Chapter 4

Rose had been slaving away for most of the day on the papers Dimitri needed for the clients that were coming in later that afternoon. She had skipped lunch, and much to her surprise she wished she hadn't. Her stomach was eating at her backbone, or at least that's the way it felt. She wanted to take a break and grab something but she didn't know where anything was and she didn't have the time to do so. So she punched some more keys and tried to focus, but her mind kept wandering to the people coming in that afternoon.

She knew that it was for a murder case, and the parents of the guy in jail swore he was innocent. Rose wondered if he really was, or if they were just that hopeful. From what she had read in the paper surely the parents would know if their son was that crazy.

The local paper that Rose had managed to snag and read; just so she knew what she was working on, had brutal details on the crime scene. The murderer had killed a teenage girl, five years younger than Rose. She had been stabbed multiple times, strangled, and raped. Rose's stomach turned just at the thought of the nightmare the girl must have gone through. She probably pleaded for death. Rose knew she would have.

Before Rose knew it was almost time for closing. The few appointments that Dimitri had throughout the day had filtered through without much hassle. Of course that was besides the stares and the questions of who she was and why she was there. But she had finally finished with all of work for that day, and wondered when his 'special' clients would be in, so they could be done for the day.

"Rose, come here." Of course it was more of a command than a request, but she complied none the less. The old Rose's anger would have reared its beautiful head and told him that he could take his 'command' and shove it where the sun didn't shine.

She walked into the office, and noticed two grease stained bags, and a smell something close to heaven, or what she thought heaven would smell like. She could smell fries that were cooked to perfection and what she hoped to be a cheeseburger. She started to ask were he got the gold loot from when her stomach gave a harsh growl.

Dimitri's head cocked to the side and a small smile played across his lips, slightly showing his perfect teeth, along with making her heart skip a beat. Rose couldn't help but wonder if a small smile like that could make him even more handsome than he already was; what would a true smile be like? She'd bet anything that it would be devastating, not that she cared though.

"I thought since we skipped lunch we could eat before Mikhail and Sonya arrived." Dimitri walked over to the chair she sat in when she 'interviewed' and stood behind it, waiting expectantly for her to sit down.

"I guess I can't lie about not being hungry now, can I?" Rose felt her face warm slightly at the chivalry he was showing. She'd bet his girlfriend was one happy girl, if he had one.

Rose walked to the chair and sat down as graciously as she could. She never had been very good as the 'lady like' mannerism despite her best efforts.

"So how do you like it here so far?" Dimitri asked as he walked around the desk, sat down and started eating on his fries.

"Alright, I guess. It's different than anything I've done before, but I think I'll like it okay." She dug into the bag and pulled out the cheeseburger, and as neatly as she could, inhaled the entire thing. She prayed she didn't pay for it later, but if luck was on her side she would keep it down.

"What did you do before leaving Portland?" Dimitri was struggling to keep a straight face and not chuckle at the sight of Rose scarfing down her food. He had a hunch that burgers would be a score and it looked like he had hit the nail on the head.

Dimitri thought he seen her grimace a little when he asked. It wasn't that he wanted to make her uncomfortable; he just wanted to know her better. Understand her so to speak. He knew he needed to stay away from her simply for the feeling that it brought out in him.

Since he had moved to the United States he had stayed on the straight and narrow, regardless of the person he used to be in Russia, he couldn't afford to lose himself now, especially to a girl that was mourning her dead boyfriend. Just that thought alone was enough to quell any feeling at the moment. God, what was wrong with him?

"I was a personal trainer. Helped those that couldn't help themselves, kind of thing." Dimitri noted the look in her eye and he knew that she loved what she did. "I was always at the gym, it was like my home. I think back on it now and I never had a bad day at work."

Dimitri saw the faraway look and the smile playing on her lips and he knew she wasn't in the room with him, she was back in Portland. "I guess it was because I could take my frustrations out on a punching bag, or run them out on the treadmill. Probably a good thing too, that way I didn't take it out on any clients."

He saw her shake herself out of the trance like state and frown a little when she realized how much she had told. "Sorry, you don't want to know all that." Rose mumbled

Dimitri wanted to tell her that he did care and he didn't mind listening to her because if he was honest he loved to listen to her voice no matter what she was saying. It slid over his senses and calmed his mind. A mind that was always in turmoil and had been since the night his best friend had been murdered in Russia.

He started to speak and tell her that he truly didn't mind, but a knock on his door made him look up and pause.

Christian's secretary, Natasha, was standing in the door way, looking between Rose and Dimitri with a puzzled expression on her face. "What is it, Natasha?"

She was a tall, slender built woman, with long black hair and blue eyes. Sure she was pretty but she had a nasty personality that turned Dimitri off at every turn. He had went on one date with her not long after Christian hired her, but after she threw herself at him ten minutes into the car ride to the restaurant he decided that he would finish the date and then never take her out again. She, of course, didn't get the hint and continually tried to talk him into going to get a beer or coming over to her house for dinner.

Natasha's continuous look between the two had become a glare, mainly centered on Rose. Dimitri honestly wanted to laugh at the situation, but knew he couldn't. "Natasha?"

Dimitri speaking her name broke the moment and she focused solely on him, her face transforming into a well-practiced smile. "There are a couple people out here that would like to speak with you."

Dimitri nodded and started to clean things up when he saw that Natasha was still standing in the door way. "Is there anything else Tasha?" He knew is tone and character had changed when he spoke to her, but he couldn't help the disgust like feelings that rolled off of him when he looked at her.

At the sound of Dimitri's sharp tone Rose turned around to investigate the other woman in the room. Immediately Rose saw the almost burning hatred in Natasha's eyes. Rose couldn't fathom why this other woman was looking at her like she was a rabid dog that needed to be put down, considering she had never met her before. Rose knew a challenge when she saw one though and stood to make the playing field even. Regardless that Rose had no idea what she was being challenged for, she wouldn't be backing down.

When Rose stood, Natasha looked her up and down, curling her lip for good effect Rose was sure. All Rose could do was smirk in her direction. The quickening of her pulse and as her body warming from irritation caught her off guard. She hadn't felt much of anything let alone anger in so long that she was sure it wasn't coming back any time soon. But why now? Why over this stare down? Especially when she didn't even know what any of it was about.

"Natasha." Dimitri's sharp tone dragged both women out of their haze.

"No." The black headed dog, as Rose dubbed her from now on, answered. "Nothing else." With that she turned with one last flaming glare to Rose and left.

Rose stood rooted in that one spot for a few seconds longer, trying and failing to figure out what had just happened.

Dimitri wanted to give kudos to Rose for the show, considering most girls fled in the other direction when they even spotted Tasha. He felt respect develop in that moment for Rose.

Mikhail and Sonya Tanner had been in Dimitri's office for over an hour pleading their son, Jesse's, case. Dimitri knew the kid was innocent by looking at the police reports and what papers the other attorney had drawn up.

The Tanner's had been using a different defense attorney across town, but the attorney had abruptly dropped the case, telling them that he couldn't help them and it would just be best if they let their son go to prison. They of course hadn't listened and came to Dimitri instead.

Jesse swore to anyone that would listen he didn't do it but knew who did. He accused Victor Dashkov's son, Nate, of killing her.

Victor Dashkov was the most powerful mob boss in the city. Some of the police departments had been trying to bring him down for years, but the officers and their families involved all ended up dead. Dimitri had no thought in his mind whether or not it was really Nate that did kill Mia. He knew it, just as Jesse did.

Nate was one of those guys that thought money, and semi good looks, could get you anything and anyone, including girls. Nate had apparently been harassing Jesse's girlfriend, Mia for weeks prior to the murder. When Mia had finally confessed the she was starting to get scared, Jesse had confronted Nate and told him to back off.

The day after the confrontation between Jesse, and Nate, Jesse had went over to Mia's house and had found her dead, with multiple stab wounds, lying in her own pool of blood. He had immediately called the police and in his hysteria tried to explain what had happened. The police had found the knife lying in the sink, still covered in blood. The police said that Jesse's story just didn't 'add' up and he was the guilty party.

There had been no fingerprints on the knife, and no bodily fluids had been found. Dimitri had a sinking suspicion that there had been both but someone had payed to make it look as if there were none.

"So Mr. Belikov, will you take our son's case? Jesse's a good boy, he loved Mia, he was going to ask her to marry him; I know he didn't kill her. He couldn't do something like that." Sonya look as if she were ready to burst into tears, and Mikhail looked almost as miserable, but Dmitri could see Mikhail was trying to stay strong for Sonya.

Dimitri sighed ands rolled his powerful shoulders, trying to ease some of tension he was feeling. "Yes. I will warn you though; this is not going to be easy. I know without a doubt that Nate killed Mia, but as you know, Victor Dashkov, is a powerful enemy and it won't be easy, some people might get hurt in the process, including yourselves. So I have to ask, are you prepared for such a fight?"

Dimitri loved the idea of taking down one of the most powerful men in the state, and he hoped that this would be the way to do it. He wanted to see that POS rot in hell, but he would settle for prison.

"Yes." There was no hesitation in the answer, Sonya and Mikhail had answered simultaneously.

"Alright. In the next couple of days I will head down to the police department and talk to Jesse. You might want to tell him that I will now be his lawyer, and he is going to have to confide in me if this is going to work, but the answer of whether or not I represent him, will entirely be up to him." Which was true, if Jesse didn't want to cooperate then the case was hopeless.

"We will. Visiting hours are over now, but tomorrow morning I will let him know." Mikhail shook Dimitri's hand, silently thanking him for giving them something that others had failed to give. Hope.

"Rose, are you ready?" Dimitri leaned back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose hoping to ease the headache that had formed while looking over the paperwork and talking with the Tanner's.

"Yup, just shutting down my computer." Her muffled response had him grinning for no apparent reason. Didn't he have a case to think about? Maybe hiring her wasn't such a good idea.

On the way home Rose had been the first to initiate conversation. "Did you take the case?"

Dimitri nodded, adjusting his posture in his driver's seat. "Yeah, hopefully it doesn't get me or anyone else killed in the process."

"What do you mean?" Rose's interest was piqued. The old Rose liked anything dangerous, and daring. But the new Rose just wanted to know for the sake of knowing, or so she kept telling herself.

"I'm dealing with one of the most powerful mob bosses in the state now, maybe even in the country. I'll be lucky to make it to court without getting shot or worse, killed. If that's not enough I have to worry about you, Christian and Lissa."

Dimitri wasn't worried about himself really, he knew his way around a gun and had been training in every mixed martial arts class since he was a kid. He just hoped that it didn't come to him using any of it, but he had a sickening feeling that it would.

Rose shrugged her shoulders, not really caring whether she lived or died at this point, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. "Oh. Well in that case, be careful."

Dimitri barked out a laugh at her insane comment, and heard Rose follow suit.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Dimitri couldn't take it anymore. "So how long are you staying with Christian and Lissa?"

"I'm not really sure. They both have told me numerous times that I am more than welcome to stay as long as I want. I just can't help feel like I'm imposing, you know?" Rose didn't normally open up to people like this, she blamed it on her mind altering grief or on the concussion she sustained in the accident or maybe it was the food coma she felt she was in.

He nodded, "Christian and Lissa both hate the circumstances but they love having you in the house." He paused before continuing, "After your accident, Christian was a mess. I've never seen him like that or Lissa either for that matter. They really do love you, you know."

Rose nodded, frowning. She didn't want to talk about the accident. She didn't want it to even be brought to the front of her mind. She had been doing so good all day to just stay focused on the task at hand; she knew it would be a different story when she got home. "I love them too." She had to choke the last word out because it had stuck in her throat, almost like it got hung on a lump. 'Yeah,' Rose thought bitterly, 'A lump of grief.'

She could feel herself going into a dramatic tailspin, but there was nothing to be done about it. She remembered Mason and his cocky attitude, and how he had loved her with all that he was. She remembered all of the late night talks, all of the arguments, all the good and the bad.

"Pull over." Rose barely choked out.

"What? Why?" Dimitri might have questioned it, but one look at Rose's face and he knew she was going to be sick.

As soon as Dimitri got the truck pulled over, Rose was out dry heaving beside the passenger door and he was right there keeping her thick hair out of harm's way. He didn't know what had brought this on, but he didn't think it had anything to do with getting 'car sick'.

Rose was mortified that he was standing behind her, but she couldn't stop any of the emotion that threatening to consume her. She tried pushing him back and when that failed, she tried half walking half stumbling away from him.

"Forget it, Rose. I'm not going anywhere." And as weird as it was he felt a piece of himself thaw a little on the inside.

He had had this chunk of what seemed like ice inside his body since he lost Ivan and he had tried just about everything to get rid of that awful feeling, and nothing worked. He knew what Rose was going through and it pained him.

Rose was finally done dry heaving, but there was an inky black mass inside her head that was torturing her with images and memories of her past, a past that she missed so much. Before she knew it she had tears leaking down her face and without warning her legs decided that they were no longer an appendage to hold her up, but rather rubber that couldn't hold her weight. She waited for the harsh crack of her tailbone on concrete, but all she felt were two vise like arms wrapping around her and picking her up.

Dimitri carried Rose over to the passenger seat of the truck and sat her in as graciously as he could. "Rose, you have to calm down. This isn't doing you any good; you are going to end up making yourself even worse." He hoped that was he was saying was getting through to her on some level.

Rose remembered where she was at and felt a wave of embarrassment hit her. "I'm sorry." Her voice was hoarse and her throat sore.

"No need to be sorry, you just had me worried." Dimitri wanted to reach out and brush away the tears that were threatening to fall off of her chin, but resisted. He really needed to go and see a therapist. How in the world could he feel something for someone that was sitting in front of him in a miserable heap and it was all caused from a lost lover?

"Come on, let's get you home." He swung her legs over to the front and gave her the seatbelt to fasten, before walking over to the driver's door, mumbling the whole way around the truck about how stupid he was.

So a huge THANK YOU to everyone that is following the 'new' story line and is leaving reviews. Sorry it's been a couple weeks, we are going through a merger at work right now, and being a manager brings a lot of added stress.

A huge thank you to ElEnA-NeNa for the amazing review! I made this one a little longer, hoping that it would make up for my error in not updating as quickly.

Let me know what you think!