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

come home from a meeting in California. He actually had brought her a case, which is why she hadn’t minded sharing one bottle with her friends considering that had all been through a bonding experience downstairs.

She sat down at the round table and plopped comforta-bly in her plush chair. Pouring hefty glasses, she pushed the flutes around the table to Cory and Renee. This was the first time that anyone besides Dmitry had ever been in her apartment. The company was welcome by Royal, even it if was under the duress of such a hectic and unusual day.

Under the dimming lights of the dinner table and among the 60-rose bouquet in the center of the table that gave off a beautiful aroma, they toasted and drank merrily, recapping every minute of their first encounter with Ivan, the valiant efforts of Anatoly & Cory, and discussing the king of them all, Dmitry.

“Okay, so Cory and I have been talking, and we’ve come to the conclusion that Dmitry is mafia,” Renée said, looking for Cory to chime in. She sipped her wine and nodded her head.

Royal stopped smiling. Her face changed into a gri-mace.

“You watch too many movies.” Royal denied.

“And you are too naive. Did you see what happened downstairs? I nearly pissed my own pants,” Renée said, savoring the taste of the thousand dollar bottle of wine.

“I was scared too, but you don’t have to get so Holly-wood. This is Memphis, for God’s sake. Home of Elvis sightings and pig-eating contests. What would the mafia or anyone else for that matter want with Memphis?”

Renee raised her brow. “Well you do have a point…”

“Exactly.” Royal got up and went to the kitchen to re-trieve a platter of cheese and a handful of grapes. Leaning against the countertop, she held her stomach. She stood there quietly for a moment, praying softly, silently moving her lips with her eyes clothes. Then she took a deep breath, exhaled her troubles and grabbed the tray. She came back and set the food on the table and smiled. “Anybody want some caviar? I’ve got extra.”

“Okay. Well, who has extra caviar sitting around, and bottles of expensive wine in this economy. I don’t even have extra containers of milk at home, and that runs me about three dollars each not one thousand,” Cory argued.

Royal snapped quickly. “So every one who has any money is now suddenly a criminal, especially a Russian man, right?” she asked defensively. She took a deep breath. “Dmitry has worked hard his entire life. He’s made some very wise business decisions,and he’s paid his dues. That’s why he’s wealthy.” Her hands shook in frustration and pain.

Cory raised his brow. “Royal, I’ve never seen Dmitry actually work once since I’ve been here. He gives orders, but I don’t even think he drives his own car.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Royal snapped.

“Well, I’m sure he worked at some point,” Renee added.

“I mean, the abundance of caviar though, Royal?” Cory continued. “He seems to have an abundance of everything. Cars. Businesses. Money.”

She ran her fingers through her hair. “He owns a caviar company in Russia. It’s like owning a fishing business here in the states…nothing to get all hyped about. And he made his millions over a decade ago. We were all still teenagers then.” She looked around for understanding but there was no compassion around the table, at least not for Dmitry.

“Uh huh,” Cory said, pouring another glass of wine. “He also has a lot of bodyguards and guns for a restaura-teur. It’s kind of odd, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t,” Royal lied as she stood up, unaware of how upset she was becoming. “He’s Russian,” she ranted. “They protect their own.” She could hear his voice as she said it. She sounded like him. She was defending him, even though he had cut her down moments ago downstairs.

Realizing she had stood up, she sat down in her chair and looked down at her hands covered in expensive diamonds and pearls. Suddenly, she wanted to pull off the jewelry and hide it. She was ashamed of it, of him, only she didn’t know why. There was nothing left to say. She didn’t know anything else.

“The truth of the matter is that I love him. And I know that he would never lie to me. It’s not in him,” Royal’s voice was soft and timid.

“Maybe he’s not lying to you, he’s just avoiding telling you something that he knows you already know.” Cory reasoned with her.

Royal sighed. “You both are making my head hurt. He pays you above the normal pay grade. He gives you excellent benefits. All he wants is a little loyalty. You’re both ready to throw him to the dogs.”

Cory looked at Renée and set down his glass. They had obviously gone toofar and needed to fix things as best they could before she fired them both and kicked them out.

“Look, we are in no position to talk bad about our boss. He’s been great to us, but honey, you have to wonder,” he said, sighing. “Well….don’t you? You’re too smart not to wonder or maybe you’re just too scared. Believe me, no one would not understand that. We just love you. We’ve grown to see how beautiful you are, and we don’t want you to get hurt, is all.”

“I’m not afraid of Dmitry. I trust him,” Royal said, looking at Cory. “So, I don’t have to wonder.” But the statements that both Cory and Renée made weren’t new thoughts for Royal. She wondered about Dmitry and his businesses now more than ever. Only she was far too in love with him to stop now, to leave him or push him away.

∞♥∞

Back upstairs in the elegant ambience of Mother Russia, Ivan sat across from Dmitry in a closed private room in the back of therestaurant. Anatoly stood in the far corner, quietly watching and listening as his father and uncle sat at a large table under the light of a Tiffany