Page 23 of Deadly Protector
Dimitri was impressedwith how well Juan was holding it together, though the rage in his eyes was clear. Someone had threatened the man’s wife with a fucking weapon. Had put hands on her. Dimitri rolled his shoulder once, all his protective instincts flaring up.
It took a certain type of monster to put hands on a woman. Now he had a better understanding of the man he was dealing with. Dimitri would not underestimate him.
“I made contact with Ryba,” he said as they stepped into his kitchen.
“Before or after he threatened my wife at gunpoint?” Juan’s jaw was clenched tight.
Dimitri looked at his burner phone. “What time did he show up there?”
“Right before nine.”
“I called him right about then. He could have been leaving as I called. Or he could have gone in even after I did, wanting to threaten Angel to make sure Zamira does what he wants.”
“He made a big fucking mistake.” Juan’s expression was dark, deadly.
“He did, but you can’t go after him. Not yet. Maybe never. You know who is aunt is.”
Juan gritted his teeth.
Dimitri looked at Zamira, who’d been quietly watching the two of them, worry in her expression. He didn’t care if Juan was in the room, he pulled her into his arms, held her tight.
She wrapped her arms around him, buried her face against his chest. “I don’t know if you should meet him now that we know he has a gun. Maybe we should just let the cops handle this?” she said as she looked up at him.
“No,” both he and Juan said at the same time.
“Why not?”
“Even though there are two reliable witnesses, Ryba is still a wild card. He won’t stay in jail for this, not at first. It’ll take time to process him, then a trial date would have to be set and he’d likely be out on bail for that. That will give him incentives to go after the witnesses—Lizzy and Angel.”
“He wouldn’t get the chance,” Juan said.
Dimitri agreed, but held up a hand. “We can’t put that cat back in the bag. We have a chance to handle him ourselves. If, after talking to him, I realize you can’t give him whatever he thinks you have, then we’ll look at other options.” And powerful aunt or not, Dimitri would eliminate Ryba if he remained a threat. And he knew Juan would have his six if it came down to taking more drastic measures.
“He’s right,” Juan said. “Even if this thing makes it to trial, a trial is a crapshoot. He wouldn’t get much time.”
Zamira nodded, but it was clear she didn’t like it.
Dimitri didn’t either. “I need a few minutes to make some calls.” He looked between the two of them. “And I need to talk to you about something,” he said to Juan.
“No way. If you’re talking to him about this, I need to know too.” Zamira placed her hands on her hips, fire in her eyes as she watched him.
“She’s right,” Juan added.
Damn it.“I know. I just wanted to talk to Juan about getting protective details on the rest of your family. I didn’t want to worry you more.”
“I’m already worried. For them, for my kids.” Her face paled slightly, then she straightened. “But that doesn’t mean I want to be kept in the dark. I deserve to know exactly what’s going on.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” He looked back at Juan. “We need people on all of her family members that are local.”
“Already done—Lizzy Caldwell was there when shit went down. She’s already called Porter. Security is being handled and it’s on the house apparently. Angel’s got two of the best at her bakery, which is the only reason I’m not racing down there now. Clarita, Carlos and the kids are at Mila and Lyosha’s with a couple Red Stone guys—and his place is a fortress anyway—and Flora is at her boyfriend’s.”
Zamira simply raised her eyebrows at the mention of her mom, but didn’t respond to the last part, though it was clear the boyfriend was a surprise.
“Good. Then I’m going to call Ryba.” Dimitri’s instinct was to handle this alone, to do it in his office, but Zamira was right—she needed to be part of this. Pulling out his burner, he made the call and wasn’t surprised when Ryba picked up immediately.
“You fucked up,” Dimitri growled.
“Fuck you,” Ryba snapped. “We meet today at a place of my choice.”
