With a slight tremor in my hands, I finally pulled the piece of paper from the envelope.
‘My dearest niece.
If you’re receiving this letter then I am no longer with you. This is my last chance to do the right thing, something I haven’t had the balls to do before now. You need to know that I love you, I adored you from the first moment we met and that’s partly why this hasn’t come to light before now. The other reason, to put it simply, I’m a coward. Anton wasn’t your biological father. He didn’t legally adopt you either. I don’t know how my brother came across you but at the end of the day, I really didn’t ask. I knew that I should’ve but at the time I didn’t want to know the answer.
You were three years old when Anton brought you home. This beautiful little bundle of joy. I was naive to think you were just what my brother needed. You were a blessing, and I was all too happy to accept you into the family. No questions asked. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I was helping sort through the house that I stumbled upon the information about your birth parents and the job that Anton was assigned all those years ago.
Please forgive me for keeping this information to myself all this time. There is nothing I could say to excuse my deceit. I feared the way you’d look at me if you knew the truth. I would have done anything to ensure that I didn’t lose you.
I presume that you’ll be very curious about your birth parents by now, but I want to warn you. You might not have been brought up by the people that brought you into this world, but I wonder if that wasn’t for the best. I had my own investigations carried out on your parents and I worry that you’ll be disappointed upon your findings. As that is your decision to make, and I promised myself I wouldn’t take that from you, their names are Rachel and Kaleb Varela. They run the Varela crime family, operating out of Philadelphia. Yes, you come from Philly. I don’t know what you might be more upset about.
I hope you find them, and I hope they’re what you’re looking for. Whatever you do, please do it carefully. While I kept this information from you for selfish reasons, I also worried about how this would affect you. I was trying to protect you. I’ve only ever wanted the best for you and I’d hate for you to be dragged back into that world.
That’s all I have to say. I’m desperate to believe that this letter will find you well and in safe hands. I wish you all the best.
I love you, my darling niece.
Until we meet again,
Carol.’
The letter fell through my fingers to the floor. I sat there, eyes unmoving from the window.
Fuck.
It was late and the house had been deathly silent for days now since that lawyer came by. I was getting sick of that guy. Every time he showed up, Anastasia disappeared.
I think he knew better than to come around a third time.
I was lounging in the theatre room when a soft thud pulled my attention away from the television. I pressed mute on the remote and waited.
What was that? Was I hearing things?
“Nikolai?” a small voice whispered from the other side of the door, followed by another small knock. It could’ve only been Anastasia, Heather had gone home hours ago. I got up to open the door, curious as to what Anastasia was still doing awake. Was she okay?
“Anastasia?” I asked as I did a visual assessment. She didn’t appear to be injured, but she was in her track pants and vest top.
“You weren’t in your room, I was on my way to the study when I heard the tv. Can I come in?”
I pulled the door open wider and let her pass. Closing the door, I followed her back to the sofa. As we took our seats I took notice of the distance between us. There wasn’t much. She was maybe closer to me than she’d ever sat before, I took that as a good sign - a sign of comfort.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, she watched the tv while I watched her. I found the remote to turn the volume up slightly. I highly doubted she was interested in watching Die Hard but the noise seemed to fill the silence.
Five minutes passed before she finally turned to me. She seemed surprised to find I was already watching her, but I was waiting for it…for whatever it was that was on her mind.
“I read the letter.”
Ah, yes.
She sighed before slouching onto the sofa. Apparently this wasn’t going to be a short conversation. I wasn’t unhappy about that. On the contrary, I was happy that she’d come to find me. I had given her the time and space to sort through her thoughts, but I’d had faith that she knew I was here for her when she needed me.
When she didn’t continue, my curiosity got the better of me.
“What did it say?”
“A lot.” She gave a soft snort that made me worry about what she’d come across in the letter. “My father...Anton, he wasn’t my real father.”
“What do you mean? You were adopted?”
