Max watched as Dimitri, a tall drink of water at well over six feet with a solid muscular frame turned only slightly toward his acquaintance. "Yevgeny, never tell me what to do while you are a guest in my casino. My men are everywhere. I don't think it bears repeating that it is always up to me whether anyone who comes and decides to stay at The Heritage makes it out in one piece . . . or alive for the matter."
It took everything in him not to show emotion from what Dimitri said but he managed to keep a straight face as the two men left the VIP Room and took the elevator up to the Penthouse. Both men stepped out with Max following his mentor into the living room.
"Drink?" Dimitri commanded instead of asking.
"Whatever you're having," Max replied cryptically.
Dimitri poured two straight vodkas in crystal glasses and brought the bottle over to the sofa as he handed a glass to Max.
"It's a little early in the morning but what the hell? To getting what we want," Max announced with an air of pride in his voice.
"That's a very good sentiment to which, I wholeheartedly agree. To getting what we want. The world belongs to us, my boy, and everyone else is prey . . . to do our bidding."
They clinked glasses before Max swallowed his vodka in one go. He'd never been particularly fond of the alcoholic beverage and preferred Irish whiskey and Scotch any day of the week. However, Russians seemed to live on vodka the way most people survived on water.
For them, it was the essence of their life.
Max had learned quickly never to question anything Dimitri said to him. He'd done it once and still had the scars to prove it. Yes, the man was fond of him but he never forgot his place. To do so would be the death of him and he wasn't ready to meet the Grim Reaper-not now at least. There was still so much of his life that hadn't been lived and a vengeance still left to reap.
The retribution he sought had everything and nothing to do with Dimitri. However, what he did after he officially retired from his mentor wasn't anyone's business other than his own.
"So, what's going on? I hear you have met with that scum from the White Knights and retrieved their sex-slave-turned-assassin?"
Max nodded affirmatively. "Yes, and she's . . . quite different from what I expected."
Dimitri's masculine face continued to stared impassively. "How so? Was she stronger than you thought she would be? Sometimes the women we underestimate the most are the very people who will be our undoing." He paused and swigged from his vodka. "Tell me, are you attracted to her?"
"Well, she is a beautiful woman, Dimi." Max stared into the distance before his blue-green eyes met his mentor's again. "I thought she would have that hardened look of a woman who has lived a rough life but you must see her in the flesh. She's . . . even more striking than any photo I have ever glimpsed of her. I shall maintain my emotional distance from her but lucky for me, sex isn't a weapon she wields."
"She wouldn't," his mentor replied. "There are some women who are tainted like her who do use sex as a weapon but that is because they are psychologically damaged or perhaps sociopaths. Magnolia's mentally intact. Somehow, she's like a fucking phoenix, rising from the fire and soot of her past. I admire her very much. It's a shame she will have to be disposed of after this operation is over."
Max looked away though he tried not to show any emotion. That was always the one part of the plan he'd been uncomfortable with but he couldn't possibly question the orders of Dimitri. The woman had been through enough and he felt her life should have been spared for the ultimate betrayal she was about to commit against her own family. Surely that should've bought her freedom?
"It's true. She's very strong and I have no doubt that she will be able to complete this operation. In fact, she readily participated to be a part of it and there was absolutely no persuasion on my part. I merely stated the facts to her and she finally agreed." He poured more vodka into his tumbler and grabbed the glass from the magazine table.
"Good." Dimitri stood and walked towards the floor to ceiling glass window that allowed him a gorgeous view of the Tri-Cities area. "Does she know why she's doing this? I hope she doesn't have a clue she's working for me."
"No, she doesn't."
"The Abandonato Mafia Family's the glue to organized crime in this area. Once that bastard is gone, we can infiltrate this area like a cancer. Raymond Jackson will be toothless without his best friend, and I can renegotiate our terms. There's no reason why I should be paying that bastard the exorbitant fees to have his whores sashay their asses around my establishment. Their pussies aren't fur-lined or gold-plated-they are still bitches, regardless whether they come from this greedy fucking country or not," Dimitri explained calmly though the vein in his forehead throbbed with tension and unexpressed rage.
"Well, it's not going to be quick." Max almost felt like he said too much and dialed back his attitude and tone. "I believe we will be able to move in an expeditious manner but it won't be any kind of operation that will last a week. This might be something that could possibly take six months or more. I hope that's not too long to wait."
Dimitri laughed out loud as he turned to face him, his blue eyes bright. "My son, if we only have another six months of Abandonato, that's not so bad. It could be much worse. At least I know I only have to deal with him for a limited amount of time."
Max felt a wave of relief. "I'm glad you're all right with the plan. However, I want you to know that we will work as quickly as possible."
"Of course you will, my son. I would expect anything else from you." Dimitri's face dropped, almost expressing a feeling of sadness or perhaps regret Max knew the older man wasn't able to truly convey. "I find it hard to believe you will be able to walk away from this life. Surely I can't convince you to stay?"
"No, I don't think so. It's not even the murder . . . of course that's . . . unpleasant but I don't want to be one of those people who feel nothing. Emotions are hard for me to express but if I do this any longer than I know eventually, I'll be numb."
"Emotions are an overstated human condition," Dimitri murmured in Russian. "Why do you want to feel?"
"Why don't you?"
His predecessor poured more vodka. "Caring for people has caused more problems in my life then I care to admit. Between my wives and the deaths of my sons-Yuri and Mikhail-is feeling anything worth all the pain it causes? Zusha is all I have left to claim, and believe me, she is a sorry excuse for family. I would trade her in a heartbeat for a real life with my family but our business is too risky. They would become prime targets if everyone knew they existed."
Max glanced at Dimitri with cool, aquamarine eyes. "Mila and Karina understand, Dimi. As for Zusha, she's your daughter-"
"By a woman I didn't love. Her mother was a whore and I was seventeen. There is a reason why I tell everyone she is my sister. If something happened to her, I wouldn't mourn her at all . . . Mila and Karina might as well be dead too. I can't freely claim them or visit them for fear their lives would be put at a substantial risk."
Max swallowed hard before finishing the rest of the vodka in his glass and stood shortly afterward. "I'm gonna get back to the ward under my charge. I don't trust her alone for too long. Besides, she needs to know what's going on."
"You've done well, Max." Dimitri's icy blue eyes never left his. "I hope by going through this mission, you change your mind. This life is all you know. I would be devastated if I couldn't convince you to stay."
"We'll see." He walked toward the double doors of the penthouse suite when Dimitri's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Fine . . . you want the girl, do you not? This Magnolia has slithered her way under your skin and you would like to possess her?"
"That's not it at all-"
"Silence, my boy. I know you, Maxwell. I am the closest thing you have ever had to a father . . . very much like you are the closest being I will ever have for a son. If the mission can be completed efficiently and you have proven to me you will be able to control this woman then we won't snuff her out. She will be . . . your plaything for however long you want her and then it's up to you what happens to her, understand?"
Max's breath hitched in his throat. Dimitri had never shown any kindness or mercy to a woman-why now? Was it truly that important he stay in his employment? There were better soldiers than him but somehow both men knew other as well as they knew themselves.
Or so Dimitri liked to believe but alas, Max knew better.
No one could be trusted in this business.