Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

Brian was a good person, and he didn't deserve heartache any more than she did. 'I'm afraid for you, Brian. Sergei Nikitin heads up the Russian mob. He isn't just a little part of it, he's the top dog. If he believes you're a threat to him, he'll have you killed.'
    Brian stood behind her, staring out the window as well. 'I broke it off with him, made certain he knew I had as much to lose, and he said he wasn't willing to let it go. He said he would never harm me, but the rest of the band wasn't going to be so lucky.' He covered his face with his hands and slid down to the floor. 'That kid. Dean. I think his men killed him because of me - as a warning to me. And then he sent Prakenskii here as a warning that you were next. I don't know what to do, Joley. I couldn't bear it if he had you killed, too.'
    Joley slid to the floor beside him, slinging her arm around, uncaring that his sorrow and fear only compounded her own. 'You know we're going to have to go to the police.'
    'That won't stop him, Joley. You should have seen him when I talked to him. And God help me, I still love him. I had no idea he was a monster. He was as lonely as I was and I think he really cared. I hope that he did. But he flew into a rage when I told him we had to end it.'
    'Is he here in Dallas?'
    'Yes. And he wants me to go to his party tonight after the performance. He said we have to talk, to clear things up. If I don't go, I don't know what he'll do. Logan's got the baby traveling with him and Tish. Denny we can keep from the party, but Rick and Leo will go for sure. He could do anything to them.'

    'We're getting ahead of ourselves.' She pressed a hand to her churning stomach.
    Was it possible that they all had it wrong? Brian insisted that Nikitin feared Prakenskii. Could Nikitin be the front man and Prakenskii be the real boss? Everyone deferred to him - everyone. She'd watched it a million times. The moment he spoke. The moment he moved. Every one of Nikitin's men stopped what they were doing to pay attention.
    Could he be the real head of the Russian mob? All the violence she'd seen in his memories, all the darkness clouding his aura, even his dominating personality pointed to it. Did he control others through his sexual expertise? The thought sickened her. She rubbed her face against her knees.
    'Let's not panic, Brian. No one else knows about this, right?'
    He nodded.
    'Well, let's do the show. Say you'll go to the party. We can have something go wrong at the performance. I can fall and hurt myself. We've got a couple of hours to think of something to buy us a little more time.'
    'We have to leave Dallas tonight for some reason.'
    She nodded. 'We'll come up with an excuse and make it seem real. We're performers. Jonas is in law enforcement.
    I'll talk to him and a couple of my sisters about Nikitin. I'll do my best to cover what he's got on you.'
    He shook his head. 'It's over for me. Once the fact that I'm gay is out, I've got to leave the band.'
    'No, you don't.' She had to get away from him. His misery overwhelmed him. And you can forget the suicide crap, it's not an option.' Because she could feel him considering that as well. 'Come on, Brian, we're in this together. We're smart. We'll figure it out.' She stood up and brushed herself off. 'My family's tangled with the mob before, and we always come out on top. You tell the sound crew I'll be there in a few minutes. I'm calling Jonas.'
    It had taken a lot of courage for Brian to come to her and tell her the truth. He had served himself up on a platter to her, and she was going to stand by him, by their long-standing friendship and the love she had for him. She loved him all the more for trusting her with his secret. Joley hugged him again hard.
    Brian brushed a kiss against her temple. 'I'm sorry I brought this to us.'
    She couldn't let him leave weighed down with so much guilt. 'Brian.' She caught his sleeve. 'Don't do anything stupid. You didn't think Nikitin was anything but a businessman. I suspected Ilya was more than he appeared, so if we're really in trouble here, I'm far more to blame than you.'
    She had never understood why Denny couldn't just walk away from the groupies and the drugs. She was appalled at Logan for betraying Tish. He'd been so strong, night after night, but in the end, in spite of loving Tish, he'd succumbed to temptation. She hadn't understood how a person could be so weak that they would make the choice to do something they knew was so wrong - until