He gave them a sad smile. “The problem with wealth and power is someone always wants to take them from you. I have learned to be prepared for anything. My son joining forces with my sworn enemies, my ex-wife’s family, that I wasn’t prepared for.”
At the sound of the front door closing, he raised his voice. “Miranda darling, you look like you could use a glass of wine.”
Ellie saw Adrian and Richard’s shadows on the wall only seconds before they appeared in the living room. Which meant she’d have very little time to warn Dimitri when Nate eventually arrived.
“Ah, there you are,” Dimitri said. “What can I get you? The ladies and I are having a glass of wine. Will you join us?”
Adrian frowned, looking from Ellie to her mother to his father. His expression relaxed as he walked into the room. Dimitri’s genial smile must have put him at ease. “I’ll have a whiskey, Papa.”
“I’ll have the same, Dimitri. Thank you,” Richard said.
“Ladies first.” He brought Ellie and her mother each a glass of wine. “Taste it, Ellie, and be sure it’s to your liking.”
She brought the glass to her mouth and took a sip. “It’s lovely, thank you.”
“Now, your drinks, and then we shall talk. Please, sit. Take your papa’s chair, Adrian. You can take the one beside him, Richard.”
The seating arrangement placed both men at the far end of the living room.
Dimitri picked up a crystal decanter and poured three fingers of whiskey into each of the old-fashioned glasses as if the situation weren’t fraught with danger.
“Why are you looking at my papa like that?” Adrian asked Ellie.
She shrugged. “Just curious. He’s the man my mother fell in love with when she was married to my father. I guess I’m wondering why.” Her mother sank lower on the sectional and Dimitri winced. She didn’t mean to hurt them but she thought maybe the affair would give her and Adrian something to commiserate over. She needed to buy time. “Don’t tell me you weren’t curious when you met my—”
“Shut your mouth,” Adrian snarled.
Okay, so that was a terrible idea.
Dimitri calmly walked over to where Adrian and Richard sat in the armchairs, set both whiskeys on the table between them, and then slapped his son across the face. “Do not ever speak to a woman that way again.”
As his father turned to walk away, Ellie saw Adrian reach inside his jacket for his gun. “Dimitri!”
Ellie threw herself in front of her mother. Father and son had drawn on each other.
“What the hell are you waiting for, Richard?” Adrian yelled, and that’s when Ellie realized Adrian must have given Richard her gun when they were talking outside, a gun he was now pointing directly at her.
But he was scared, so scared that she could clearly read his mind. He’d never held a gun before, let alone shot someone. He wanted to though. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of her.
Her mother sobbed into her hands, terrified that she would lose the only man she had ever truly loved. She was scared for Ellie too. She loved her. Focus, Ellie told herself.
She had to get through to Richard. He hated her, but he did love her sister. However twisted that love might be. “Adrian’s using you, Richard. He’s been using you all along. You see what he’s capable of, holding a gun on his own father because he’s gotten in the way of his ambition. What do you think he would do to Bri? She’s his sister, Richard.”
“No, it can’t be true.” He lowered his gun. “Adrian—”
“It is true. Brianna is my daughter,” Dimitri said. “Like you, Richard, I found out today. But my son…How long have you known, Adrian?”
“A week after Mama died,” he spit the words at his father. Then his lips twisted in a semblance of a smile. “Too bad you’ll never know her. I guess I have you to thank for that, Richard.”
Ellie took her sobbing mother’s hand. “Don’t listen to him. Bri’s not going to die, Mom. She’s strong. She—”
“It’s not my fault, Dimitri. I didn’t push her. I didn’t!” he said when Adrian laughed. But Richard was focused on Dimitri, who moved his gun between him and his son.
“Look at you, all protective Papa now.” Adrian sneered. “How far would you go to protect her, I wonder?”
“I would do anything to protect her.”
“Good. Perhaps this won’t have to end in bloodshed after all. I’m sure you ladies would also do anything to protect his bastard daughter, wouldn’t you?”
Ellie wanted to yell at him for calling her sister a bastard, but she kept her mouth closed and nodded. Her mother did the same.
“And you, Richard, will you keep your mouth shut?”
He gave a jerky nod. “Yes, of course. I’ll do anything you say.”
“Your silence is all I want, and yours,” Adrian said to Ellie and her mother. “As for you, Papa, you will sign everything over to me. Everything. We’ll see if your lover still wants you when you have nothing.”
Ellie thought she heard the creak of the front door opening. She’d moved to the other end of the sectional to protect her mother, so she could no longer see down the hall. She opened her mind. Nate and his team were here.
Dimitri’s back was to her. “Miranda!” Ellie patted her mother’s cheek, relieved when her mother closed her eyes and let her head drop forward as though she had fainted.
“I will not allow you to use my company to funnel drugs!” Dimitri roared, no doubt in an effort to keep his son’s focus on him and cover the sounds of their rescuers’ arrival. “You will have to kill me first.”
“That can be arranged,” Adrian said, aiming his gun at his father’s head.
“You would shoot me, Adrian? Your own papa. Why?”
“She destroyed our family. You don’t care about me anymore. You don’t care about the company. You only care about her.” Adrian rubbed the gun over his sweaty forehead. “I wanted to rip her family apart like she did ours, but instead, I brought you back together.”
“And what is your excuse for going into business with your uncle behind my back?”
“You treat me like your flunky. He doesn’t. He respects me.”
“He doesn’t respect you. He’s using you to get to me!” Dimitri shouted as he raised his gun. “You underestimate me if you think I won’t pull the trigger. You have betrayed me. You are in bed with your mother’s family. You are in the drug trade.”
A flash of movement outside caught her eye. It was Nate. He was half-hidden behind the patio’s stone retaining wall, a rifle aimed at Adrian. She tore her gaze away, afraid she’d alert Adrian to his presence.
“FBI, drop your weapons!” a familiar voice yelled. It was Chase.
Adrian stared at his father. “You knew. You knew they were coming, didn’t you?” He didn’t wait for an answer, instead jumping to his feet.
“It’s over, Son. Please drop your gun. I don’t want to lose you. Please.” Dimitri stepped back from Adrian and placed his gun on the floor. Richard did the same and then raised his hands in the air.
Adrian swung his gun toward Ellie. “Get up. Get up now or I’ll shoot your mother.” He took a step toward them. He was going to use her as a hostage. Ellie glanced at her gun on the floor by Richard’s feet. Adrian must have sensed what she planned to do because he rushed forward, lunging for her arm.