Page 90 of The Tsar's Obsession
But there was one man missing, inexplicably late: Dmitry.
After our little incident, it’s like the fog had lifted from his eyes. He was back to being regular, old Dmitry, the same man I had worked with all these years. He apologized for the disrespect,and I accepted it, not having any true desire to forgive anyone for anything.
Dead inside, my body was slumped in a deep leather chair, the whisky glass hanging from my fingers as the seconds ticked, but he wasn’t here. There wasn’t even a text. Taking a step outside, I called.
The line rang and rang, but he didn’t pick up. Instead, a text arrived.
Dmitry:Stuck in traffic behind some fucking protest! Start without me.
What.
The.
Fuck.
I stared at the text, all my senses screaming at me that something was off, something was happening…something waswrong.
And just then, her name lit up the screen.
Mia.
The phone shaking in my hand, I read her name over and over again, both joy and deep fear swelling inside me.
"Baby?!” My panic echoed inside me as I breathed into the phone, but she remained silent, the seconds feeling like hours.
"Hi Kirill." She pronounced my name, her angelic voice shaking with fear, and my heart plummeted.
Fuck.
"Mia," I prayed. "Talk to me, baby, what's wrong?!" I pressed my ear against the phone, desperately trying to piece together where she was.
"So many things are wrong for you,baby." And that voice, that voice I wouldn't be able to mistake even if I were dead. "Did you start your most important meeting of the year? Did you figure it all out yet?”
I did. I figured it all out in that moment. My closest partner, the man who had been my brother, the one I’d been through everything with, set me up. Betrayed me. The betrayalwasstaring me right in the eyes all this time.
"I'm listening."
"I'm sure you are," Dmitry continued. "You’re going to have to make an important choice today. Either you choose to stay at the top and walk back inside that meeting room but lose your little fuck toy.” I gulped and shut my eyes at his filthy words. "Or you give it all up to get a little more playtime with her.”
Images of the last year flashed before my eyes. There were nowhispersabout my position at the top—he started and spread them. There were no problems with the Italians or the Colombians—he set it up. The chain didn’t fall into Mia’s hands by accident—he placed it there, having been to our house multiple times. Polina didn’t climb into that noose by herself—he hung her.
"But there's a secret third option," he continued slowly, holding all the power. "You can head to the hospital and save Polina. She has about an hour left in her IV. I was always good at math; I put the correct dose in.” His mocking tone pushed all my buttons. “You play by my rules? I won’t kill her before you get here."
In my race to have it all, to stay at the top, to hold onto power—I was about to lose everything.
“Tell me your rules.”
39
Plunder
Mia
Blinded,Iwasdraggedout of the car and pushed forward and down a set of stairs. There was a stale smell in the air once we arrived on a flat surface again—like an old library or storage room. Without pause or explanation, I was shoved into a chair and handcuffed to it.
The black cloth was finally removed, and I roamed my eyes around, seeing Dmitry and several of his men standing around a dimly lit room. The floors were concrete and the ceiling low, feeling more like a basement than anything else. A few tables and chairs stood around, giving a vibe of an interro–
My eyes caught sight of a workbench by the wall in front of me. Tools littered the table—blunt, sharp, and deadly.
