Page 33 of Disguised as Love

“I was tired of him.” Cruz’s voice was calm, but there was a hint of steel to it.

Damien laughed. “Weren’t we all. He won’t be a problem anymore.”

My lungs finally screamed at me, and I realized I’d been holding my breath. I inhaled deeply, trying to keep it quiet, trying not to let Damien know he’d rattled me just by being here, let alone with the barely veiled threat beneath his words.

Malone shrugged. “I guess you did the world a favor.”

Damien’s eyes narrowed, but he kept his fake smile. “Who said it was me?”

Malone grinned and scoffed in a falsely friendly way. “Giving the credit to someone else, eh? That’s fine by me. Who gets his spot in Denver?”

This did wipe Damien’s smile away. “Not you, asshole.”

Malone pulled me toward the door, responding over his shoulder as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “You assume I want it. I’ve got better things to do than shuffle money in and out of a failing club.”

Damien followed us. “You speak too freely and too much. You’ll need to fix that before you meet with my father.”

Malone shrugged again. “My mom and every teacher I had said the same thing. Ain’t gonna change now.”

“People who talk too much end up like Gennady.”

Malone stopped, pushed me behind him, and turned to look Damien in the face. “I’d like to see you try.”

There was not a hint of worry in Cruz’s voice, but my body was filled with it.

Damien stepped closer, bringing the two men nose to nose. It reminded me of two stags ready to tear each other apart with their antlers. Just as I was sure they were going to go to blows, Rurik’s voice tore into the silence.

“Enough of this. Let’s sit down to dinner.”

Rurik was in a suit as impeccable as the one he’d been in at his office downtown, but there was displeasure written on his face as he took the three of us in.

Cruz turned so his back was to Damien, as if making a statement that he wasn’t worried about him in the least, and I saw fury fill Damien’s face. I’d seen it before, and it made me shiver once more as the ghosts of the past came back to haunt me. When we reached Rurik, he turned and made his way into the dining room as if he was the host and we were the guests.

The leaves that could have been used to expand the formal table so it would seat nearly two dozen had all been removed so that the remaining seven places felt intimate. Mama was already seated at the end with an empty wine glass in her hand. I’d barely been able to get her dressed and downstairs, but Rurik had commanded she and Malik be here, and she’d listened more than she had to my plea.

With the way Rurik was acting like he owned the place, I was surprised when he didn’t take Papa’s seat. Instead, he went to Mama, kissed her cheek, patted her shoulder, and sat on her right. I was on her left, and Malone sat down next to me before Damien could even try to take the chair, but it was almost worse to have him sitting across from us because I’d feel his stare throughout the meal.

Malik finally made it into the room, scowling. On his heels was his friend who’d been in the entry with him earlier today and who he hadn’t introduced. Malik didn’t bother with introductions now either. Instead, the man leaned forward, his thin eyes taking me in, much the way Damien had, as if I was something to buy. I hated it.

“Sorry, your brother has lost his manners. I’m Isamu Yano.” He stuck out a hand that I took. He raised it to his lips, kissing the back, and I drew it away quickly. Two other male eyes in the room sent him daggers. Yano turned to the others, stretching out a hand to Rurik that was ignored.

“You used to work for Tsuyoshi Mori, didn’t you?” Rurik asked, waving Yano into a chair as if it was his place to do so. Malik grunted in disapproval from his spot at the head of the table. Papa’s spot. My heart tightened. If Papa were still alive, none of this would have been happening.

“I did,” Yano replied.

“It’s too bad what happened to him. He was a good man. Pleasant to do business with and always reliable. Made things happen,” Rurik said just as the servants brought out the first course.

Yano didn’t respond.

“How long do you intend to stay in my home?” Malik asked, causing all of us to wince at the harshness as well as the unconcealed anger.

Rurik smiled, patted Mama’s hand again, and then responded in a consolatory tone. “At least through the funeral, don’t you think, Manya? I want to be here for my dear friends in any way possible.”

Mama’s eyes went from Rurik, to me, to Malik, and then down to her plate. She swallowed hard and said, “Friends are always important at times like these.”

Malik glared at her, but she didn’t see it because her focus was on pushing the food around on her plate. Rurik saw, and a soft look overtook his face that surprised me. Stilled me. Chilled me. His wife had died decades ago. He had a steady stream of mistresses, if the talk was to be believed, but he’d never remarried. Did he have feelings for Mama? It seemed impossible, and yet the words he spoke, tender and gentle, seemed to insinuate it.

“Eat, dorogaya. Petya wouldn’t want you to waste away.”

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