Page 27 of Dragon Boss

Please, pick up.

The bedroom door opened, muffled male voices through the closed bathroom door, the bedroom door was shut. Nobody else was in the bedroom, but she stayed in the bathroom. To be honest, this conversation should have been even more private. She felt like she was going behind her father’s back, even if letting Dmitri listen in wasn’t exactly her choice.

“Yes?”

“Otets,” she greeted. Calling him father in Russian usually softened him.

“Alina?”

“I need your help. I can’t speak long. Please send men to Dmitri Kuznetsov’s house. He’s under attack. He and his entire family. They need backup. It’s a hostile takeover. It’s…”

She paused. She hadn’t thought this through. Fuck. There was nothing to do about it. She couldn’t cover up the fact that she was the cause of this.

“It’s Gregor,” she said. “He’s leading an insurrection.”

There was dead silence on the line.

She held her breath, letting her father mull the information over.

“Areyouthere?”

“Please, I don’t have time to explain. They might be monitoring the phone lines. I’ll tell you everything. Just, please, send people.”

“And why would I do that? Are you in any direct danger?”

“Dad.”

“Are you?”

She swallowed. Was she? She hadn’t been physically threatened. Gregor wasn’t here for her; he was here for the Kuznetsovs.

“Dad,please.”

“Get him to call me if he wants to negotiate.”

There was a click.

She stared at the marble wall of the bathroom, icy disappointment pouring itself through her veins as she lowered the phone from her ear. She should have known. The anger flared red hot and all-consuming. She threw the phone at the wall with a cry of frustration. He’d used Zeke to secure a blood bond with the Aslanovs and to get his hands on technology that was sure to bring in billions.

He hadn’t done it for Zeke. Never had he considered Zeke’s welfare, even though he also hadn’t aimed to trap Zeke in a loveless marriage. Alina’s mother had been too convinced that Zeke and Anna were a mating match and, if Alina was honest, she had shared in that conviction. It was the only reason she’d felt comfortable helping her father manipulate her brother into the situation. Still, Semyon Kumarin didn’t take much interest in matters that didn’t directly benefit him.

And his hatred for Vasili ran too deep.

Deeper than any love he might have for his daughter.

She held back the tears that threatened to rise. She wouldn’t be pathetic.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“You okay?” Dmitri asked gently.

No, she thought.I’m not.

Chapter 8 - Dmitri

Alina didn’t answer. Instead, she opened the door. He could tell by the look on her face that the pleading he’d heard on her end of the line hadn’t garnered the fruit she’d hoped. He also had the smashed phone to corroborate that impression.

“I’m sorry,” she said, walking past him to stop in the middle of the room, wrapping her arms around herself with a sigh as she turned to face him. “I thought… I don’t know what I thought.”

---