had to do to make sure we were all safe," she said. The fierce
look in her eyes told me that while my father might have done some terrible
things, he did them with the intention of ensuring that those he loved would
remain alive. "He made deals with the devil to get us to safety. Don't you
ever judge him for that."

"I'm not
judging, Babi," I said trying to soothe her anger. "I'm trying to
understand why bad men came to your apartment and roughed you up!"

"I'm telling
you, Maksimka!" she shouted. "Listen to me!"

"Okay,
okay," I placated, holding my hands up in surrender. "I'm
listening."

"Your father
made deals with people to get us all out, and when he did, he had to promise
them certain things," she continued. "Those things he promised to do
did not have an expiration date, so he was obligated to do them forever. At
first, it was easy things that didn't seem to make that much difference, but
then as time went on, he was required to make concession after concession and
he had to do things that he found morally wrong, but he did them because they
reminded him that if he didn't, they would harm you and your mother and
brother."

"But why
didn't Papa tell the authorities in this country once he got here?"

"Don't be
stupid, Maksimka," she said. "The Russian Mafia doesn't care about
local authorities. They have no hold on how they do business, and if your
father had reported them, they would have murdered us all without a thought.
There was no escape, Maksimka. No escape.

“Your father did
what he could to resist, but by the time he wanted out for good, he was in way
too deep to try and leave. He had no choice. And, the time he did decide to try
and get out, well, you saw what happened."

"No, what
happened?" I asked. "I don't remember this time."

"Of course
you remember that time!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "They
murdered your mother!"

The revelation
came as a complete shock, and I stared at my grandmother with my mouth hanging open
for a full minute before she snapped, "Close your mouth, the flies will
get in and make a home."

"Babi, they
killed Mama?" I whispered. I was horrified not by the fact that my mother
had been killed, but by the fact that all these years, I'd secretly suspected
that my father had done it out of anger and jealousy.

"Yes, they
killed your mother when she and your Papa had decided that they would go to the
police about the girls being smuggled into the country," Babi said.
"Your mother could handle a lot of the unsavory dealings that your father
did to keep you all safe, but exploiting other human beings in the way that the
mafia did with those girls was more than she could take. She said it was
because they were someone's children and she could live with a lot of things,
but not the abuse of someone's child. She begged and pleaded with your Papa
until he gave in and agreed to go to the authorities and become a
witness."

"Did he
go?" I asked.

"No, he did
not," she said. "The day he was supposed to meet with the Federal
investigators, your mother was hit by a car as she walked home from the grocery
store. Your Papa told me that he thought it was a terrible accident until one
of the
vory v zakone
showed up at the
bar that night with a message from their captain. He told your Papa that if he
ever said a word to anyone about the girls, you and Kristov would be next and
that it would be no accident."

"They said
they'd kill us?"

"Yes, they
did," she said. "After that, your father made a vow to raise you and
Kristov to be tough and to look out for yourselves. He didn't ever want either
of you to be a victim of the promise he'd made."

"Babi, they
killed Kristov," I said. "They went back on their promise. What am I
supposed to do now? Sit back and let them run all over us?"

"Maksimka,
your father and I are old. We have lived our lives. You are young, and you are
the future of this family now that Kristov is dead," she said as she
tipped the ice pack off of her arms and pulled me into a cold hug. "You
have to do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. Even if that goes
against what your Papa wants you to do. You need to make good choices and get
out of the mafia life because if you are in it, you will not survive."

"How do I do
that, Babi? I've been trying, but Papa keeps fighting me at every turn."

"Your Papa is
a stubborn man." She smiled as she drew back and patted my cheek. "He
was a stubborn boy who grew up to be a very stubborn man, but he loves you more
than anything in the world and he is fighting to protect you. Help him."

"Babi, I met
with Aleksander Dementyev tonight," I said, wondering what she knew about
him.

"Scum!"
she said as she spit on the floor. "That man is disgusting human trash! He
has no loyalty or honor!"

"He told me
that Papa killed Kristov," I said quietly. "I almost believed him
after the way that Papa has treated me."

"Maksimka,
that man is the worst kind of thief there is," she said as her face
contorted with anger and pain. "He lies and follows no code of honor. He
manipulates people by using their pain to make them doubt themselves and
everyone they love. He twists the truth and turns it into lies. He is sadistic
and cruel. He has no soul."

"How do you
know all of this about him?" I wondered what Dementyev had done to get
this kind of response from her.

"I have seen
his handiwork," she said with disgust. "Kristov brought some of the
girls he was helping to escape here to stay with me while he arranged safe
passage to somewhere that Dementyev would never find them, and I saw what he'd
done to them. That man deserves to die a thousand deaths for what he's
done."

"Wait, you
were helping Kristov? Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.

"Your brother
didn't want you to get caught up in the dirty work, Maksimka," she said
patting my cheek. "He was protecting you so that you could get out of the
business."

"But he was
telling me to get back into it!" I shouted. "What is going on in this
family?"

"We take care
of each other, Maksimka," she said. "Your Papa and Kristov were doing
the best they could to draw you back in, but I prayed that you would stay away.
I don’t understand your Papa."

"What do I do
now?" I said helplessly. "Papa wants me to find Kristov's killers and
make them suffer. How am I supposed to do that if I'm supposed to stay away
from the family business? Babi, what do I do?"

She looked at me
for a long time before she got up from the chair and walked to the
refrigerator. She pulled out the milk and eggs, and then she took down the
flour and began mixing a batch of crepes. I watched while she cooked, not
saying a word, knowing that she was thinking and that the cooking was an
integral part of her thought process. When she had flipped the last of the
crepes onto the large blue plate she'd pulled out of the cabinet, she brought
it over with a dish of jelly, some fresh fruit compote, and a container of sour
cream and set them all down in front of me.

"Eat,"
she ordered as she began to clean up. "Eat, Maksim. It's good for you. You
eat and then you'll know what to do."

Babi was right. By
the time I was done eating the crepes, I knew exactly what I needed to do next.
I kissed her on the cheek, went out to the car, and ordered the driver to take
me home.