Dmitry's Closet Nelson, S. (best reads TXT) 📖

to say that you follow him blindly, and all the way to Memphis not knowing that he does not give damn about you. He never will. He only covets something that it will require you to take from someone else. He will not pay you what you are worth to keep you.

“He does not care if one or all of you are injured just so long as someone can replace you. You are not Vor, so he has no oath to you. Thisis why he calls you value added. You all have come as a bonus, nearly free of charge to him. And none of you, regardless of whose womb you slid out of, matter here.”

Ivan’s men looked at Ivan and each other curiously, but did not change their protective stance behind him. Dmitry shook his head and Ivan smirked, not denying any part of what his brother had just divulged.

“Plus, he put you in a very precarious situation. Be-cause you are not Vor, I don’t know you. You could be spies, cops…Brighton Beach.” Dmitry shrugged his shoulders. “And you come down here and create problem for me with someone that can’t be fixed very easily.” Deviously, he looked at Anatolyand hunched his large shoulders. “It is unnerving. My anger is nearly beyond control and someone has to pay.” His voice was calm.

“One thing I forgot to tell the men was how you love to give long lectures,” Ivan said sarcastically. “Next time, I’ll tell them to bring notebooks.”

Dmitry stood back up with his hands behind his back and walked midway of the long table and leaned against it. He ignored Ivan’s smug comment, understanding that it was his way of dealing with discomfort.

“No smart men would come into their boss’ boss’place with guns and present a problem unless they were only loyal to the latter. And I can’t have that. Can I? My men are only loyal to me. And you have proven that you are only loyal to him. Andyou have proven that you can piss me off quicker than you can tell me your names, which by the way, I don’t even know. And don’t want to know.”

The men startedto fidget, realizing the grave error that Ivan had caused them to make. Dmitry’s men spread further across the room in attack position. Ivan’s men started to step back into the room, while he only rolled his eyes.

“I guess what I’m saying gentlemen,” Dmitry pulled his arm from around his back and pointed the gun with the silencer at Ivan, “…is that I don’t need value added.”

He pulled the trigger slightly away from his brother’s face and shot each of the three men in the head quicker than they could start to flee. Their bodies fell quietly as the blood splattered across the walls.

Ivan did not blink. He swallowed hard and a sighed and he looked behind him again. He shook his head in utter disgust. The smug smile was gone.

“I just paid them thousands of dollars. You could have at least given me until next month – until they worked it off,” Ivan said hastily. He turned around from the dead bodies pissed. “You have cost me large sum of money, brother.” His anger was sincere. His tone much different now. It seemed his loss pained him. “I don’t have their account numbers. It will take me weeks to track the money down, if it’s not already spent.”

Dmitry looked at the bodies and his little brother and sighed. He turned around and looked at his men all staring in bewilderment at the strange turn of events.

“Like I told you…a fucking psychopath,” Dmitry said,passing the gun to Anatoly. “You all get rid of the bodies,” he said to the men. “Anatoly…Ivan…you both come with me.”

Chapter 11

Renee and Cory decided to stay after the store was closed and retired upstairs to Royal’s apartment, a place that they had never been invited before, but desperately wanted to see. Royal was happy to have them; having been shaken up so badly, she didn’t want to be alone. They followed her upstairs, nudging each other as they got closer. When they reached the large, heavily decorated double doors, they knew that the inside had to be spectacular, because even the entrance was grand in scale.

Taking her shoes off at the front door, Royal invited the two in for a glass of wine.

“Wow, girl! This is so beautiful,” Renée said, looking around the elaborately decorated loft that had been recently filled with more gifts from Dmitry’s various business trips.

Renee marveled at the large crystal chandelier high above them in the vaulted ceilings reinforced by exposed, lacquered timber and brick in grid patterns. Below the hanging chandelier was a beautiful leather and chenille sectional with a matching oversized leather ottoman in front of a beautiful limestone fireplace. Exquisite bouquets of fresh flowers filled the room along with paintings of beautiful country sides. It looked like a scene from an upscale interior decorator magazine.

“This is so European villa,” Cory said, rubbing his hand over the marble-topped tables. “I’m talking really expensive.”

“Well, Dmitry has great taste,” Royal admitted, admiring the place herself. She was humbled every time that she entered into the apartment, bemused by the fact that it was her home.

“You can make yourself at home in here,” Royal said, escorting them.

After taking off their own shoes, they followed Royal to the dinning room hidden behind two stain-glassed doors. The room was painted in a warm khaki color, illuminated by an equally beautiful black tiered iron chandelier that hung from a lower ceiling covered in timber and highlighted with only dim receding lights. The room had no windows, which gave it a cozy intimacy,and it was sprinkled with color in the large area rug, accent chairs and large painting of St. Basil’s Cathedral in the Red Square.

Royal pulled out her finest crystal flutes and a bottle of Chateau Petrus that Dmitry had bought her last week when he had