"What if the flight is full?
"Have you ever offered a flight attendant a thousand bucks to move things around? It works. Trust me."
"So, if you go to Sochi, you plan to do what?"
"Save my family. I'm the only one who can. Dorian won't trust or listen to anyone else. Tell you the truth, I'm not sure why he would even listen to me."
Victoria sighed. "Do you think it's a set up?"
"This is going to sound really crazy, but… no, I don't. I looked into his eyes, listened to what he had to say, and I truly believe him. Now, if I'm wrong, then were all dead. But if I'm right, I could be the only thing standing between a war that could kill us all."
Victoria thought Royal was really brave and selfless for her concern. "Okay. I'll do it, but I don't know if it will work."
Royal smiled. "Thank you."
"Can you ever forgive me, Royal, for being such a horrible person?"
"I'm surrounded by horrible people. Yes, I can forgive you, especially if you help me save my boys."
Royal's cell phone range. She looked down. It was Dmitry.
"Does he know that you're here?" Royal asked Victoria.
"I don't know. I don't think so."
"Okay." She answered her phone. "Hi, honey." She tried to sound like nothing was wrong.
"Where are you?" he asked..
"I'm out in the city. Why?"
"You're supposed to be at work. You're not. I'm here waiting on you, and you haven't been back since you picked up dress."
Royal huffed. "Why are you checking on me?" That was most unlike Dmitry. He was never the smothering type.
"Why should I have to check on you? Where are you?" his voice raised.
"In. The. City." She snapped.
"You better not be at that fucking hotel with this Andrew."
Royal was shocked. "I'm not. I'm headed to the restaurant not far from our condo across town. Meet me there, if you want, in a few minutes."
"Are you lying to me?"
"No, I'm not lying to you, Dmitry. Goodness! You sound insane."
"You have no idea," he hung up the phone.
"I don't think he knows where you are," Royal said to Victoria. "I have to go. I can't let him know that I know about tomorrow, no matter what."
Royal rushed out of the house after calling a taxi and Dorian. Hearing the news, Dorian immediately left the hotel through service entrance and headed for his plane. He had to get out of town before Dmitry found him.
Chapter 18
Within minutes, Royal was sitting at the bar of the pub down the street from her condo awaiting Dmitry. He barged into the restaurant alone with guns visible looking for her with a scowl on his face covered in rain water. His clothes stuck to his body and revealed the tattoos he hid underneath.
Royal sat up in the bar stool and pulled her hair behind her ear. Goodness. He looked psychotic. The veins stuck out of his neck and his face was red with anger. He eyed her as he walked up, looking as if he would strike her.
"Why are you here?" he asked, staring at her with an irate grimace. "And not at work?"
"What is your problem, Dmitry? You're acting like a mad man."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying."
Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her out of the chair and dragged her out of the bar screaming and kicking. The few onlookers did not intervene. Instead they watched the giant man in amazement. He carried her in one arm into the rain where Davyd stood waiting.
When he tried to put her in his Bentley, she reached up and slapped him as hard as she could in his face.
"You fucking bastard!" she screamed as he placed her inside.
Jumping in the front seat, he ordered Davyd to pull off into the rainy streets. "I'm the bastard?"
"Yes!"
"What the hell were you doing at some other man's hotel room?"
"Why are you spying on me?"
"I'm not. I got a call… "
"Fuck you! You get to cheat with whores under my roof," she pushed her finger against her chest, "and I go and deliver a damned dress, and you treat me like I'm some corner rat!"
"I didn't cheat."
"I saw you kiss her, Dmitry. You were hard as hell. You wanted to fuck her in my house!"
"I wanted to kill her in your house! There is a difference!" He looked over his seat at her.
"I have had it up to here with you!" she touched her forehead. "You and all your bullshit. If I were a man, I would kick your ass!"
"Who was he? I went by the hotel, and he had already gone. A fucking coward. Little does he know that my reach is much farther than this city. I'll find him, whether you tell me who he is or not."
"I don't know who he is. He bought a fucking dress! Do you know how many dresses I sell a week?"
"The same dress that the manager said you brought back downstairs with you?" Dmitry ignored the rest of her rant.
"He said he changed his mind!"
"After he got what he really wanted. I would change my mind, too!"
"Fuck you. You think you run the entire world. You don't run shit. You don't run me. And for the last time, I didn't do anything!" Royal instantly thought of Victoria pleading with her one the hour before regarding her innocence. It was hard to be the accused.
Dmitry paused. He had never in his existence with Royal ever had a man once intrude on his territory. The thought of another man being with her infuriated him beyond his control. But there was the sobering thought that Royal was a true lady and had never once faltered.
Then there
