Epilogue – Kolya
APPROXIMATELY SIX MONTHS LATER
S tanding in the shadows, I looked at the group of people sitting around the back patio, enjoying the warm spring night. They were a motley crew, mixes of different stories and backgrounds. But together, they were whole. Noticing a small detail, I counted the heads again. Huh. One couple was missing, and I frowned at Kazimir’s absence. They were closest to the beating heart of this unit. Daniella would never be away from her children, cousins, or grandmother, let alone the rest of us strays she’d adopted.
As if sensing me, my cousin—and secret half-brother—lifted his head, tennis ball in his hand. Dimitri scanned the thickening shadows that ran along the outer wall. A tight smile tugged at my lips. He knew. To put him at ease, I whistled low, and the pakhan’s dog came running away from the game of fetch.
I crouched to rub Marena’s neck and shoulders as she washed my face.
Dimitri followed, melting away from the group without drawing the notice of anyone except his bride—our queen.
“What are you doing here? Lurking like a stranger in the dark,” my cousin growled, pulling me into a tight hug.
I embraced him back but shook my head. “No one can know I’m here.”
“So you summoned the dog? It’s only a matter of time before Zoey comes running after Marena.” Dimitri crossed his arms over his chest.
I jerked my chin and began to walk away. If it surprised the pakhan that I’d come over the wall without alerting the guards, Dimitri didn’t say.
“What happened?” my cousin clipped out.
My lips pressed tight. I didn’t want to admit it. But…if that was true, I wouldn’t have come back home. He deserved to know. It was the only way he could protect that sacred unit sitting under the twinkly patio lights and laughing as it was meant to be.
“I made an enemy,” I confessed.
Dimitri let out a low breath that softly whistled through his teeth. “You were discovered?”
I growled in assent. The work I spent over a year on had now come to a grinding halt. What started as Kazimir asking me to end those responsible for the abduction and murder of his bride’s sister turned into a personal crusade for me. I couldn’t rest knowing that there were vile individuals bartering unwilling flesh. My special forces training was put to very good use hunting and ending the scum operating various sex trafficking rings.
But now…. Fuck!
“How the hell did they catch wind of you ?” Dimitri asked sharply.
“I couldn’t eliminate the inner circles without getting close.”
“You flew too close to the sun, my friend.”
“I did.”
Dimitri stopped, tossing and catching the tennis ball in his palm. His hound leaned forward, body vibrating with anticipation. “What’s the damage?”
“Should be minimal, but I need to go off-grid until things cool down.” I let out a short breath. “I came here tonight to warn you.”
Dimitri barked a laugh. “You’re still planning the son of a bitch’s death.”
“He’s personally responsible for trafficking the majority of the foreign crowd into the states. He needs to pay for his sins, Dimi.”
“He will.” My cousin brought back his arm and chucked the ball. “But not if you die first.”
“I can’t have him turning an eye on the bratva,” I insisted. “I wouldn’t consider something like hiding if it wasn’t to protect all of you.”
“And we need you safe,” Dimitri said with heat. “I’m glad you came to me with this.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“I know.”
We watched Marena trot back with the tennis ball in her mouth.
“Dani and Kaz are at a new lake home we purchased,” Dimitri mused. From his tone, it was clear an idea was forming in his mind.
“We’re purchasing lake homes now?” It was my turn to laugh. “That’s very posh of us.”
Dimitri pinned me with a side look, and that was enough to know his wife was behind the scheme. “They’re on a kind of honeymoon. But if you head that way, the lake is secluded enough you can hide there for the time being, while we still have contact with you. It’s only two hours north of here, right outside a small town named Moosehorn.”
“That could work.” I could spend a few weeks in rural Wisconsin, plotting my next moves before resuming the hunt of my next target.
“You’ll love it there,” Dimitri promised.
The twinkle in his eye gave me pause. “How secluded?”
There was laughter in his voice. “The heart of Lake Country.”
Uh, huh. “You mean one of those lakes where the city folk go to pretend to be one with nature while turning the waterfront into a mini suburbia,” I scoffed.
“Precisely. Hide in plain sight, my friend.”
I was about to refuse him when a shadow jumped on me. “What the hell, bro! You could have called!”
I growled, shaking Luka off, but the brat clung to me like a backpack.
“I’m leaving—right now,” I snapped.
“Luka’s going with you, to make sure the property is secure,” the pakhan declared.
The side look I shot Dimitri was met with stern finality. There was no escaping this road trip north with my younger brother.
“Shotgun!” Luka called out, scrambling down to run back to the party. “Let me just say goodbye to my girl—”
“I shouldn’t have dropped in,” I said to Dimitri, ignoring my brother.
The pakhan only smiled. “Looks like you’re going to have a picnic basket for the road if Chiara has anything to say about it. Come on, let’s say hi to everyone and then you can leave.”
There was no refusing our leader, even though in my heart, I knew every minute I spent with them put them in great danger. Still, the call for a brief moment of human contact, a precious glimpse at family life, would sate the gnawing, feral beast inside and soothe him. Monsters like me didn’t find happily ever afters, but we could enjoy the crumbs of others whenever we had the chance. And if I was being honest, that was exactly why I stopped by my father’s home instead of calling the pakhan. I was in desperate need of some crumbs.
TO BE CONTINUED IN…