Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Amara
It had been too long. Hours. Any time was too long when Luka was gone. But this was absurd. I called. I texted. There was nothing from him or Ciro. How could he go this long and not tell me what was happening? What if they had been attacked? What if Luka was hurt?
Rebecca and Kyle left after another cup of coffee.
I thought about driving to the Vieux Carre, but I had to stay with Katya. She still had no idea there was a lead.
I had convinced her to sit by the pool with me.
“We started talking about baby names.”
“Hmm?” I looked up from my phone. There was a tray of lemonade between us. I had Bella mix a martini for me.
“Enzo and I started coming up with a list of names.” She smiled.
“What made the list?” I asked. Talking about anything was a good distraction for her.
“Well I like the more unique names and Enzo likes more traditional names.”
“Oh, really?” I grinned. “Are they all a secret?” If I could keep her talking. Keep her preoccupied, it would at least make time seem like it was moving instead of standing still.
“He likes Charles and William. I’m more of a Blaze or Orion.”
“Oh wow.” My eyes widened. “You two are on different ends of the baby name spectrum for sure.”
She smiled. “Maybe we could combine them.”
“Maybe.”
“What does that mean it’s a boy?” I stared at her. She said that she and Andrey were waiting a little longer.
She nodded. “It is.” She rubbed her stomach protectively. “Enzo and I had an appointment together. He wanted to know. So did I.”
“That’s wonderful, Katya. I’m so happy for you.”
She exhaled. “And it’s another reason I can’t let this baby grow up as a Petrov. It’s shitty that just because he’s a boy they’ll care more about him than if I was having a girl. Maybe I should have wished for a girl instead.”
“Don’t say that.” I knew she was right, but we had to make the changes in the organizations so that the girls born into the families were as powerful as I was. Or at least, working for me.
“They don’t know. Andrey doesn’t know. Just add it to the secrets I keep.”
I raised my martini to my lips. “We all have secrets in this world. You aren’t alone in that.”
“What names do you like?” she asked, getting us back on track.
“Katya, that’s for you and Enzo to decide.”
She laughed. “No. I’m talking about you. When you and my brother decide to start the next empire.”
I blushed. Kids? Us having kids? “I don’t know that Luka wants children.”
She rolled her eyes. “With you he does.”
“How are you so sure of that?” It wasn’t something we’d discussed. He hadn’t proposed. We didn’t have a contract for the merger. A baby seemed like a fantasy. Besides, our parents were horrible role models. We were trained, not nurtured. Why would we be any better than they were at raising the next generation?
“Can you imagine you two not having a baby together?”
I sat back in the chaise lounge. Holy shit. Did I want that? Were Luka and I capable of raising kids that weren’t going to turn out the way we did? A baby. With him. I bit my lip.
Katya giggled. “See? It’s written all over your face. You want a baby with Luka,” she teased.
I laughed. “Shut up. That’s far, far away.”
If I could have held on to that laughter a little longer, I would have. I didn’t know that it would be so long before either of us would laugh again.
Katya’s mouth dropped. I looked at the rustle of the palm trees near the end of the courtyard and Luka walked on to the patio. I ran to him. He was stained with blood, but I didn’t care. He was here.
“Oh my God.” I threw myself in his arms. I didn’t care that I was wearing a pastel coverup. I didn’t care about anything. “Are you hurt?” Was it his blood? Where was he cut?
“Hey.” He buried his face in my neck. I wrapped my hands around him.
He pulled away. His eyes were filled with sadness.
“Enzo?”
He shook his head.
“No,” I whispered. I lightly touched the stains on his shirt. The horror spread through me as I realized it was likely Enzo’s blood on my fingertips.
Before he could even get to Katya, she screamed. She heard our whispers. She saw our pain and grief. And I knew her instincts had been strong this entire time.
She picked up the tray of drinks and smashed it on the patio. The glass shards scattered in hundreds of tiny pieces. She lifted the end table the drinks had been resting on and threw it in the pool. We watched. All of us motionless as she moved from chair to chair. She threw anything she could get her hands on. A potted plant. An ottoman. Her phone. She screamed, hurling her anger and grief into the deep end of the water. When there was nothing else she could physically grasp, she took a step toward the diving board.
Luka ran, almost shoving me out of the way to get to his sister.
“Katya, Katya.” Luka pulled her away from the steps. She crumpled against him. “I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Our eyes met. I’d never felt so much pain.
* * *
T here was a decision to make.
Katya, Ciro, Nikoli, Luka, and I sat in my office. Katya had stopped crying. The tears were replaced by a vacant stare. She had stopped throwing things once everything was at the bottom of the pool. She was out of energy. Out of tears.
Ciro’s arm was wrapped and the bandage he had placed over the bullet wound was starting to seep. I tried not to look at it. Things were different between him and Luka. I didn’t want an explanation. I didn’t need it. I wasn’t going to ask them what happened in the tunnels.
“I should be the one to tell Rebecca and Kyle,” I offered. “They may not trust me completely, but I can do my best to explain what happened.”
Ciro looked at me quizzically. “I disagree. None of that can happen.”
“We can’t have Katya do it.” I looked at her. She stared into a cup of tea.
“No. We don’t tell them.”
That got her attention. She blinked. “Their son is dead. They have a right to know.”
Luka sloshed his bourbon in the glass. “Ciro’s right. They can’t know. No one can know.”
“What?” Katya practically lunged at her brother. “You’re going to cover it up?”
Luka shook his head. “We aren’t covering it up. But what good does it do any of us? If we go to the parents, they will go to the police. And if the tunnels are uncovered in the investigation, the Feds will be brought in. My charges won’t be kidnapping anymore, they’ll be murder charges.” He exhaled. “And Amara will be under federal scrutiny for every single thing that runs through Amato Global.”
“But someone has to pay,” she croaked. “Someone has to pay for this. My baby…” she drifted off.
“They will pay. I promise they will pay. But the cops aren’t going to be able to help. There are too many bodies. Too much blood spilled. This cannot see daylight.” Luka’s voice was strong and firm. He had brought this to us. I realized it was courtesy out of respect for Katya’s mourning. The decision had been made.
I leaned toward Katya and put my hand on her wrist. “We can’t do this without you. you have a say in the decision.” I spoke softly. It was the hardest question I had ever had to ask someone. “Do we have your permission to move Enzo’s body? He has to go somewhere where he can never be found, Katya.”
She buried her face in her hands. I thought she was waiting for tears that couldn’t possibly be produced. She looked at us. “Don’t ask me to hide him.”
“Please, think about it,” I implored softly.
“There won’t be a funeral? No memorial service? Just act like he vanished and not recognize what his life meant. I don’t see how I can do that.”
I glanced at Luka. “I’ll hold a memorial for him here,” I offered. “Obviously, it will be private, just us. He meant a lot to me Katya. For three years he was by my side every single day. I trusted him, like I trust Ciro.” My eyes started to burn. I wouldn’t cry in front of her, it seemed unfair. “I want to honor him too. We can do that here.”
“You would do that?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ll plan it or you can plan it. Whatever you want,” I offered. “But Luka is right about what has to happen. We must protect each other.”
She took a big inhale of air and looked across the circle at her brother. “I want my freedom. That’s my price for keeping this secret the rest of my life.”
His brow furrowed. “I hardly think this is the time.”
“No. It is,” I agreed. “Give it to her.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “All right. I’ll work on the Petrovs. It’s done. You have your freedom, and we will make sure that Enzo’s murderers are punished the way the families have always taken care of each other.”
She turned toward the fire and lifted the tea to her lips.
When Luka looked at me, I knew there was one more decision we had to agree on. “I have to go to the investigators tomorrow and tell them about the attack.”
“No.” He shook his head.
“It’s time we go public. You can’t be tied up with a trial.” I almost choked on the words, thinking about Enzo. “And the families need to know about our partnership. It will send the right message to our allies, but more importantly to our enemies. We don’t have time to come up with a better strategy. This has to be our strategy. We tell them all tomorrow.”
Ciro pressed his lips together. Even if something had brought them closer today, he wasn’t going to support this. He tipped back a full shot of whiskey. I held out my glass. He filled it.
The bourbon burned going down, but right now it was better than feeling the pain of losing Enzo.