Russian Mafia Billionaire’s Secretary (14 page)

Nodding his head, “This Franklin tried to prevent her from bringing me some clothes, but she managed.

“So, are you out on bail?”

“Nyet. A person has to be accused of wrongdoing to request bail. No, they held me for the maximum amount of time and when they failed to find anything, my lawyer demanded that they release me. This agent was looking for a reason to hold me longer.”

“That would take an act of domestic terrorism,” Alanna interrupted worried about what she was hearing. At his look, she added, “My sister is currently taking a class on civil rights. It was covered in it.” At his acceptance of her comment, “They haven’t…I mean, you haven’t…uh…”

Turning to look at her, “Alanna, I am not a terrorist. For fuck’s sake, I’m a business man. I help people ship stuff to the US,” he answered angrily.

Blowing out a breath, he stood up to pace, “What have they told you? Start at the beginning.”

“Very little.” Anna told him what happened from the moment the men came into his house. He swore loudly when she told him that Tristan was a spy but had her continue. He smiled and thanked her when she told him about cleaning up the office.

“What I don’t understand is how they can still have your apartment when they’ve left the office.”

“Denisov is incorporated. It’s protected,” he told her, as she nodded. “And it’s not only my apartment. They’ve frozen all my personal assets. I’m penniless at the moment. I tried to get Amelia to wire me money, but they managed to stop it.”

“Then, how are you staying here?”

“Maksim owns the hotel.” Rubbing his head again, “While he is difficult to have as an investor, he is definitely not someone you ever want to owe a favor. I should know, I just finished paying off the last one.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Alanna questioned. She couldn’t stand seeing him like this.

“You’ve done it already by coming to see me. You mean so much to me, Alanna. I know that you have more questions. I know, I would.”

“I thought about not coming but I do still have more questions than answers.”

“You can ask me anything. I won’t lie to you.”

“Who is Anton?” she blurted out, as she looked at him expectantly.

Alexander seemed to flinch at that first question and she watched as he retreated into himself.

“I don’t know who you mean…” he hedged, as he moved as far away from her as possible on the small seat.

Alanna abruptly stood up and reached for her bag. “Look, I’m a big girl. I can handle what you say. Whoever this person is, he’s important enough that you used his name as a password for your login.”

Before she could finish speaking, Alexander burst out laughing. Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she crossed her arms and watched as he continued to laugh to the point he was coughing. Holding his hand up, he tried to pull himself together but couldn’t.

Alanna was growing tired of him laughing at her expense and started to walk to the door.

“Wait!”

Chapter Twenty

“Anton was my twin brother.” Alanna froze in place as she turned to look at him.

“Was?”

“He is dead. Please…” he held his hand out to her. “Come sit back down. It seems we have more to talk about than I thought.”

Sitting back down, Alanna reached for her forgotten glass and took a big sip and then another, closing her eyes as her mouth and throat burned.

Taking her glass, Alexander downed the remaining contents and set the empty glass back down. He opened his mouth to speak only to close it again as he took another deep breath.

Grabbing his hand, Alanna squeezed it. “It can’t be that bad. Start at the beginning.” Squeezing her hand, he smiled at her.

“To start at the beginning is to go back to when we were growing up. My brother was never a good child. From the very beginning, he was always in trouble. Children were always hurt around him. Pets disappeared. My parents never said anything but I think they knew. Then one day, our sister, Amelia, fell into the lake. It was winter and she was out on the ice. Anton was with her, but it was a neighbor who saved her. After that, our parents packed him up and sent him to military school. He seemed to thrive there.”

As he talked, he tightened his hand on Alanna’s, as she watched the play of emotions across his face.

“Things were happening at the school too. Weaker children were getting injured. Some died. All the while, Anton was treated like a prince. He was at the top of his class in most every subject. When he graduated, everyone expected him to join the military, but he didn’t. He returned home. He seemed happy.”

Alexander stood up to pour himself another drink and instead brought the bottle back with him. “That summer, our house burned down. Amelia was only sixteen and she had some friends over. Something must have happened with Anton, because the neighbors said they could hear my father yelling at him to get out and not come back.”

Drinking the vodka straight, he closed his eyes, seeming to picture everything that happened.

“I constantly wonder that if I had been there instead of at the university, could I have stopped him or would I be dead too?”

“Alexander…” Shaking his head, he stopped her.

“No, this story is a long time in coming.” Taking another deep breath. “No one knows what happened but my sister had gone out with her friends and when they returned, the house was completely engulfed in flames with our parents inside.”

“Oh, god.”

“As soon as I found out, I fled with my sister. We had some distant relatives in the US and we came here. My sister finished school here and at my insistence. In the meantime, I found work.”

“Alexander, I…”

“No, Alanna. I need to finish.” Standing up, he began to pace as she watched him. “We had an inheritance from our parents and my father had intentionally left Anton out. He somehow found out and I think that’s what the argument had been about. There wasn’t a lot of money, but it was enough for me to start Denisov International. It was a struggle, but I was determined that we would grow legitimately. I was turning down the offers for illegal imports. Suddenly, business was booming and I had no idea why.”

Sitting back down, he stared off into space. “My sister had just finished college and she came to work for me. She figured out that something was going on.”

“Priceless,” Alanna said quietly.

“What?”

“I kept seeing the Russian word for ‘priceless’ on certain invoices,” she told him.

“Amelia. It was she who figured out that Anton had come to the US and was pretending to be me. She is quite the detective,” he told her in an affectionate tone. “When we figured out what was going on, we had become so entrenched with the mob that we could not pull out without risking complete bankruptcy and worse. So…I went to Maksim for help. I didn’t know it at the time, but he’d already been working with my brother and was anxious to be rid of him.”

“Maksim is in the mob?” Alanna questioned.

“He is the man in charge,” Alexander answered with resignation.

“You said that your brother is dead. Did he have Anton killed?”

“Nyet.” His face had grown more impassioned as he spoke. “When I eventually tracked down my brother, we fought. I won, but I shouldn’t have. Someone heard us and called the cops. My brother ran. From what he said, he was planning to leave anyway but he wanted to kill Amelia and me, first. I managed to stop him and he boarded a cargo ship bound for the Baltic. Once it was out to sea, it caught fire and sunk. No one survived.”

“Alexander, my goodness. That’s horrible. And your brother? He’s dead?”

“He must be. Satellite photos from the site of the ship show no other boats or aircraft in the area. The ship was hundreds of miles from land. There’s no way anyone could have survived that. Not even, Anton.”

Alanna placed her hand on his arm, as he looked at her with haunted eyes. “Alexander, I’m so sorry. You’ve both been through so much. I just…I don’t understand why there was a login for your brother at the office.”

Laughing harshly again, he stared at the vodka bottle. “It started as a bit of a joke. Once Anton was out of the picture, people continued to ask for him by name, which was how we figured out his involvement with Maksim and the drug shipments. It became a code name for those who knew and some imaginary supplier for those who didn’t. When Amelia set up her research, she used his name, so she could store everything on the server. Including everything she had on Maksim.”

“What?”

Nodding his head, “Yes. I had thought she deleted it, but my sister is far smarter than I’ve given her credit. I think she left it there on purpose.”

“So, the FBI has…”

“Everything my sister could find on Maksim implicating him with the mob. It’s enough to arrest him and more,” he finished quietly.

“We have to get out of here.” Jumping up, Alanna went to the wardrobe and pulled his bag out. Grabbing the few clothes he had, she stuffed them in his bag. Running into the bathroom, she grabbed his personal items and tossed it on top. Zipping the bag up, she set it by the door.

“Why are you still sitting there? Come on, we need to leave. Now.” She was terrified that the FBI would come back or worse yet, Maksim would come looking for them when he found out.

“And go where, my Alanna? You think he doesn’t know where you live? Nyet, it’s best I stay here.”

Dropping his bag, she went to stand in front of him. Kneeling down, she put her hands on his knees and waited for him to look at her.

“You trusted me with your story. I need you to trust me now.”

He continued to stare at her, while he seemed to weigh his decision. At his slight nod of assent, she got up and grabbed her bag. Reaching for his, he joined her at the door and they quickly left the hotel.

Chapter Twenty-One

“It’s been weeks, Alanna! I can’t believe you kept this a secret from me for so long. I’m your sister!” Alyssa had been complaining since she first found out that Alexander was in hiding at their family’s cabin and hadn’t stopped since they started the three-hour drive.

“Look, I know you’re upset,” she began.

“Upset?” her sister interrupted. “What if something happened to you?”

Her sister’s voice was becoming shrill, waking Roman up who was riding in the backseat.

“Shhh…I get it. You’re pissed, but I had a good reason.”

“Oh? Pray tell, what was it?”

“Agent Franklin with the FBI said not to tell anyone.”

“Oh.”

Surprised at how quickly her sister shut up, Alanna started to laugh but that only set her off again. As her sister started in on another tirade, a soft whimper was heard from the backseat.

“Aunty Lys, stop fighting with mommy. She doesn’t feel good.”

Alanna froze, looking at her distraught son through the rearview mirror.

“I told you, Roman, mommy was fine.”

“No, you’re not.” She watched as his lips trembled. Unable to hold it in, Roman began to cry. Glaring at her sister who sat smugly in the passenger seat, she took the next off ramp and pulled over in a parking lot. Turning to look at her son, she tapped his fisted hands and waited for him to look at her.

“Mommy is fine,” she told him, speaking calmer than she felt. “I’ve been under a lot of stress and my tummy was bothering me. It’s nothing for you to worry about, Roman.”

She felt her sister go still as she spoke. Turning to look at her, she was giving her a strange look but when Alanna asked her what it was about, she brushed it off.

“How much farther is it?” her sister asked, changing the subject.

“We should be there in about thirty minutes,” she replied. Making sure that Roman was okay, she got back on the highway. Making better time than she thought, they pulled up outside the family vacation cabin fifteen minutes later and were surprised to see a man on the roof.

“Is that him?” Alyssa asked, leaning forward to get a better look.

Nodding her head, Alanna waved to him as he climbed down the ladder and met them at the car. Stepping out of the car, she hugged him before opening the car door to release Roman from his car seat.

Scampering out, Roman gave Alexander a shy “hi” before running off to explore around the house.

“He’s a good looking boy,” Alexander complimented her as he watched Roman run.

“He is,” she answered in turn.

“No thanks to the sperm donor,” her sister told him harshly.

“And this is my sister, Alyssa,” she informed him, waving toward her sister who slammed the car door and stalked after Roman.

“I take it, she didn’t take the news well?” he questioned.

“Oh, that part she handled okay. It was the fact that I waited six weeks to tell her that bothered her so much.”

Taking her hand, he kissed it. “I missed you. I admit that I took seeing you at the office every day for granted. I can’t stand these weekends only visits,” he complained as they walked toward the house.

“I know, but now that Maksim has been arrested, maybe you can return to the city?”

Alanna spent all her free time searching for new information on the latest case regarding Maksim Angeloff. The information that the FBI was able to pull together from Amelia’s research gave them more than enough to launch an investigation.

“The D.A. wants me to wait until after I testify before coming out of hiding. I heard today that the IRS has seized several of his properties. Anastasia has fled to Florida and is threatening divorce if he doesn’t give her the money she’s asking for,” he told her as he chuckled.

“Maybe divorce would be cheaper for him,” Alanna responded as they walked up the three steps to the small porch and sat down.

“So long as they are married, she can’t be forced to testify against him and he knows that. It’s costing him a fortune to keep her quiet.”

Alanna looked up when she heard Roman’s laughter as he teased Alyssa to come find him. Smiling at her son, she leaned back in the chair.

“Oh no, that can’t be good.”

Chuckling, “At the rate, she’s emptying his bank account; it might be easier for him to take his chances in court with her as a witness.”

As they both laughed, Alanna realized she was rubbing her stomach. “Maybe I shouldn’t have had such a heavy breakfast,” she worried as she swallowed hard.