Page 25 of Wayward

“But your own family? Your own father?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s no way to live.”

“It was my normal.”

She exhaled sharply. “I have no idea how you did it.”

“If you were born into it, you’d have ideas, believe me.”

“Maybe,” she granted. “You know, it turns out that Galina knew about certain payments that were received from the criminal activity, so she’s going to need to answer for that in court.”

“Yeah, but she’s a small fish.”

“True. And if she helps us, she could find herself with a clean record.”

“That’s good.”

“Your brother is a whole other story,” she said, leaning forward, elbow on her desk, chin on her hand, regarding me. “How in the world did he not know what was going on?”

“Have you never seen The Godfather?”

It took a moment for what I said to sink in.

“What?”

“The movie. With Al Pacino. Have you seen it?”

She shook her head.

“You’ve never seen the—”

“No, I mean, of course I’ve seen The Godfather,” she snapped at me. “I just have no idea what the movie has to do—”

“Don’t you remember how in the beginning, Michael was gonna be a senator?”

“Stop,” she ordered, cracking a sudden smile but trying not to—I could tell from how hard she pursed her lips. “This isn’t funny.”

“So see, Pasha is Michael before they killed Sonny.”

She groaned loudly.

“I’m serious. He’s golden.”

“Well, miraculously, he is that.”

I was glad. “What will happen to Stas and Adrian?”

“I don’t know who those individuals are, but I’m sure there will be assorted time for everyone caught in the net. Speaking of, Lev Kamenov is in the wind.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’ve got a red notice out on him, and the marshals and local law enforcement in Chicago and across the country are hunting him down, so rest assured, we will find him.”

But Lev was well connected. I didn’t like their chances. “’Course,” I agreed, hoping to sound encouraging.

“I don’t want you to worry, though.”