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CHAPTER ONE
FRANK SINATRASINGING “My Way” startled Prince Dimitri from his perusal of the United Mining contract.
It was the most important deal of his career to date. Dimitri wasn’t going to allow a single poorly worded sentence to remain in the entire thirty-two-page document.
He tapped the screen on his phone, accepting the video call before the crooner started singing again. “Isn’t this a little early for you?” he asked by way of greeting to his middle brother.
Konstantin and his wife made their home in Seattle, a time zone three hours behind his in New York.
His brother made a scoffing sound, his expression disbelieving. “It’s only seven thirty a.m. over there, but there you are, in your office, chained to your desk already.”
Dimitri shrugged. “So? I would have thought you would still be in bed with your lovely wife.”
He had no wife and children to keep him in his sleek penthouse apartment through breakfast, much less in bed once he’d woken. Dimitri had been in his office since six a.m. and would no doubt still be here at six p.m. His executive assistant and their team would show up at eight a.m. These hours on his own, without interruptions, were usually some of his most productive.
“You need a life outside work,” his brother chided.
Dimitri leaned back in his chair, working the kinks out of his neck. “Being older doesn’t give you license to play agony aunt.”
Even on the small phone screen, his brother’s offence showed clearly in his expression. “I am no one’s agony aunt, but I am your big brother, and you should listen to me. Wisdom comes with age, you know.”
“You’re a whole eight years older. Hardly a generation,” Dimitri scoffed.
“Dima, I’m serious.” Kon was no longer smiling but looking concerned. “You need a life outside your job.”
“I go to the gym six days a week.” He broke his day up with exercise and strength training midmorning. “I have my triathlons.”
He was highly competitive, but all that training had to have a purpose, and Dimitri competed in triathlons throughout the year.
“If you were on a team, that might mean something, but you’re an independent competitor.”
“It is still something besides work.”
“You were such a friendly child, but you’ve grown up to be such an isolationist.”
“We all grow up eventually.” Dimitri had reveled in his role as youngest son and prince, making friends easily and being a hell of a lot more social than he was now, until he’d entered the military.
Unlike his older brothers who had served in roles that would not put them in active danger, as the youngest son, Dimitri had been allowed to see combat. That time had changed him. Losing his best friend and other comrades to the violence of war had changed him. Losing the woman he thought he would marry had changed him.
The lesson he’d started learning at the age of six when he lost his mother to cancer had solidified in his twenties. Life was about loss.
The more people you let into your life, the more people you lost.
It was that simple. The profit and loss statement was heavily balanced in one direction.
He let no one else in. His potential for emotional pain was minimized.
“How are the boys?” Dimitri asked, when his brother didn’t immediately get to the point of his early morning phone call.
His nephew, Valentin, was six and half years younger than brother Mikhail, who was now nine. Having learned from one of the best, Konstantin’s son was just as good an older brother as his father had always been to Dimitri.
Dimitri had lucked out with both of his older siblings, not that he would ever admit that to either of them.
“Mishka is frighteningly mature for his age, and Valentin is never happier than when he is exploring.” Pride rang loud and clear in Konstantin’s voice. “They both miss their uncle.”
“I will schedule a trip to Seattle soon.”
“That is the hope.”
