“I assure you that you’ll see your daddy again. At least that’s what I’m counting on. And your uncles. That way the family will all be together.”
We were bait. We were nothing but bait. Oh, my God. This was Yuri Dmitriyev. I was sick to my stomach.
“When they do come, they will kill you.”
He laughed, returning his now amused gaze to me. “Oh, they will try and they will fail. But I will finally have everything I’ve been waiting for. Decades of waiting. Decades of hungering for retaliation.”
“Who are you?” Nina asked again before I had a chance to push him for additional information.
“Nina, honey. I’m your great-uncle. You’ll be safe here with us. After all, this is your home.”
“I already have one and he’s not you,” she insisted.
Moscow.
We were never going home.
Sasha
“Yes?”
Her voice was frail, fearful, and her eyes held the same terror upon answering the door and seeing a stranger. Yet when the recognition settled in, tears of sadness replaced the anxiety.
“Elena.” I’d decided to use her real name. The house was small and in a decent enough neighborhood, yet she kept to herself, likely fearful of being discovered.
What she’d done in escaping with her niece had been nothing short of miraculous and so very brave. Yet if discovered by anyone from three different families, she would instantly be killed.
That much I knew about acts of revenge demanded by the Bratva.
“Sasha.”
I nodded and she threw her arms around me.
“Oh Sasha. I heard so much about you. Please come in.” When she noticed Bernie standing behind me, her breath hitched.
“Don’t worry about him. Bernie, I’ll be right back.”
“Yes, sir.”
She was beautiful and clearly Selena’s relative. But time and grief had taken the same toll as it had done with me.
“When did you learn the truth?” she whispered.
“Earlier today. Why didn’t you come and tell me yourself especially after Selena was killed?”
“Because my beautiful niece begged me never to tell you who she was. She loved her life.” She lifted her head, her eyes imploring. “She was fearful if you were told, it would change everything between you and she was so in love with you. She adored being your wife. When she was killed, I couldn’t bring myself to cause her spirit additional pain or destroy the memories you two shared. Plus, you had a little girl to think of.”
“You’re saying she knew her true identity all along.” The angst in my heart remained.
So did the rage.
“Not until she was a teenager. She kept asking me questions about her mother and father. When she found her mother’s necklace with the cameo, I had to tell her.” She sat down slowly, shaking from shock.
“So she knew who I was, someone who she should consider an enemy.”
“You’re not like Yuri. Neither was your father nor Boris. They were decent people, which was why they were captured and tortured.”
Something else I didn’t know.
