“No,” I shook my head, even though I knew he could not see it. “We are having this conversation right here and right now. Tell me the truth.”
“I said—”
“Tell me,” I demanded, voice breaking. “Or I will hang up the phone and never call any of you again.”
There was another pause. Much longer this time.
Fyodor exhaled. “You were never supposed to find out about any of this, Ilana. We have kept the truth from you for years now. I have no idea who told you what and where you are right now, but this is not something any of us wanted to expose you to.”
“So it’s true.”
“It’s complicated, Ilana.” He sounded dejected.
“It’s always complicated when someone is lying or becoming involved in illegal businesses,” she whispered, finding strength within her own self. She had never talked to any of her brothers like this before, but she no longer cared.
He cursed softly. “Kliment knows what he’s doing.”
“That’s not an answer, Fyodor.”
“He is protecting us, Ilana,” Fyodor said. “All of us. He has been protecting us since day one. Do you not remember Russia and our childhood? Do you not remember how difficult our lives were before the first hotel? We were scraping by, Ilana. We were always one bad month away from losing everything. This, what we have now, is power and stability and the luxury of not being afraid of anyone ever again.”
“So Russia was Bratva too? We have been involved in it since the very beginning?” I asked, unable to believe my ears.
“How do you think we expanded our business into something so big, Ilana? We were making you believe it was all clean, but it wasn’t. It practically couldn’t be. We had to get some help from other sources, and no one was ready to help us except the Bratva. They helped us grow into what we are today, Ilana.”
My stomach turned.
“All of you let me believe that it was clean,” I said. “You let me think that it was a miracle and the money was a loan we returned later.”
“We did what we had to do, Ilana,” Fyodor said, defensive now. “For family.”
“I was your family, and you let me believe this was all because of our hard work and luck. I was family, and you kept me in the dark about everything. You told me we were expanding in Miami when you only came here to gain territory and get Bratva power. You uprooted my entire life for your own personal gain.”
“Who said that to you?” Fyodor asked, his voice on edge.
“Said what to me?”
“That we have come here to gain territory and expand power.”
“I am no longer a gullible little child, Fyodor. I understand your motives.”
“Ilana, who are you with? You cannot have left out of your own will. Tell me where you are, and I will come get you right now.”
“No,” I replied, “I don’t want to come home or to see you. Stay where you are and don’t you dare come looking for me. If I want to come home, I will come home myself. But the sad thing is I don’t even know where home is anymore.”
“What do you mean? Your home is with us. Forever.” Fyodor said, sounding concerned.
“I mean, did any of you even try to look for me? Did you try to find me? When I disappeared, did any of you wonder where I was or how I was? Or did any of you even notice I was gone until that message arrived from me? And even after that, none of you bothered, did you?”
“Ilana, that is not true,” Fyodor sighed. “We looked for you. We obviously could not have gone to the police with a complaint, given our reputation, but we had our men and our contacts swarming all over the place. We are new here, so we could not have launched an all-out search, but we have been trying our best.”
“Well, your best clearly wasn’t good enough because you were unable to find me.”
I was growing bitter with every passing second, but I didn’t care.
“Ilana,” Fyodor tried to say something, but I didn’t let him finish.
“Stay away from me and don’t try to find me.”
