The Crescendo (The Musical Interlude) (9 page)

“I don’t do threats, Swansea. Be careful, or you could very well find yourself standing in a soup line,” I warn.

The fucker actually smiles at me and says, “Go ahead and try, if that should ease your insecurities.” I get one last smug grin from him before he turns and walks out the door.

What the hell did that statement mean? Does he think he’s charmed my mother in such a way that she’ll allow him to run his mouth without consequences? I ball my fists and slam the left one into the wall, pissed at myself for letting someone like Mitchell fucking Swansea get the better of me because, deep down inside, I know he’s right. I wasn’t there for Erin. I fucked up. Shit! This situation’s worse than I’ve originally thought.

In his place, a nurse steps through the door. “Signor, Dostovsky? A letter for you,” she says and hands me an envelope with my name typed on a label. With hesitation, I take it, considering all the crazy shit that could happen as a result of me doing so. It was a letter to Erin that started all of this mess.

“Who gave this to you?” I snap.

The woman flinches and shrugs. “I—I’m not sure, Signor. Forgive me for not asking.”

I control my temper, hoping that will at least help ease the poor girl’s fear of the man she just caught punching a wall. I must appear to be a maniac to her. “What did the person look like?” I tack on a forced smile for good measure.

“Tall, handsome, short, dirty blond hair, a hard accent,” she answers, blushing.

Dmitri. It has to be since one of the other two blonds in my life is back in Erin’s room with Adriana while the other one has platinum locks and continues to be MIA. What the hell is Dmitri doing back here in Italy? One thing I do know—none of this is a coincidence.

“Thank you, signorina.” The nurse nods and scurries down the hall, leaving me with a lump in my throat and a head filled with apprehension as I open the note I assume has come from my brother. Inside, there’s a handwritten note. I’d recognize the oversized writing anywhere. My father. “
I will be in touch soon, Sergeyovich. The one who did this to my son’s woman will not go unpunished.
”

Erin

I don’t go onstage over the next week and a half. It’s understandable, really, since everything I’ve tried to drill into Alek’s head about my safety has now flown away in the wind.

Hagar guards Katerina full time now, so Alek has hired some new guys to take his place. They’re two of his American friends, a couple of guys who grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina before relocating to Germany with their military parents. Jacob and Tanner, ex MMA fighters who practically stand outside the door to my hotel
room, remind me of Egyptian guards, keeping watch while Alek rehearses and performs our last few shows at the Fenice without me—negative publicity free thanks to our new agent and my rescuer, Mitch.

I’m both grateful and annoyed by my bodyguards’ constant attention. Sure, they’re nice enough, nature boys with a lethal edge, which is what I’ve decided to call the two men. They could pass as twins with their dark hair, thick eyebrows, buffed bodies and shady expressions. However, I don’t want to go down the road of living a life controlled by bodyguards and circumstances. What does that mean for me, the fiancée of a man who has spent most of his life looking over his shoulder because of things he has left behind in his past?

“I got it!” Selene yells, scaring the crap out of me and ripping my mind back to the hotel room. She’s sitting cross-legged at the opposite end of my bed. “The cure is in the flask and you, my scientifically gifted best friend, are holding the key to the locker where it’s hidden. Hot damn, we make a good team.” Staring at the game board, she pumps her fist a few times and then focuses on me—the woman who feels like a living zombie without the need of a game to reinforce my thoughts.

We’re playing something called Pandemic, and I cannot believe Selene has been able to talk me into doing the zombie thing. I gave up playing
these board games after Jada passed away. However, there’s nothing that eats up time faster than trying to figure out the contents of a potion while racing against time to save the world from a zombie apocalypse.

This game reminds me of how well Selene and Christopher are made for each other. They love everything strange, odd, fantastical and just plain weird. Their co-workers would flip if they knew that two of the hottest rising designers in the industry secretly harbor replicas of Lord of the Rings’ swords and dragon eggs.

“I told you I’d make a kick-ass vampire hunter,” I say half-heartedly because I haven’t been paying attention and because my mind's all over the place.

Selene smirks. “Vampire hunter? Erin, this is a zombie game. You’re not even paying attention to it, are you?”

I don’t want to seem unappreciative, so I say, “Sure I am. Actually, I meant to say zombie hunter.”

“Liar,” she teases, tossing a pillow across the bed at me. Shoving the game aside, she scoots toward me and touches my forehead. “Do you need to rest? Don’t be shy. I can head back to my room, ravish Christopher for an hour or two, tweak a few designs I’ve been working on, and then come back and finish saving the world from zombies with you.” She counts off these things on her fingers as though adding the tidbit about screwing her
husband comes along with the daily ritual—translation, a normal relationship.

I wonder what that feels like.

“It’s not you, Selene. It’s just… I’m worried about Alek. More specifically, I’m worried about what he’s doing each night when he disappears after rehearsals. I mean, I don’t think the nature boys were brought into this picture only to protect me. There’s something else going on and Alek won’t tell me.”

“I get the impression that Alek Dostov can handle himself pretty well. And anyone else who crosses him, for that matter,” she adds. “God help whoever did this to you.”

“That’s what worries me the most,” I say, thinking of his loyalty to me, to Nikolai, which I suspect is the thing that’s driving him crazy inside. How much longer will it be before he gives in to his fears, the sense of loyalty he has to his friend, or even worse… what if he gets bored with me and starts missing his old lifestyle again?

“Did you even attempt to use the gift I bought?” she asks. Selene, my crazy friend who can always be counted on to introduce me to the taboo and kinda insane, bought me and Alek what she calls a “kiss and make up” gift a couple weeks ago when we were dealing with the Gina situation. Apparently, she believes BDSM and toys can solve our problem since both she and Christopher use them on a regular basis, so she bought Alek and me a collar made of leather, the kind that comes with the studs attached to it.

The righteous side of me wants to say,
“Are you freakin’ kidding me? I’m not going anywhere near that thing!”
While the reckless in me is screaming,
“Hell yeah, I want some of this action!”
Instead, I respond, “We talked about it a little.” I clear my throat.

“Okay, throat clearing means you’re lying… again.”

“What’s the big deal? We have never used sex toys before.”

“You so need to step out of the vanilla zone, my friend. You both need to clear your heads, get free of all this… this mob drama. If I were in your shoes, I’d be packing some protection right now.” She raises her eyebrows and nods, letting her suggestion sink in.

“Right. So what does carrying a gun have to do with sex toys?”

“It isn’t about the toys. It’s about keeping that hot as hell chemistry you two have going on. The two of you together ooze sex. You’re like the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of the opera world except with a Godfather kind of appeal tacked onto the package.”

“Oh, my God. Selene, you have lost it,” I tease.

“Maybe. But admit it, I do have a point. In the midst of all this crazy, insane madness you’ve got going on, the two of you need to hold tight to what you feel for each other. I mean…” She sighs and glances away, tears filling her eyes.

“Selene, what’s wrong?” My smile fading and panic rising inside my belly.

Turning her teary gaze back to me, she says, “I’m scared for you, Erin. Don’t get me wrong, I like Alek. He’s a fucking sexy as hell, insanely talented beast and everything, but he’s got a pretty fucked-up history, and I don’t think it’s going to just disappear anytime soon.”

Glancing at the patches of dark skin on my arms—the spots where the spiders’ bites have darkened, making me look as though I have some kind of skin disease—I can’t help thinking that Selene is right. Mostly because those same fears belong to me as well.

“I’m pretty hardcore when I have to be. I’ll be fine. No more gloomy talk. Only this,” I say, smiling extra wide and feeling relieved when Selene does the same.

“M-kay. Now that I’ve ruined our good mood, how ‘bout I go get some lime sherbet for both of us? They have a kick-ass ice cream bar downstairs after dinner,” she suggests, smiling and waggling her eyebrows. “That’ll cheer us both up.”

“Great idea,” I answer so I can get out of talking about my fears and my hesitation to use the collar and why I’m scared to ask Alek about what he thinks about it. I mean, we don’t have sweet and simple sex every night. Alek’s hormone level is off the charts—his creativity in bed drives me bat-shit insane with pleasure, but that’s also what worries me the most. Between worrying
about him returning to his lifestyle and what female will surface next claiming she’s had sex with my fiancé, and Heaven forbid, I trust my instincts ever again in order to know whether someone’s waiting to hurt one of us or not, I’ve somehow become a paranoid mess.

“With that being said, don’t think you’ve gotten out of the talk. Don’t even try pretending you don’t know what I mean.”

“Of course, I’d never do such a thing,” I joke, happy to have a friend like Selene in my life. She stands up and starts heading toward the door. “Don’t forget to bring back some for the nature boys sitting in the lounge,” I call out to her.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot all about them. What did you say Alek calls them?”

“Hawk and Eagle, or something like that,” I answer, thinking back on a few days ago when we came back to the hotel and met the two hulking men. Where Jacob, aka Eagle, seemed to be the shier one of the two, what with the way he firmly shook my hand without looking into my eyes; it was Tanner, aka Hawkeye, who did most of the talking. Either way, I have no doubt that my safety rests in capable hands with those two. I only wish I knew more about the history they share with Alek.

“Hawkeye and Eagle,” Selene repeats, twisting her mouth and narrowing her eyes as though she’s in deep thought. “Ooh, now I get the Nature Boys nickname. Cool. No worries. I’ll take care of your bodyguards, too.” With that, she winks, turns on
her heels and leaves the room.

After stuffing myself with sherbet and saying goodnight to Selene, I eventually fall under the influence of the antibiotics and pain medicines I’ve been given by Katerina’s private doctor. The stuff works well; too well in fact. I close my eyes and lose myself in sounds of the Canal swishing just outside our window, thinking of Alek and the way he has shifted into the role of protector and how sexy his alpha-male tendencies make me feel until, finally, I drift off to sleep.

In my dream, the Maestro’s performing, but our audience consists of a mass of nameless faces. My phantom lover, the man I once dreamed about before Alek and I got serious, rises above the people in the crowd as though he’s a supernatural being. His face is covered by a mask, his slim body decked out in a suit that looks like it was ripped straight out of Phantom of the Opera. He drifts toward where I stand onstage with nothing but darkness surrounding my body. I hold my arms wide open, waiting for him. My body is already warming up for him because that’s the way he affects me, especially since now his true identity has been revealed. Alek is the Phantom inside my dream, the one who has waited for me all along; But I can't help wondering why He brings so much shade along with him and will the light inside me, the power fueled by our love be enough to light the way for both us, brightening the darkness threatening to surround us? The dream begins to change. My phantom starts to fade and in his place a chill fills the air.

But wait! There’s now something creepy crawling all over me. Oh, shit! Spiders! There must be a hundred of them slithering all over my red dress, biting through the fabric. The phantom’s image fades into the shadows.

“No! Don’t leave me! Don’t let them hurt me!” I start thrashing and screaming, swatting at my arms. My efforts are useless because the little suckers keep getting bigger and multiplying.

“Wake up, Erin! Come back to me,” Alek’s voice orders from within the darkness. I force my eyes open and find myself wrapped inside a pair of arms, strong ones. Inhaling his scent—that intoxicating mix of musk, fresh linen and a bit of sweetness—I know the identity of my rescuer before I even check out his face. Alek.

I lift my head and glance into worried eyes. He’s dressed in a black shirt, unbuttoned at his chest, and dark slacks. Behind him, my silent bodyguard, Jacob, stands on guard with his beefy arms crossed. He’s waiting for the word from Alek that tells him there’s no reason to mutilate someone—I’m sure—while Tanner searches the room. My pulse quickens as images of the spiders from my dream force their way back into my head.

“What’s he looking for?” I ask, my heart beginning to slow down. I must be half asleep because I can’t help thinking the spiders that were all over my arms in the dream are suddenly going
to come surging out from under the bed.

“It’s all right, Jaybird. I’m here now. You were dreaming.” Alek’s voice calms my nerves at once. He’s right. It was only a dream, however I’m not completely certain I won’t lose my mind after all this. I keep my gaze focused on Tanner so long that Alek finally says, “All right. That’s enough. Nothing’s in here. She was dreaming, that’s all. Leave us.” Without another word or glance in my direction, the Nature Boys stroll out of the room, leaving Alek and me sitting on the bed and staring at each other.

“My beautiful little bird,” he begins, stroking my hair and grazing a kiss across my lips. The sensation shoots straight through my body, firing up every nerve in me, I do believe. “I will die before I let them hurt you again.” He’s stroking my cheek. Even though I’m groggy and just now coming back to my senses, I can hear the pain in his voice as he promises to protect me.

Opening my eyes, I focus on his face, a beautifully twisted expression riding inside his noble but strong and proud features. He is a beautiful man who has the plight of the world sitting on his shoulders at the young age of twenty-four. The soft beam of the night light beside the bed gives him a glow, making him seem like a true phantom inside a world that will eventually suck every bit of the life from him if he’s not careful. I can’t let that happen. I refuse to lose him to himself. Selene’s right. We have to stick together.

“How are you feeling?” he whispers, stroking my hair.

“Like you’ve been gone for way too long,” I answer, smiling and weaving my arms around Alek’s neck.

“I understand the way you feel. Trust me.” He leans down and kisses me gently, as though he’s afraid of breaking me. Our lovemaking has been this way ever since the spider incident last week—slow and hesitant on Alek’s part.

I move my head back, breaking our kiss. “I’m not going to fall apart if you kiss me, Alek. The venom didn’t damage any, um, vital body parts. And it sure as hell hasn’t affected my sex drive.” We share a tense laugh. I love the way his face lights up when he smiles. Those lips and the strangely unique eyes that darken in our bedroom’s dim lights.