by Rose, Bella
Alek didn’t have to do anything horrible. He just had to let her go.
She was sitting on the window seat reading. “Don’t you have something important you need to be doing?” she said without looking up. “Something that doesn’t involve being anywhere near me.”
She wasn’t looking at him, and he could drink her in. She was pissed and angry, but she was beautiful in a way that he’d never expected to find anyone beautiful. He’d had only one goal in life, and he never expected to live past that goal. He’d been steeped in anger and violence for so long he’d forgotten what it meant to see something beautiful. To admit that something was beautiful. And it wasn’t just her looks. Natalia wanted to believe that everyone was good. She saw something pure in every bit of darkness, and he saw the darkness in everything that could be pure.
He was completely toxic. The longer she stayed around him, the more she would lose that beauty. She would lose the purity. Petr had taken the innocent and created monsters from them, and Alek knew he would be no different if he continued to chip away at Natalia.
“Your father is here to collect you. As promised, your bags are being gathered to return to you, and you are welcome to take anything in the closet that you’d like.”
She slowly lowered the book and stared at him. “What?”
“Your father paid off his debts. Your contract is void.”
“What?”
Alek shook his head. “You’re more like your father than you think. You both like to repeat things until you drive me insane. What part of this situation do you not understand? Your father has paid off his debts. I have no reason to keep you here. I’m giving you the wardrobe. I’m getting your things together. You are leaving, Natalia.”
Natalia tossed the book aside and stood to face him. “So what happens after that?”
“What you do after this is no concern of mine. Why would you want my opinion?” He stared at her coldly, but he knew exactly what she was asking.
“No concern of yours. I see. Well, I can tell you right now that I don’t want anything from this house. Nothing. So I’ll be leaving as soon as my bags are ready.” She glared at him as she pushed past him and stalked out into the hallway. “And just so we’re clear, once I’m gone, you don’t come near us again.”
“That’s the idea.”
The pain in her eyes struck his very sole, but the words were out and they had the affect he wanted. After today, she would never speak to him again. And absolutely nothing could keep her safer.
***
Natalia walked slowly down the stairs, trailing her hand along the wall. She felt numb inside. After everything they’d been through, she never thought Alek could look at her with such empty eyes. Empty and cold.
“He doesn’t love me,” she whispered as she sagged against the wall. Alone in the stairwell, she slowly lowered until she was sitting on the step. Half of her still expected Ana to show up and give her a dose of reality. But Ana wasn’t coming. Ana was dead. Alek was tossing her out on her ass, and her father was here to pick her up.
This morning she was angry at Alek. Now she was never going to see him again.
“He doesn’t love me,” she murmured again. Taking a few deep breaths, she pushed herself up. She was strong. She would move on. He was a mob boss. She didn’t need that in her life.
Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin and made it the rest of the way to the foyer. Petr stood there with a nervous look on his face. “Natalia,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry.”
His bruises had faded, but there was a haunted look in his eyes. Guilt. There was nothing but guilt shadowing him. “Let’s go,” she said softly as she gave him a small smile. She wanted answers for what he’d done, but she also knew he wasn’t the same man he was back then. The man who stood before her now was not the same man who’d recruited children into the services of mobs. And from the moment she’d met him, she’d sensed the guilt inside him. He’d tried to hide it, but now, as he stood waiting for her, knowing all his secrets were revealed, that guilt was wrapped around him.
And if she could help him heal, she would. He was her father.
“Did he hurt you?” He shook his head and reached out to wrap his arms around her. “Natalia, I’m so sorry. I’ve made so many mistakes.”
“It’s okay.” She hugged him and looked up to see Alek lounging in the doorframe watching them. “He didn’t hurt me, Dad. Not in the way that you think. Let’s go.”
Breaking eye contact, she reached down to grab her luggage. Turning her back, she left. She would leave this place behind. She would move on with her life. And she would pretend that Alek Evanoff didn’t even exist.
Chapter Seventeen
She’d been gone for two weeks. Two weeks, and he wanted to climb the walls. “Misha,” he bellowed. “Why the hell is Vicktor Borsch’s debt still not paid. If he’s not going to pay, I want him in a hospital.” His yells were met with silence. “Misha. Misha!” Pushing himself from the desk, he threw open the door where Misha was usually stationed.
No one was there.
“Where the fuck is my man,” Alek growled as he began the search. Stomping up the stairs, he immediately turned to the left. Since he’d moved into the house, he’d slept in the same bed. He’d had women in that bed, but he’d only slept with one woman, and now she was gone. And he hadn’t stepped foot in the room since she left. Not once. It bothered him more than he even thought possible to walk into the bedroom and see that she wasn’t there.
As he stared at the empty bed and exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to the empty room, but it was too late. She wasn’t here.
A distinct moan sliced through the silence, and Alek turned slowly. That moan was suspiciously familiar, and now that Ana and Natalia were gone, the floor was supposed to be empty.
Following the sound, he didn’t even bother knocking on the door. Slamming it open, he found Misha mid-thrust with Claudia on top. “Having fun?” he asked dryly.
There was a flurry of activity as Misha pulled a sheet around his waist. Claudia, on the other hand, didn’t bother covering. “Alek. Darling. Care to join us? I’ve heard you gave your pet back to the pound.”
“You don’t talk about her like that,” Alek said through clenched teeth. “How long has this been going on?”
“Boss.”
“Stop it,” Claudia hissed as she got out of bed and yanked her clothes on. “Don’t call him boss. He hasn’t been your boss in a long time.”
“Excuse me?” Alek blocked the door and watched as his ex-lover and second-in-command finished dressing. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
A cold smiled crossed her face. “Please. Funneling money into an orphanage. Forgiving people their debts. Lessening the payment penalties for the businesses. And speaking of those businesses, most of them are legit now. You’re not laundering money. You’ve lost millions in the last five years. Millions! You’re no boss.”
“And how exactly do you know any of this?” Alek asked softly. He shifted his eyes to Misha and almost missed the flash of a silver blade. Claudia. As the blade came down, Alek grabbed her arm, whirled her around, and snatched the blade from her hand. Misha pulled his gun from the shoulder holster next to the bed and aimed it at him, but Claudia was his shield, and as Alek pressed the blade to her throat, Misha wavered.
“You were the mole,” Alek said softly. “All this time. We grew up together. We were friends. I picked you and your brother because we were friends.”
“She’s not wrong, Alek. When I agreed to work under you, I thought you were going to build on Grigori’s work. I didn’t like the man, but he made us great. You said you were going to make us great,” Misha said as he shook his head. “I was your friend, and you lied to me.”
“Ana is dead. Do you remember Ana? The cute young woman who fetched your lunch and massaged the kinks out of your shoulder? The woman who sewed up your wounds and slapped you around when you were being stupid. You killed her.”
“It was supposed to be Natalia!” Misha screamed, and the gun wavered in his hand. “It was supposed to be Natalia. Everything was in place. Everything was going to work, and you brought that woman in, and now Ana is dead. This is your fault.”
“What does Natalia have to do with anything?” Alek asked as he tightened his grip around Claudia. She struggled and he murmured, “I will slit your throat and not lose a single moment of sleep over it.” She growled at him, but she stilled.
“You went soft with her. You went soft, and you barely left the house. Then Grisha came in and ruined everything.”
Alek shook his head. “You wanted Natalia dead because I was spending too much time with her?”
“We wanted her dead because you fell in love,” Claudia hissed. “You were supposed to be in love with me! Instead, you loved her. You loved her, and I knew if she were gone, you’d be at your weakest. Take you out, and replace you with Misha. He deserves to be at the top. He deserves it!”
“Boss?” Sasha’s voice floated through the hallway, and Alek leaned back, never taking his eyes off Misha.
“Misha, your brother has a gun trained at me, and I have a knife to Claudia’s throat. If you plan on joining our little standoff, you better choose a side right now.”
“Claudia? Why do you have a knife to Claudia’s throat?”
Alek heard the panic in Sahsa’s voice, and he smiled. “Claudia. Sleeping with both brothers? Tsk. Tsk.”
“What?” Misha and Sasha said simultaneously.
“Sasha,” Alek said in a cold voice, “are you also reporting to Boris?”
From his peripheral, he finally saw Sasha step up to look at his brother. “No. I’m not. Misha, what are you doing?”
“He’s ruining us, Sasha. He’s trying to go legit.”
“I know.”
Alek turned his head to look at his third-in-command. Sasha, the most bloodthirsty man under his command knew that he was trying to go legit? “What?”
“It’s pretty obvious, boss. But you are my boss. I owe you my loyalties,” Sasha said quietly. “And so did you, Misha.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Claudia said hysterically. “No, don’t listen to him!”
Alek pressed the blade along her throat. “You did this. What was the plan? Sleep with both brothers and get them to turn against me? Get them to turn against each other? Do whatever it took to weaken my organization? This isn’t about the way I’ve been running things. This didn’t start until I brought Natalia in. You were jealous. This is simply out of jealousy.”
“No.” Misha shook his head, and Alek saw the gun wavering. “No, it’s not true. Claudia, that’s not true.”
“Shut up.” Claudia hissed. “Shut up and shoot him!”
“You can shoot me,” Alek said softly. “Or you can realize that I’d never planned on leaving you two out to dry. Yes, I’m planning on going legit. In fact, by the end of the year, there would be no more money laundering. And I was splitting the area into three divisions with you two getting a portion. Legit businesses bringing in millions of dollars, too.”
“You were?” Misha asked.
“I was. I still am, Misha.”
“Even after Ana. Even after Natalia.”
“Shut up Misha. Shut up!” Claudia screamed. Alek felt his blood run cold.
“What do you mean? What about Natalia? She’s not here anymore.” Misha hesitated, and Alek took a deep breath. “What is going on?”
“Where do you think Petr got the money to pay you back?” Claudia said, a smile stretching across her face.
God. Why didn’t he ask that very question? Where had Petr gotten the money? He would have had to gamble for it. Or borrow it. “Boris. He got the money from Bois. What have you done? Claudia, what have you done?”
“Boris liked the contract you had with Natalia. He’s thinking of making the exact same one or Petr dies,” Claudia said with a hysterical laugh.
“I’m sorry, Alek,” Misha said as he lowered his gun. “I’m sorry.”
Alek shoved Claudia in Misha’s direction, and the man caught her and immediately pointed the gun at her head. “Keep an eye on her. I want her alive when I get back,” Alek grated. “But I do not want her to go anywhere.”
His heart beat wildly as he raced to the office and grabbed his phone to dial her. As the phone rang, he closed his eyes and tried to keep it together. “C’mon, Natalia. Pick up. Please pick up. Please, please, please.”
There was no answer. Alek slammed down the phone and grabbed his keys. Boris wouldn’t wait for Alek to figure it out. If the man was going to make a move, he was going to make it quickly. Alek had a terrified feeling that he might already be too late.
Chapter Eighteen
Natalia stood on the porch and stared at her father. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Two weeks had passed since Petr dropped her off and apologized profusely.
“It’s been two weeks, Natalia. Two weeks, and you haven’t said a word to me. You haven’t left your home. You aren’t looking for a job.”
“Alek paid my bills up front for the year, and I’m tired of wasting my life. I’m not settling anymore. I’m going to find something that I want to do. Something I enjoy doing,” she said softly. “And I know I haven’t called you. I’m still processing everything.”
“I thought you’d have questions about us,” he said softly. “About me. About what I did.”
“I don’t care, Dad.” She held the door open and waved him in. “But if you want to talk about it, we can.”
Her father slowly moved up the stairs and came in. “I wasn’t going to talk with you about it, but I don’t want there to be any secrets. I don’t guess there’s any way you can think worse of me.”
Natalia padded into the kitchen to make some coffee. She felt like she hadn’t slept in two weeks. Every time she woke up at night, she turned to put her arms around Alek, but he wasn’t there. Of course he wasn’t there. Once he’d gotten his money, he didn’t need her anymore.
“I don’t know anything about that life,” she said softly as she poured the coffee grounds. “Even after all this time with Alek, I don’t know anything about it. I can’t judge you for what you did, and I won’t judge you now for how you try to explain it. But you don’t owe me an explanation, Dad. You don’t.”
Petr accepted the brewed cup of coffee and cocked his head. “You don’t speak of him with malice or anger. What happened to you Natalia? What happened while you were with him?”
“He didn’t hurt me,” she said as she sat. “Not like that. Not like you think.”
He contemplated her for a long time. “When I met Nicola, she was a cocktail waitress. She was working her way through college. She wanted to teach biology. She was so smart, and I never did quite figure out what she saw in me.”
Natalia looked up sharply. “I thought it was just a one-night stand?”
“I fell in love with your mother the moment I saw her. I lied to her about what I did, and I spent every moment I could with her. I held her hand all through her pregnancy, and we made plans. We made plans to marry and buy a house in the country. She still wanted to continue with college, and I told her to do it, but I was still lying to her. Right before your birth, I came clean. I couldn’t hide it anymore. I told her everything, and she forgave me. She said that she loved me, and that it didn’t matter. I was so excited that I slipped up. I spent the night with her, and Grigori tracked me down. He tracked me down and found you and your mother.”
She inhaled sharply. “Dad.”
“I broke it off with her, sent her far away, and tried to keep my distance, but it didn’t matter. Grigori knew how I felt, and he spent fifteen years punishing me. Kids died because I fell in love. Kids died because I lied to the woman I loved.” He stare at her over the steaming cup of coffee.
“Why are you telling me this?” Natalia whispered. “I don’t understand.”
Her father set the cup down. “Alek has a cold heart, Natalia. He
grew up under a monster because that’s what I did to him.”
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“Because I can see the look in your eyes every time I talk about him. I see the pain and longing, and it has nothing to do with what he did to you and everything to do with the fact that he’s not here. I know the look because I used to have it. Do you want to talk with me about it?”
“No, Dad.” Natalia got up and started to pace. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t help to talk about it, but if I did want to talk about it, I’d tell you that you’re right. Alek does have a cold heart. He had to be raised by monsters because he is one. He put you in the hospital, and I don’t care if he held a grudge against you for what you did. He still put you in the hospital. He didn’t even try to play the tortured soul. No. He made it very clear that he was a cold bastard, and I fell for him anyway. So what does that say about me, huh? What does that say? I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know what that says about me because I don’t want to talk about it!”
The more she talked, the more she yelled.
“Natalia,” her father said softly, and she reached up to wipe away the tears.
A knock at the door interrupted them, and Natalia looked at it sharply. Who the hell was knocking at her door now? “Excuse me,” she said as she crossed the room and opened the door.
The large man had a cigar hanging from his mouth and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Natalia. It’s so lovely to see you again.”
“Boris,” Natalia said nervously. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t bother to wait for an invitation before stepping inside. Natalia felt the fear grow in her stomach as he sucked out all the energy in the room. Petr stood and faced the man. “What are you doing here?”
She sent her father a sharp look. He knew Boris? Of course he knew Boris. This used to be his life. Boris blew out smoke, and Natalia tensed when three more men entered the house. This scene was starting to feel terrifyingly familiar. “This is a nice house,” Boris said before chuckling. “No, I’m lying. This is a terrible house, but that’s okay because you won’t be spending much time here.”
