Vasily's Revenge: The Complete Story (The Medlov Men Book 1) (6 page)

The small motion caught Vasily’s attention, but he tried hard not to outright show his attraction. It was not fitting in this situation, and it might make them both way too uncomfortable, even for such a short flight.

“What did you just say, Mom?” Dylan asked. He had never heard his mother speak in Russian before.

“Doesn’t matter, Vasily understood me. That’s all that is important.”

“
YA otvezu tebya v Memfise , v bezopasnoye mesto
, ” he answered, explaining that he was taking her to a safe place in Memphis.

Vasily forgot that she spoke fluent Russian, but was glad that they had some barriers between themselves and the small child. Surely things would come up very soon that would need to be addressed in his presence without him understanding.

As the jet started to taxi down the runway, Dylan’s attention quickly shifted from his new fascination with his mother’s hidden language skills and Vasily’s gun to the uneasy feeling of moving at a rapid speed.

“Mommy,” he said, fists balled up.

“It will be okay, honey,” she promised.

But Dylan’s fear eroded all hopes of him staying calm. Tears forming at the sides of his eyes, he quickly began to turn pale.

Vasily knew that he was supposed to stay in his seat, but he’d also made a million flights around the world both alone and for his boss on this very jet. Unhooking himself, he moved over to Dylan, unlatched his seatbelt and picked him up. Against the pressure of the plane ascending, he sat back down and locked Dylan into the seat with him. Holding him close, he smiled.

“There, is that better?” Vasily asked, wiping Dylan’s tears.

Dylan nodded, holding the bear in a chokehold, and put his head against the man’s chest.

Vasily could feel his body heat, feel his heartbeat in his hands and smell the scent of innocence all about him. It was a surreal experience. This human being that he was cradling, this child who was so smart and so beautiful, was his.

He looked over at Lilly, who had stopped breathing all together at the sight of them and noticed the tears in her eyes.

“It will be okay,” he said aloud for both Dylan and Lilly. “I’ll keep you safe.”

She stared at him, tears flowing down her cheeks, hands clutching the armrests and tried to swallow down her sobs. Trembling, she looked over at the flight attendant as she came out of the cockpit once the jet leveled out. “I’ll take a double scotch straight up if you have it,” she managed to bite out 

Chapter 5

Memphis, TN

On the far side of the mansion, in his own private wing, the man of the house was far less stressed than his subordinates. After a late dinner with the family and putting his children to sleep in their quarters, he made his way to his master bedroom, an almost vulgarly large space, decorated by the premier designer of the Western hemisphere and overseen by his better half.

When Dmitry and his wife had decided to come back to the States for a while, she had redone the entire mansion to suit them, but spent an extra amount of care on their wing, which was easily 3,000 square feet for four rooms. It was a hideaway from the world with every amenity possible, a place where he could take off his many hats and focusing on the sole job of being a husband.

In the custom-made king sized bed made for his exceptionally long body, Dmitry laid his head comfortably in his wife’s lap watching the 90 inch television across the room while she rubbed through his golden locks. He stroked her arm gently and began to doze off when there was a knock on the door.

“Papa,” Anatoly said, waiting for his father to answer.

Dmitry looked at the door and then at the clock. With a huff, he rose up, muscles tensing in his six-pack of an abdomen and stretched. “I’ll be out in a minute,” he said, throwing the sheets off his legs. “What does that boy want now?”

His wife, Royal, rested back in the bed, her statuesque naked body giving off a silhouette in the dimly lit room. Flashing lusty eyes at him, she arched her back and propped up her head on her hands.

“It better be important,” she taunted.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said, pulling himself to the end of the bed and grabbing his pajama bottoms from the nightstand. “I promise if it’s not, you’re going to lose your only stepson tonight.” Quickly slipping on his pants, one leg at a time, he walked to the door and opened it slightly, just enough to look down at his son.

Anatoly didn’t wait for him to speak. He knew that he was interrupting. “Vasily’s headed here with the woman.”

Dmitry didn’t like the sound of that. “Why here?”

“Get this. He got there to swoop her up and take her somewhere and found out she had his kid.”

“He has a child?” Dmitry thought Vasily hardly seemed the type.

“He didn’t know,” Anatoly said, tilting his head. “Sound familiar?”

Dmitry scratched the blonde stubble growing on his neck. “Very.” He looked back at his wife and felt a stir. She lay across the bed, black hair fanned across the pillow waiting for him. “Let me know when he gets here. Text me and I’ll come down so that we can talk briefly.”

Anatoly knew that answer. His father had plans of rolling around in the sack with his wife all night, and didn’t want to be bothered. “Should I just call for you in the morning?” he asked.

Dmitry debated. He really didn’t want to be disturbed anymore tonight, but he’d learned that procrastination could cost lives. He leaned up against the door frame and huffed. “I would say yes, but considering the nature of their visit, we should discuss all of the specifics tonight.”

Anatoly winked at his father. “A simple no would have sufficed, Papa.” Tapping the door lightly with his knuckles, he called out to his stepmother. “Sorry to bother you, Royal.”

“No you’re not,” Royal called out with a laugh from the bed. “Go away. Go be with your wife,” she ordered.

Dmitry smiled at her, loving her sense of humor. “She’s right, you know. You’ve been up working long enough. Go enjoy yourself. A hard day’s work deserves a hard night’s play.”

Anatoly rolled his eyes.
Was his father really trying to give him sex advice on top of everything else?
“Papa, Renee and I aren’t as old as you two... well,
as old as you
. We can have sex more than at night.”

Dmitry winked at him. “It’s not about quantity; its quality.” Closing the door behind him, he turned and looked at Royal. “You ready for your nap cap, my love?” he asked, pulling his pants off and throwing them across the room.

“Starving for it,” she giggled.

***

From the moment that the jet landed in Memphis, Lilly saw that the man that she had once known was no more. He was no longer just a foot soldier, no longer just a nameless face in a small crew of street gangsters or a low-level Russian mobster. He’d climbed the ranks.

He was met by 10 men in three Yukon Denali trucks on the tarmac. All of them regarded him with more respect than she’d ever seen Leo’s men treat him with and none of them seemed lowly.

She and Dylan were quickly taken to a truck, separate from Vasily and then driven straight to the compound.

As the large iron gates opened and the guards waved them through, she couldn’t help but sit up and marvel at the mansion in the distance, illuminated by lights on the lawn and crawling with bodyguards, big guns and dogs. She had never seen anything like it up close. It was something out of Gone with the Wind with plantation-style white pillars and columns, but the size of it and the design spoke to an architectural interpretation of the old south with a much more modern twist.

“Excuse me. Whose house is this?” she asked.

The man looked at her through the rearview mirror, but said nothing.

When the truck stopped up front, Vasily opened the door for her as another bodyguard opened Dylan’s door and picked him up. He was still clutching the bear, even in his sleep.

“Let’s get you inside,” Vasily said, offering his large hand.

She took it and stepped out. Her heart pounded in her chest, nervousness causing the small ball in her stomach to tighten. At that moment, she was more afraid than Dylan had been on the plane.

“Where are we?” She nervously licked her dry lips. “Is this your home?”

He chuckled. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “We’re at my boss’s house.”

“Well, who in the hell is your boss with a place like this?” she asked.

As they approached the elaborate front entry of solid mahogany double doors with forged iron, a butler in a black suit opened them and stepped aside quietly.

Everyone was in a damned suit, even well after midnight,
she thought to herself
.
Suddenly, she felt extremely underdressed, like maybe she should have been going through the side door or the back door.

“This is the Medlov compound,” he said, feeling her jerk away as he crossed the threshold. He turned to her, looked down at her visibly afraid and rubbed her face. “You are safe, Lilly. I promise.”

Her eyes told on her. Even only briefly as Leo’s wife, she had heard of Dmitry Medlov in whispered conversations. He was a legend. In fact, she hardly believed him to be real, because the stories were so wild.

She saw the bodyguard holding her son in his arms headed through the foyer.

“Where is he taking him?” she asked, forgetting her fear. She bolted toward him.

“Let him rest,” Vasily urged, grabbing her arm gently. “They are taking him to the east wing. Once you and I have a conversation with my boss, then you’ll be escorted there and that is where you’ll stay until we get this all sorted out.”

The butler closed the doors behind her and made her jump.

“Sorry,” she apologized.

“Lilly, there really is no reason for you to worry. No one here will hurt you.”

The words resonated with Lilly.
Hurt her. Worry.
Whether she liked it or not, that was her world. And it wasn’t until that very moment, hearing those very words, that she realized that she was tired of running, tired of being tortured by the idea of Leo finding her.

Running a hand over her chest, she took a deep breath and shook her head. “Do you realize how hard this is, Vasily? This afternoon, I was in Jackson, Mississippi in my own broke down, country home, cooking bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch and watching Disney with my son because I can’t afford the swanky channels like HBO. I have less than a thousand bucks in cash, and it’s all in a coffee can in my $4 Salvation Army purse… all because I can’t put my real name on a bank account. Tonight, I’m inside of a multi-million dollar paramilitary compound of one of the most feared Russian mafia leaders in the
world
. So when you tell me that I have no reason to worry, I know that’s a lie. I have every reason to worry.” She pursed her lips together and wiped a tear. “And I’m scared shitless, man.”

The men standing in the foyer around Vasily quickly dispersed. They knew when to exit, and it was obvious that their boss needed his privacy.

Silently, Vasily stood staring at her until everyone was gone. He slowly walked up to her. Their proximity caused electricity to erupt between them.

She looked up into his eyes with want and need like he’d never seen a woman look at him before.

“Come here,” he said, taking a trembling hand in his.

Wrapping his arms around her, he gave her a warm hug. His heat engulfed her and his smell intoxicated her, his muscles insulated her and for a moment, just a moment, she felt safe.

A throat cleared behind them, and suddenly Vasily went rigid. Releasing her, he turned around quickly.

“Boss,” he said, straightening his suit.

Anatoly looked at Lilly and a fair brow shot up. “The plot thickens,” he said, walking up to Vasily. “I always pegged you as the traditional type.”

Lilly’s eyes narrowed.
Was he a racist? Was that a racist remark?

“A man has his secrets,” Vasily said under his breath.

“I’m Anatoly Medlov,” Anatoly said, offering his hand to Lilly. “Welcome to our humble abode.”

“I’m Lilly,” she answered carefully. “Thank you for having me.”

To provoke him would surely be a bad idea. This strange man with his famous last name was younger than Vasily by some years and also incredibly handsome. Most of the men of the Vory v Zakone that she had known all had a very distinct eastern bloc look to them, but Vasily and Leo and now Anatoly were much different.

They were all unusually handsome, dangerous and very rich.

Anatoly was dressed in dark jeans, a black t-shirt that fit his muscular arms and black boots. His curly mop of blonde curls was magnified by crystal blue eyes and a wide, pink mouth. He was overtly gorgeous, but his eyes were dark and brooding.

There was no softness in them, leading her to believe that despite his relaxed demeanor at the moment, he could be quite difficult to manage if he were angry.

Anatoly looked around the foyer and shrugged. “Where’s the kid?”

“I had him sent to the east wing,” Vasily answered. “He was pretty worn out after the trip.”

“Damn, I wanted to see who he favored,” Anatoly said, looking at Lilly. “Why don’t you just tell me? I’ll see him later.”

“His name is Dylan,” Lilly answered, knowing what Anatoly underlying questions was. “And he looks like his father.” She looked up at Vasily.

“Well, that’s an answer,” Anatoly said sarcastically as he looked at his watch.
Not the confirmation that he was hoping for, but he wouldn’t push it if Vasily didn’t.
“Papa wants to meet us in his study. I recommend that we beat him there and grab a drink before he arrives. There will be questions, followed by directives, followed by one of his glorious speeches. And I’m fucking exhausted. So let’s get this show on the road.” He turned on his heels and headed into the main hall of the house.

Vasily nodded. “Let’s go,” he told Lilly. “We don’t want to keep Boss Medlov waiting.”

Which one
, she said to herself, as she followed the two men.