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“So, your uncle came to see me today.”
All the color drained from Dmitri’s face. He completely stopped moving. He seemed to even stop breathing. I recounted the meeting quickly and concisely, leaving nothing out. When I finished talking, he was still for another long moment.
And then he growled, “That fucking son of a bitch.”
In the next instant he was dashing out of the kitchen and down the hall, to an office I’d never been in. “Dmitri, wait,” I said, catching up to him as he pushed aside a panel in the wall.
Behind the panel was an arsenal of weapons.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed, at the sight of enough fire power to take over a small nation.
He plucked a big semiautomatic hand gun from the wall and checked the clip. Panic welled up in me. “Dmitri, stop. We have to talk about this.”
“No. This isn’t a time for talking, it’s a time for action. That motherfucker does not threaten you and get away with it.” His voice was a low growl.
“So, what do you think you’re going to do? March into his office and murder him in cold blood? Awesome. Then I get the privilege of hauling you to prison, where you’ll spend the rest of your life. That’ll all work out fucking great.”
“Don’t follow me and you won’t have to arrest me,” he said.
“Seriously, Dmitri? I’m a fucking cop. Do you think there’s any way in hell I’d let you walk out of here to commit murder?”
“Who says I’m planning to kill him? I’m just going to talk to him.”
“Then what’s the gun for?”
“Holding his attention.” Dmitri looked at me levelly, his eyes burning with a raw intensity.
“This isn’t you, Dmitri. You’re scaring the shit out of me right now, and I really need you to put the gun down and talk to me.”
“But this is me,” he said, breaking my gaze. “This is what I am. Don’t you know that, Jamie? Don’t you know that you’re involved with a criminal?”
“You’re not a criminal,” I said, stepping forward so I was standing directly in front of him.
I grabbed his chin to force him to look at me, and he pulled away and tried to step around me as he said, “I have to go.”
I pushed him up against the wall, pinning him with my hands on his shoulders, and growled, “No!” He blinked at me, his gaze defiant, and I said, “I love you, Dmitri. And because I love you, I am not going to let you do this. Even if it means arresting you to stop you.”
He stared at me for a long moment, and then a single tear snaked down his cheek. And he whispered, “I have to protect you.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not like this.”
“It’s the only way I know to keep you safe.”
“This isn’t keeping me safe. This is jeopardizing our entire future.”
“I wasn’t going to kill him,” he said. “I just was going to scare him, force him to back off.”
“That’s not how we’re going to handle this.” I removed the gun from his grasp and set it on the desk behind me.
“This is all I know: violence, and threats, and being stronger than your opponent. I don’t know another way.”
“You’re better than this,” I told him gently.
“What if I’m not?”
I grabbed him in a huge hug, crushing him to me as I said, “Trust me, baby. You’re so much better than this. And there is absolutely another solution to our problem besides violence.”
He was shaking in my arms, crying silently. “I’m sorry, Jamie,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh, it’s ok.” I held him tightly and stroked his hair.
After a few minutes he let go of me, self-consciously turning away as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “God, I’m such a fucking disaster,” he murmured. “I can’t begin to imagine why you put up with me.”
I said softly, “You know I love you, Dmitri.”
“I love you, too.”
“Come with me, let’s get a drink.” I led him to the kitchen and deposited him on a barstool before pouring a double shot of vodka and handing it to him.
Dmitri was shaking so hard that it took both hands to bring the vodka to his lips. He drank it down, and I took the glass from him and gently brushed his hair back from his face. When he looked up at me, his eyes were brimming with fear and sadness. And he whispered, “I don’t know what to do, Jamie. I don’t know how to stop my uncle. I don’t know how to keep him from hurting you.”
I held him in my arms for a while as I made up my mind about something. And then I said, “I thought of someone that might be able to help us with your uncle. Let’s go for a drive.”
