Page 45 of Sinful Promise

I watch as Dasha joins Irina on a canvas sofa in the shade. A light breeze is blowing. I glance at the horizon and see dark clouds gathering over the ocean. We may be in for some rough seas later.

Alex leads the way to my office on the next deck and closes the door behind us. I sit behind the desk and tap the keyboard. The monitor springs to life.

“Pavel called.”

“That can’t be good.” My heart sinks. I’m not ready to return Dasha.

“He said that Ratmim’s daughter has run off.Daughter,” he emphasizes to make a point. “Dasha is not his bride.” Alex paces, a cigarette in his hand. He knows better than to smoke it here, so he jams it between his lips without lighting it.

“What?” My eyes grow wide. “Daughter? Was she getting married?”

“To someone named Andrian,” he says, angrily throwing his arms in the air.

“Who is this Andrian?”

“The last name is immaterial, no?” Alex growls, clearly annoyed.

“Maybe not. There was another picture in the file that looked vaguely familiar. I can’t recall who it was or why Dmitry would be tracking him for Dad.”

“Your Dasha is Dasha Kozlov—Ratmim’s hidden gem. Not many even know of her existence. Rumor has it their organization is gearing up to head out of town quickly. They reportedly packed for a week or more. Did you get the license plates back from Dmitry?”

“I’ve been meaning to call him about that. I didn’t tell him it was urgent, but he’s had enough time.”

“It’s urgent. Damn it!” Alex slams a fist on the desk. “I’m to keep you from starting a war. Somehow, your little misadventure stirred up a hornet’s nest.”

“Fuck!”

My fingers fly over the keyboard, dialing Dmitry for a video call on our encrypted VPN network. He answers immediately, his face appearing on the big screen on the wall. “Brother, what the hell are you up to? You send me pictures of foreign license plates, then I don’t hear from you for days. You had me worried. These are bad people.”

“How bad?” I ask ominously.

“The late-model BMW belongs to Andrian Abramov. You might be too young to remember, but there was bad blood between him and Dad. I wouldn’t trust him if he were the last man alive. He’s moved up in the world, seeking riches he lost when he was kicked out of Russia.”

“And why did he hate Dad?”

“Dad got the riches he wanted. Andrian was cheating the system, and the powers that be didn’t take kindly to it. The problem is, he’s still connected to nefarious men inside Belarus, and it’s rumored that he’s storing weapons to destabilize a neighboring country.”

“Fuck. That must be why he stole our guns.” I turn to Alex. “What else do you want to tell me?”

He hesitates before blurting out, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the girl has a tracker on her.”

“What? What girl? Roman, what girl?” Dmitry demands.

“The one running from the church in a wedding dress. She was escaping on her own. We made it easy for her to get away.” I run my hand over my chin, absentmindedly scratching the three-day growth.

“Well, Nikolay needs to be informed. It’d be better if he heard it from you. You’re dealing with an unsavory lot, Roman. They don’t take kindly to others sticking their noses in their business.”

“Well, they started it when they came on our turf and put their hands in our pocket. Those guns are hard to come by, and I want the million dollars he cost us.”

“I’m here if you need me. But we need to figure a way out of this. Fill me in when you know more. I’ll try to track their license plates and see if they are moving.”

“I’m with you, brother. Let me see what I can find.” We ring off.

I look from the black screen to Alex, who is nervously flipping the cigarette over his fingers.

“Dasha lied to me,” I say in disbelief, staring blankly at Alex. “How could she deceive me?”

“Did she, or did you deceive her? Look, she’s in survival mode. She figured out that if she was Ratmim’s bride, she was valuable to you. It improved the odds of her getting out of this alive.” Alex shrugs. “You can’t blame the girl.”

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