5. RADOMIR
Chapter 5
RADOMIR
Sabrina and I gape at Nikolas.
“The Hydra symbolizes the multi-faceted nature of the organization. The Hydra perched on a mountain of gold represents their ultimate goal—total dominance,” Nikolas explains. He picks up one of Sabrina’s pens and approaches the board, his movements sharp with purpose. Beneath Ice Man, he writes Zolotaya Gidra. “The Hydra on the mountain symbolizes their ambition—global dominance in the underworld, corporate world, and militaries.”
He sketches the tattoo with practiced ease, labeling it as he speaks. “The Hydra and the gold represent the alliance of Greek and Russian powerhouses. Together, they’re unstoppable.”
“A mix of Russian and Greek.” My eyes narrow at the board.
“Like you and Leigh.” Sabrina glances at me before addressing Nikolas. “You’re not exaggerating about the world dominance thing, are you?”
“I’m afraid not,” Nikolas says, his tone grim. “And Leigh and Radomir are right at the nexus of it all.” He gestures toward the board. “At first, I thought Carlos was just after Leigh. I can imagine why he and his Russian would want her. But then again, what happened ten years ago never quite made sense to me either.” He frowns, the tension etched across his face.
“Why did you mention ten years ago?” Sabrina asks before I can.
Nikolas meets my eyes, and his words hit like a sledgehammer. “Carlos was there the night your father, uncle, and Vivienne were killed.”
“You mean here in Vegas?” My heart slams against my ribs, hope mingling with dread. Does Nikolas actually know something about that night?
“No.” He shakes his head, his gaze shadowed. “I mean in the dungeon beneath the Diamond Hotel, where your father, uncle, and Vivienne were killed.”
A chill snakes down my spine, and Sabrina gasps beside me.
“How would you know that?” The roar in my ears drowns out my thoughts. For ten years, all I’ve heard is: We’re not sure—the video feed was wiped clean, everything erased. Only a professional would’ve pulled off something so meticulous. My eyes narrow on Nikolas. “You were there, weren’t you?”
“I came to get Leigh and your mother,” Nikolas replies, his tone even. “I wasn’t there when your father, uncle, or Vivienne were killed.”
“What the fuck, Uncle Nik!” Sabrina blurts. “Leigh?”
“My mother?” I snap, my voice hard.
“Wait!” Sabrina lifts a hand, her expression tight with disbelief. “What are you saying?”
“Leigh was there?” My mind spins, confusion blurring my thoughts. “You’d better start at the beginning. Fast. My trust in you is tanking.”
Nikolas gestures for us to sit. “You both should probably sit down.”
Sabrina’s glare softens as she points to the journal in his hand. “Is that what’s in there?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Sit.”
Reluctantly, Sabrina and I settle into our seats, facing him at her murder board like students awaiting judgment.
“Two days before the event, Sabrina found Vivienne’s journals and brought them to me,” Nikolas begins. “As Sabrina will tell you, the first three journals are… shocking. I knew Vivienne was evil, but I didn’t realize how deep her depravity ran.”
“Your uncle beat the crap out of Oleksi when Judy turned him down, and while she watched, she and your father fucked each other,” Sabrina says bluntly, her words knotting my stomach. “They put Oleksi in the hospital because Judy rejected his marriage proposal and confessed her love for someone else. Your uncle wanted Oleksi to teach Judy and her new love a lesson for daring to say no to a future Pakhan.”
“Jesus Christ.” My pulse thunders. I’ve done fucked-up things as Pakhan—things I’ll never be proud of—but this? “My mother’s number-one rule was never to turn on family unless they were threatening your life.”
“Well, Oleksi didn’t threaten anyone’s life. He refused to punish Judy, and then had to endure it himself,” Sabrina explains. “I don’t like your cousin, but I respect what he did.”
“Hold on.” My brow furrows. “Oleksi took a few days off from UCLA to propose to Judy. That was—”
“A few days before your father and uncle were killed,” Sabrina finishes.
“The reason Gavriil and I weren’t at the hotel that day was because we were at the hospital with Oleksi. He told us he’d been attacked when he finally came around.” My blood boils, the anger from that day reigniting. “Fuck. That was my uncle?”
“You don’t even want to know what he did after dumping Oleksi at the hospital,” Sabrina mutters darkly.
“That’s why you didn’t want me reading the journals,” I realize.
“That and other things I didn’t think you wanted to know about your family,” she says softly, a rare note of compassion in her voice.
“You’re remarkable, you know that?”
Her lips twitch into a faint smile, but the seriousness in her eyes remains. She turns back to Nikolas. “Okay, so I gave you the journals. Then what?”
Nikolas nods. “I called Galina after reading the fourth journal. It’s her blackmail journal—a list of abbreviated names and coded numbers tied to every person she had dirt on. While the others focused on her twisted pleasures…” He holds up the journal. “This one detailed her blackmail victims and her plans.”
“And I’m in there?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“You and Leigh,” Nikolas confirms grimly. “In fact, it’s where your mother got the idea for a marriage between you two.”
“Is that why you didn’t want me to see it?”
“Not just that.” His tone hardens. “There’s a plot in here to kill your mother and, eventually, your father. The goal was for you to ascend as Pakhan. Then, once you married Leigh and had an heir on the way—”
“She’d get rid of me,” I finish bitterly.
“Not Vivienne.” Nikolas’s voice tightens. “Gunther.”
“Gunther?” My brows draw together. “No fucking way.”
“I’m afraid so. Gunther wanted it all—with Vivienne as his wife.”
“Jesus.” I rake a hand through my hair, my mind spinning. “What the fuck is wrong with these people?”
“Criminals,” Sabrina states flatly. “It’s the world you live in, so I don’t see why you’re so surprised. Of course he’d want his family to have it all.”
“That doesn’t sound like Uncle Gunther,” I say, shaking my head. “I just can’t see it. He was a ruthless, evil bastard, but he was lazy. If it wasn’t for my father, he’d never have gotten the Mirochin Bratva to where it was before Oleksi took over.”
“I’m sorry, Radomir, but it’s all in here.” Nikolas pats the journal and then looks at Sabrina.
“Let me guess, there’s something incriminating in there about my dad?” Sabrina asks, crossing her arms.
“Not just your father, Rina,” Nikolas replies with a small, grim smile. “But your mother, your sister, and you.”
“What the fuck?” Sabrina’s eyebrows knit together as her voice rises in disbelief.
“But we can’t get distracted by what’s in here now,” Nikolas cautions, his tone firm. “We need to focus on finding Leigh and putting a stop to Carlos and his Russians’ plans.”
“Let’s start with the night in the dungeon,” I say, pulling the conversation back to where it began.
“I contacted Galina to come and read the journals because she needed to know what Vivienne and Gunther were planning,” Nikolas continues from where we left off. “Sol was already at the cabin. Sabrina had asked him to bring her and Leigh there.”
“The cabin you blew up the other night?” I glance at Sabrina, who nods.
“What I didn’t know was that Vivienne had somehow found Sol’s cabin earlier that same day,” Nikolas says grimly. “And she’d seen your mother there with me.”
“What?” Shock hits me like a freight train. “What the fuck were you doing with—” I hold up a hand before he can answer. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to know.”
“Good, because I wasn’t going to tell you,” Nikolas admits, his expression dark. “That’s your mother’s choice. What matters is that Vivienne told your father the moment she realized I was alive. We didn’t know she’d found out until the day of her death—when all hell broke loose.”
“So Vivienne and Leigh weren’t in an accident?” Sabrina’s voice is soft, almost hesitant.
“No,” Nikolas says flatly, his gaze distant. “I wasn’t there when it happened, but by the time I got there…” He trails off, his jaw tightening with suppressed emotion. “I knew I should never have let Sol take her home. Something didn’t feel right.”
“That’s why you left me with Sam at the cabin,” Sabrina says, the realization dawning on her.
“Yes.” Nikolas nods. “I told Sol to take Leigh and wait at his house, but it was too late. Vivienne had already taken her. It was Leigh’s birthday, and Vivienne told Sol she wanted to take her shopping for a present.”
“That should’ve been the first red flag,” Sabrina mutters. “That bitch never did anything unless it benefited her.”
“While I was on my way to Mark’s house, I got an urgent message from your mother, Radomir. She said Vladimir knew I was alive and that we’d been together at the cabin. She was afraid of what he might do.”
My gut twists at his words. “You said you tracked Leigh to the dungeon.”
“Yes,” Nikolas says. “I tracked Leigh’s phone to your dungeon beneath the Diamond Hotel. Sol and Sam wouldn’t let me go alone, so I waited for them to back me up. I shouldn’t have. If I’d gone straight there—”
“You’d have been killed,” Sabrina interrupts. “Don’t do that to yourself, Uncle Nik.”
“When I arrived,” Nikolas continues, his voice heavy, “your father, uncle, and Vivienne were already dead. Leigh was lying on the cot, delirious, with a poison arrow from Vivienne’s handheld crossbow lodged in her arm.”
“You told me she got that in the accident,” Sabrina accuses, her voice trembling. “You said the crossbow accidentally went off during the crash that killed Vivienne.”
“Honey, you were twelve,” Nikolas says gently, his expression softening. “It’s bad enough you’d read part of those journals. We told you what we could.”
“Yeah, a big fat fucking lie,” Sabrina snaps, glaring at him.
“So Leigh was in the dungeon where my father and uncle were killed?” My heart pounds like a war drum. “She saw who killed them?”
“She was delirious,” Nikolas admits. “But, yes, Leigh was there.”
“And my mother?” My voice is sharp, demanding.
“She was locked in the dungeon next door,” Nikolas replies. “When I let her out, she was badly beaten—your father’s handiwork—but all she cared about was Leigh. Vivienne had dragged Leigh into her cell, shouting that this was what happened to people who stole and lying, cheating whores—her words, not mine.”
“That fucking bastard,” I grind out, my stomach churning. “It wasn’t the first time that he’d laid hands on her like that.”
“I know,” Nikolas says bluntly, and I see his eyes darkening in anger which speaks volumes to me. “Your mother didn’t see what happened and she couldn’t hear anything either.”
“Why the fuck did Vivienne take Leigh there?” My voice rises, every muscle in my body tensing. “She was twelve. Why would Vivienne want to teach her a lesson about lying cheating whores?”
“I don’t know.” Nikolas’s jaw clenches, the storm in his eyes dark and dangerous. “There was no one to ask and Leigh was too delirious. There’s no telling what Vivienne, your father, or Gunther were planning or had already done to her, but it wasn’t good.”
“It was bad enough that she got dissociative amnesia!” Sabrina’s eyes have also darkened with anger.
“Leigh’s shirt had been cut open down the front, and someone had tried to tie it back together.” He swallows and if I didn’t know how much he loved his daugther before I sure as fuck did then. The pain, regret, anger, and guilt in his eyes said it all.
“Fuck!” I slam my fist against the arm of the chair. “Leigh was down there? In that place? I can’t believe her own mother took her there.”
“That fucking whore bitch Vivienne got what she deserved in the end,” Sabrina spits venomously. “She was a horrible mother—an all-around dreadful human being.”
“I can’t even argue with that or say she never used to be like that because Viviene had always been like that,” Nikolas declares. “Even her own mother and father had washed their hands of her.”
“Who can blame them?” Sabrina states.
While Nikolas and Sabrina talk about Vivienne one thought keeps rolling around in my head. “So, the only person who might know the truth about who killed my father and uncle has dissociative amnesia?”
“I’m afraid so,” Nikolas confirms grimly. “What we do know is that Carlos and the Ice Man were there, too.”
“Seriously?” I sit up straight. “How do you know that?”
“Leigh!” Nikolas rubs the back of his neck. “She kept mumbling that the Ice Man and the man with my face had punished Vivienne because of what she’d done to her. Then she’d get all agitated and terrified because they’d also told her they’d be back for her when the time was right.”
“You said there was poison on the arrow?” I ask. “What kind of poison?”
“Some concoction Vivienne had made for her “hunting” arrows. She called it her designer poison,” Sabrina is the one who answers. “Luckily Uncle Nik knew who made if for Vivienne and the person was able to cook up and antidote.” She glances at Nikolas with narrowed eyes. “Or was that a big fat lie too?”
“No.” Nikolas shakes his head. “That part was the truth.”
“Who?” I look at Nikolas. “Who made the designer poison?”
“I can’t disclose that,” Nikolas replies flatly, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Convenient,” I snap, leaning back in my chair, glaring at him.
“So, it could’ve been the Ice Man or Carlos who killed my father and uncle?” I ask, shifting the conversation back to the murders.
“I don’t think it was Carlos,” Nikolas says, his voice low and steady. “I believe he killed Vivienne. Her neck was snapped—after the Uzi episode that became his signature method of killing.”
Sabrina gaze shifts to the murder board. ““So, Carlos and…” Her voice trails of and jumps up to walk to the board, tapping on the jumping up and stepping closer on the section labeled Russian Oligarch. “It has to be him.” She spins around, excitement bubbling in her expression. “We need to find out who Wanda Manning’s husband is—the oligarch. He has to be the Ice Man—and possibly your father and uncle’s killer.”
“Or,” I counter, “Carlos could be the Ice Man.”