Chapter 15
Black Friday had been a hit for Dmitry's Closet. Royal,
Renée and Cory nearly emptied their summer collection as
well as their clearance fall items. The boutique had been
crowded since it opened early that morning and had kept a
constant flow of traffic the entire day. Now, as the night
settled in, Cory escorted the last customer to her car while
Royal counted down the drawer. Suddenly, the phone rang.
Renée answered, listened to the caller and quickly brought
the phone over to Royal.
"Who is it," Royal asked, trying not to lose count of the
large wad of money in her hand.
"Dmitry," Renée answered, putting the phone to Royal‟
s ear.
"Hello," Royal said, putting the money down.
"I‟ll be late coming home," Dmitry said, shifting gears
in his car. "I‟ve got couple of more things to handle."
"Okay, baby." Royal could since trouble in his voice.
"What‟s wrong?"
"Nothing," Dmitry said quickly.
"Are you sure?"
"Dah," Dmitry said, focused on the streets as drove
quickly down the winding back path of Main Street to his
brother‟s house.
"Okay," Royal sighed. "I‟ll see you later then."
"Is everything cool?" Renée asked, as Royal hung up the
phone.
"Yeah. He‟s just busy." She looked up as Cory walked
back in the front door. "Lock the door," she ordered as she
picked up the money again. "I have to hurry up with this.
Anatoly will be here in a minute to pick it up."
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"Man, we made a killing," Renée said, astonished at the
huge wad of money.
"I know, girl. This is only one handful. I‟ve got a ton
of credit card receipts, checks…everything."
"Anatoly isn‟t here yet?" Cory asked, looking for Royal‟s
bodyguard.
"He just called and said that he was on his way." Royal
said, counting the money out. "Give me a minute. I just
need to make sure that this is right." She counted out the
money quickly and bagged it with the receipt. "Damn, that
is the most we‟ve made since we opened."
Just then Anatoly came in the back door in a black suit.
Everyone watched on amazed. All anyone had ever seen
Anatoly wear were jeans and t-shirts. Never a suit. Now,
he looked a lot like his father.
Cory looked at him suspiciously as Anatoly passed him.
He made his way to the cash register with Royal and walked
behind the counter.
"You look nice," she said smiling. "What‟s the occasion?"
She held the bag of money in her hand.
"No occasion." He reached for the bag.
"Bullshit." Royal pulled the bag away. "What gives?"
Anatoly reached over without a smile and scowled at
Royal. "Give me bag, woman."
"Tell me what gives," Royal smiled. "You look like a
million bucks. I wish that Dmitry could see this. He‟d be
so proud."
"Spasiba," he said, growling. "Now, give me bag."
"Oh, alright," Royal said, finally giving in. He took the
bag carefully out of her hand and smiled at little at her.
"You really think it looks nice."
"I think you look dreamy," Royal said smiling. "Really."
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Remembering himself, Anatoly cleared his voice. "I
have to go. Make sure that someone escorts you to car."
"I will. I know the drill," Royal said, waving as he
walked off.
"He cleans up good," Renée said, watching him walk
away. "I never realized how buff he is."
"I know, right." Cory said, chiming in. "Too bad he‟s
not swinging for the other team."
"You never know," Renée added.
"So, do you want to try on the new stuff that just came
in from Milan?" Royal said, quickly changing the subject. It
made her incredibly uncomfortable for the two of them to
talk about Anatoly. For some reason, she was very protective
of him, even though she was sure that he could take
care of himself.
"Oh, girl. I almost forgot." Renée said, grabbing her
purse. "Let‟s go."
"I‟ve got some stuff in the back. Let‟s close up shop
here and go upstairs," Royal said, hitting the lights.
When a new shipment of clothes came in, Royal and her
staff always played dress up before they put the clothes on
the racks. While Renée could barely afford the clothes,
even with her fifty percent discount, Royal would seriously
look at the clothes and buy the ones she thought were
extremely complimentary to her body type. Cory always
chimed in with advice on fit and look. While he was not a
woman, he was a gay shopkeeper with excellent taste that
both ladies valued dearly.
They all went quickly up to Royal‟s old apartment and
set the clothes out on the couch in the living room. Royal
poured a glass of wine for each of them and stood by the
fireplace laughing as they talked.
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"Okay. So, do you want to try on the new Dolce or the
new Armani?" Renee asked, salivating at the prospect.
"Um, definitely the Armani for me," Royal said, unbuttoning
her shirt. Taking off her shirt and sliding off her
jeans, she stood in only g-string panties and a black lace bra.
Renée walked over and passed her the black Armani dress.
Cory sat sipping his wine and quietly watching on.
There were some perks of pretending to be gay, like watching
women strip nearly naked in front of him. He sat on the
couch watching carefully as Royal slipped her long bare legs
into the dress.
Royal was absolutely beautiful. She had gotten undressed
in front of him a hundred times, and with every
inspection of her body, he‟d never seen one flaw. He found
her fascinating and breathtaking, and if he weren‟t married
and Dmitry not a cold hearted killer, he would have definitely
pursued her.
Renée had slipped and told him once that Royal was
virgin before getting with Dmitry, which explained his
boss‟s obsessive behavior and his constant protection of
her. The news had hit him like a ton of bricks. It also gave
him a new found respect for her. As beautiful as she was,
she could have had any man or anything that she wanted
long ago, but judging her choice for a first, she would have
that anyway.
"Cory, zip me up," Royal ordered backing up to him as
he sat looking at her exposed rear end.
After a few sips of wine, he felt like slapping her on the
ass and leaning her over the end of the couch. Instead, he
stood up behind her and zipped her up slowly, taking in the
sweet smell of her perfume and soft fragrance in her hair.
Dmitry doesn‟t deserve you, he thought.
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"There you go, girlie," he said, tapping her hip. "Slow
down on the Twinkies. You‟re getting wide."
"You really think so?" Royal asked, touching her hips.
"Do I look really wide?"
Cory sat back down and looked at her rear again. "Oh
yeah." He took another sip of his wine.
Bone chilling winds whipped through the riverside as
Dmitry pulled up and parked his car in the front of the
luxury loft apartments overlooking the Mississippi River on
Front Street. He made his way up the long stairwell quickly
with long forceful strides.
Arriving at the front door, Dmitry was greeted by two
armed men who moved hurriedly to let him in and most
importantly move out of his way. He walked in and made
them stay outside guarding the door. The loft was empty
with loud music blaring from the Bose surround sound. He
closed the door and locked it behind him.
Walking softly across the hardwood floors, Dmitry
slipped up the stairwell leading towards the music to a halfopened
door. He pushed the door open with his index
finger. The bedroom was dark, illuminated by large candles
and a large king-sized bed under a wall-to-wall window
where Ivan lay with three women. One small blonde had
straddled his chest and was kissing his mouth. The other
small brunette had her back to the blonde and was bent
down sucking wildly on his penis. The third woman lay
beside the three of them, visibly high and disoriented.
Dmitry walked into the room and closed the door. Instantly,
all four looked at him. He took off his coat and
rolled up the sleeves to his shirt. He smiled at the women
and with a nod, walked up to the bed.
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"Dmitry, what the fuck are you doing here?" Ivan
asked, pushing the short women off of his body. "Here,
you can have one if you like. I knew that Royal must not be
too exciting," he laughed. "Good girls never are."
"Speaking of Royal, I heard that you paid her a visit last
night while she was a little indisposed as well. Figured, I‟d
return the favor," Dmitry smirked.
Ivan gave a devilish grin and lifted his brow. Utter defiance
in his rebellious manner.
Dmitry acted quickly. With the force of all his might,
he plunged his fist into Ivan‟s face, punching him with
precision, busting open his mouth and the side of his eye.
Afraid, the women ran quickly to the other side of the
room, except for the drunken redhead whom Dmitry threw
out of his way as he snatched Ivan up. She fell to the floor
and rolled under the bed where she stayed.
"Get your fucking hands off me," Ivan said, trying to
push Dmitry. He punched back, but Dmitry penned him
down, pulled out the butt of his gun and punched him again
in his face. The sound of the gun made a blood wrenching
sound. When Ivan finally submitted, stopped moving like a
smart victim under a bear‟s attack, Dmitry stopped. Breathing
hard he stepped away and wiped the blood from his
face.
His voice was steady and low. "If I ever catch you near
her again, I‟ll kill you." Dmitry said, spitting.
The room was deathly still, music blared from the
sound system. Dmitry turned from Ivan‟s naked, bloody
body. He calmed himself. He caged the beast before he
could spring forth.
The women screamed as he approached, afraid not only
of the bleeding man but of the bloody giant in front of
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them breathing heavily with the gun in his hand. Their
screeching voices irritated Dmitry.
"Shut up you fucking dumb bitches," Dmitry screamed,
pointing the gun at them. "Get up and get the fuck out of
here." They ran quickly to the door, naked and afraid,
down the hall out of his site.
Dmitry turned and looked back at Ivan. "And you,
brother…"He grinded his teeth. "Get dressed and bring
your fucking ass downstairs so that I can talk to you about
your little whorehouse experiment." His voice was now
calm and virtually quiet.
Bloody, Ivan smiled cunningly and stood up. His
naked body mirrored that of his brother, with not as many
tattoos but just as many muscles. He grabbed his sheets
and wiped the blood out of his face. "So that‟s what you‟re
angry about?" He spat on the ground.
"The whorehouse? Hell, I‟ll cut you in. It‟s not making
much yet, but it will." He slipped on a pair of jeans and
walked in front of Dmitry, who guided him with the nickelplated
Glock down the stairs.
"I knew you‟d be trouble when I laid eyes on you."
"Do you want drink?" Ivan asked, walking into the
black kitchen.
"No," Dmitry said, looking at Ivan‟s home. "You live
like shit." He cringed at the urban-like interior with exposed
brick, black on black furniture and black appliances.
"You sound like fag. Everyone can‟t live like king in a
big fucking palace," Ivan said, pouring a glass of vodka. "I
think you knocked my tooth loose." He rubbed his index
finger across his shaky front tooth.
"Good," Dmitry said, putting his gun back in his holster.
He sat at the center island on a bar stool and looked at
Ivan still bleeding badly.
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"How did you find out? I‟m so curious."
"It‟s my city. How did you expect me not to find out?"
Dmitry asked.
"I just wanted to prove to you that my plan could be
lucrative first."
"You just wanted to find something that you knew
would make money fast without the Vory finding out."
Ivan leaned over the island with the icepack to his head.
"It had to be a cop who told you, eh? Come on. Tell me."
"I am not without my resources." Dmitry sighed. "Get
the girls out of that house tonight. Don‟t fucking kill them
either. Give them few dollars and send them on their way.
Burn the house down, just in case there is something
incriminating there. Make sure it looks like accident, or I‟ll
make you look like one."
"I get the feeling that you don‟t like me."
"Really? What gave you that impression?"
"You think that Royal will leave you for me? She probably
thinks that you‟re boring. All you ever do is mope
around lamenting because of your pitiful conscious."
Dmitry hit back. "I know of at least one person I‟m not
sorry for killing."
"Is that all?" Ivan asked irritated. The very mention of
her got under his skin.
Dmitry knew he had put Ivan in his place. "No that is
not all. I‟ll figure out what I‟m going to do with you soon
enough. For now, just make sure that you have the usual
percentage into me at the next meeting, plus an additional
thirty percent for my troubles."
"That‟s nearly all of it," Ivan scoffed.
"Good idea. Why don‟t I just take all of it," Dmitry said
with his voice rising slightly.
There was a long silence.
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"And as far as Royal…" Dmitry shifted in his seat.
"How was I supposed to know that she was in there?"
"You went looking for her?"
"I was checking out the place."
"Stop before you start, Ivan. I know you. You were
casing the place and looking for her."
"You have me all wrong," Ivan said, spiting blood into
the sink.
"I doubt that very seriously," Dmitry said, looking over
at him expressionless. "Less you forget that I was the only
father that you‟ve ever known. There are things that I still
know about you…like when you‟re lying to me."
"Well then, you were horrible father."
Dmitry ignored him. "As far as Royal, you consider this
your only warning. Any more pursuing her, and I don‟t
even have to tell you what I‟ll do."
"No, brother. You‟ve made it very clear," Ivan scowled.
"Good." Dmitry stood up and took a deep breath.
"No one told you to come here. You just have to accept it
for what it is." He grabbed a towel and wiped the blood
from his white shirt and slipped back on his tweed jacket.
"Don‟t get up. I‟ll see myself out."
"Do that," Ivan said, rolling his eyes.