Chapter Eight

The door chimes rang as Renee came into the restaurant. Nodding at Nadiya, the head hostess, she made her way to the bar, where she lazily plopped down on the leather stool, laid her purse on the bar and ordered a drink.

Vasily eyed her quietly, knowing that her presence would be the very water in the oil of the moment that wouldn’t mix well for Anatoly. Making his way across the room to her, he stepped in her view of the back table where his boss sat with Destiny.

“I see you take early lunch today,” Vasily said, raising his finger for the bartender to come over.

“Hey Vasily.” Renee barely looked up. “I just needed a break. We’ve been busy all day,” she said with a huff. “What about you? Anatoly isn’t running you around like crazy today?” She looked over at him.

“He’s cooking and around the restaurant,” he explained. “Why don’t I get you seat in comfortable spot.”

“I’m fine here. I’m waiting on someone,” she explained. She nodded her head. Anatoly couldn’t be far if Vasily was nearby.

“You have girlfriend to meet today?” Vasily asked.

Renee looked at him curiously. “No,” she said tilting her head. “Why?”

“No reason.” Taking his eyes off her, he looked in the mirror behind the bar and eyed his boss. He was still laughing and talking. It was going to be hard to get the word to him that Renee was here without her seeing Destiny.

Renee covertly followed his gaze. Plus, she could smell the distinct, rancid odor of cigarette smoke clouding the restaurant. Tennessee law prohibited smoking in public restaurants. The only person brazen enough to do it had to be Anatoly.

Moving back away from the bar and out of Vasily’s way, she looked over and saw him smiling and laughing with the reporter from the magazine. His broad back faced her.

“Figures,” she said, sitting back up. She looked over at Vasily and crooked her full lips. “I don’t know why you’re hiding him, Vasily. We aren’t dating, you know.”

Vasily did not respond.

“I don’t care what he does,” she said aloud.

Vasily cocked his brow. Moving of her way, he uttered something in Russian and walked over to his boss.

Anatoly leaned back from the table to listen to his bodyguard, then nodded.

Destiny put down her shot glass and swallowed hard. The man’s entire exterior changed instantly. He was suddenly guarded. Pushing his seat back, he stood up and put out his cigarette.

“I’ll be back,” he said with a joker-like grin.

“I’ll be here,” she said flirting.

Renee was thumbing through a magazine and drinking a glass of tea when he came up behind her. He knew that she felt him close to her back, but she didn’t look up or move.

“Ana, what do you want?” she finally asked, closing the magazine. “Don’t you have enough to do with little Miss Muppet over there?” she asked, trailing her eyes over his chest before she locked in on his gleaming blue prisms.

“You never like anyone, Renee. I’m not surprised. You try to be my mother,” he said, sitting down beside her. “Just because she’s dead, doesn’t mean you have to move right into the position.”

The bartender quickly put a glass of water in front of him. Without acknowledging the worker, he picked up the glass and gulped down the water, chasing the vodka he had just drunk.

Renee watched him swallow then continued, “I’m not trying to be your mother,” she said unreadable. “I just know trouble when I see it.” Her eyebrow raised and to add insult to injury, she turned and looked over the woman who eyed them both. “Anyway, I didn’t come here to see you.”

“Oh, well then who?”

“I came over here to meet Cory. He called just a little while ago and asked me over here to catch up.”

“Cory?”

“Yeah, you remember, the once gay, undercover cop who used to be my friend,” she said sarcastically.

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m here to find out. Maybe he just wants to see me. Did you ever think of that?”

Heat formed at the base of his neck. “He’s married, you know,” Anatoly said, forgetting all about the woman waiting on him. “And he’s a pig.”

“There is nothing wrong with cops,” Renee admonished. “Well, maybe for me, there’s not,” she retracted. She rolled her eyes. “Look, if it’s a problem, I can’t meet him somewhere else. He was the one who wanted to have lunch here. I didn’t see -”

Anatoly cut her off. “Here is fine. Better here than away where he can try to be a fucking snake.”

Renee whirled her long straw around in her glass. “Are you still uptight about your sister’s letter?”
Her question disarmed him. He looked away, trying not to be as transparent as he felt at that very moment. “Why don’t you try staying out of my business for one damned day,” he snapped.

Renee rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

He huffed and stood up. “I have someone waiting on me. Enjoy your lunch.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Renee said, pushing the glass away from her. She didn’t look over at him. She knew it would give him too much satisfaction. Hearing his footsteps move away from her, she glanced up at the television mounted on the wall.

Anatoly went back to Destiny, who sat obediently waiting. His mind was on the woman at the bar, but his hunger was for the woman in front of him. Why was he surrounding himself with black women? He was getting more and more like his father by the day. The thought crossed his mind out of the blue and a frown suddenly colored his dark features.

“Something wrong?” Destiny asked.

Anatoly’s eye twitched. “No.” He gave a clever smile. “So, I’ve got a lot to do here before tonight.”

“And you want to wrap up our lunch, right?” She interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

“Right,” he said, raising his brow. “But we’ll pick up where we left off tonight.”

“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I want to have dinner with you, but breakfast is...”

“Negotiable,” he said with a stern face. “I’m not a regular guy. If you want regular guy, you should go somewhere else. If you want good time, no string attached, you come see me.”

“And where are the regular guys in this city?” she smiled.

“I don’t know one,” he laughed.

“You may be a no-strings attached type of guy,” she licked her lips. “And I’m okay with that. But we go at my speed.”

“I can deal with that,” he said in a low, seductive tone. “But trust me when I say, you’ll want to accelerate things along.”

“Really,” she smirked as she grabbed her purse and stood up.

“Really,” Anatoly replied. He didn’t bother to get up. Instead, he watched her as she walked off.

“See you tonight,” Destiny said, looking over at Renee as she passed.

Cory eyed Destiny from the corner as she walked out the front door. Shortly after Anatoly had walked away enee, he had walked in and got them a more private place to talk.

Now Renee sat visibly sulking.

“You look amazing,” he said, noting her weight loss.

“Thanks,” Renee looked up from her empty plate. “This diet sucks, but the doctor says that I’ll get used to it.”

“Lifestyle changes are never easy,” he said, grabbing the menu.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Cory sighed. “Well, I wanted to apologize to you after all of these years for deceiving you and gaining your trust just to disappear.” He put the menu back down.

“You’re a cop. You don’t owe me an explanation. I don’t see why after three years, you’d call me out of the blue to apologize at the very restaurant that started all of this.”

Renee was quicker than he expected. He imagined that the Medlov’s had kept her around because of her knowledge of their inner workings and because of her relationship with Royal. He had been told that she didn’t know that the woman was alive. Without asking, he was certain that she was still grieving for her. Renee was that type of person.

“Well, you’ve been on my mind for three years,” he said with a smile.

Renee didn’t smile back. She picked up the menu to order and as she was about to ask another question, she smelled Anatoly’s cologne. Looking back, she saw him only feet away.

“Cory, you remember Anatoly, don’t you?” she asked as she turned back in her seat.

“How could I forget?” Cory said, eyeing his old adversary.

“You have a lot of balls to come here,” Anatoly said with his arms folded.

A couple sitting across from the unfolding event stopped talking and watched the confrontation.

“Well, I just wanted to see Renee and apologize,” Cory said with a stern glare. “I was hoping to catch up.”

Anatoly’s face reddened. “Renee is now the shop manager. She’s lost about thirty pounds and she’s single, but you’re married, so there’ll be no fucking around.”

“Ana!” Renee admonished.

“So now you’re caught up. So take a hike,” Anatoly said, ignoring Renee.

Renee rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse. Standing up, she turned to see Vasily standing behind Anatoly awaiting her. With a nod, he extended his arm, indicating that it was time to take her away. Without bothering to excuse herself properly, she stormed past Anatoly and followed Vasily out of he restaurant.

Anatoly walked over to Renee’s chair and sat down.

“It was the only way that I could see you quickly,” Cory said under his breath.

“I have a leak.”

“You have a leak,” Cory nodded. “And the woman who just walked out of here is a cop.”

Anatoly almost laughed. “Destiny?”

“Yes.” Cory looked around the restaurant to observe anyone who might see them talking.

“Fucking figures.” Anatoly shook his head. “Okay.”

Cory stood up. “Okay.” He tapped the table with his knuckles. “So, I’ve done my part?”

“Da, we’re good.”

Cory nodded and walked away.

As Cory left Mother Russia, a grave feeling overcame him. He thought that he’d gotten away from all of this, yet here he was. When he had first committed to the Vory, specifically to Dmitry, he thought that after the Medlov’s went to Prague, he would be free. However, there had been a constant stream of requests by the family. Little pieces of information on both cops and convicts were always needed. And if the FBI special agent Sorrello didn’t provide it, he had to. It seemed like he would always be in debt to them. A part of him wished for nothing more than the entire family to be caught, but he knew he wasn’t the man to bring them down.

***

Anatoly felt like screaming, but he sat at the table alone digesting his disgusting situation. He had mole in his organization, and while he bet that it was Victoria, it could very well be Renee. He had a cop posing as a reporter to get close to him. He had a cousin who dropped out of the sky and was now trying to get in with his father and get a piece of his money. His council felt he was too young for the job. And his father probably felt like he was incompetent.

How did Dmitry do it for so long? How did he deal with the constant backstabbing and the utter betrayal of it all?

Vasily walked over and sat across the table from him. He knew that whatever Cory said to Anatoly was serious. Awaiting an order, he pushed back in the chair.

“That bitch is a cop,” Anatoly said blankly.

“The reporter?”

“Da.”

“What do you want to do about it?”

“I’m supposed to meet her tonight.”

“A set up?”

“How? I haven’t told her anything. Since she wants an inside track, I’ll give her one,” he smiled. “Vasily, do you ever get the taste for blood in your mouth, in your spirit?”

“Often enough.”

“Well, I have it now. I’m so angry, I could kill the whole world. There’s a mole inside the organization. My father seems to think that it’s a black woman.”

“Not Renee,” Vasily said disgusted.

“I hope not. But if I find out that it is, I don’t know if I can do it.”

“I’ll do it,” Vasily nodded.

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. There’s a little cunt in Italy who may be up to her old tricks again,” Anatoly said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Call Agent Sorrello’s fat ass. Tell him you need everything you can get on Destiny Palmer before tonight.”

“Yes, boss,” Vasily said, excusing himself.