55. Arsen
55
ARSEN
“Calm down, brother!” Gedeon calls after me as I storm into my office. “We’ll handle this?—”
I flip on the light in my office and come to a screeching halt when I see Laila sitting at my desk. Her eyes are bloodshot and her complexion is pale.
I check the clock on the wall behind her. “It’s past midnight, Laila.”
“I couldn’t sleep. I have to know—” She pushes out of the chair and crosses the office on shaky legs. “What happened? Did they put out the fire? How much damage?—”
“Shh, roza .” I pull her into my arms and dismiss Gedeon with a nod of my head. He slips out silently, closing the door behind him. “How long have you been sitting here in the dark?”
“An hour. Maybe two,” she admits. “Polina is with Nina.”
I sit down and pull her onto my lap, running my hands up and down her cold arms. “The fire is out.”
She sighs in relief, her chin wobbling. “How did it start? It’s an old house. The electrical might need to be updated. Or did they leave something plugged in?” She breaks off when she sees the look on my face. “What was it?”
“Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow.”
“I want to talk about it now.” She tries to stand up, but I hold her still. She huffs in frustration and turns to me. “Tell me.”
There’s no point trying to keep it from her. If I send her to her room, she’ll scale the walls and hitchhike to the fire department herself.
As soon as I saw the security footage, I drove her home myself to make sure she made it safely inside the gates. I’m sure the only reason she didn’t break out and show up at the scene is because she wanted to stay close to Nina.
“Gedeon and I combed through every second of the security footage. The fire wasn’t an accident.”
“But who would do something like—?” I see the moment she understands. She looks up at me, her bottom lip trembling. “It was my dad, wasn’t it?”
The look on my face is answer enough. She catapults off my lap before I can hold onto her.
“Is he really that selfish? If he can’t have it, no one can? That fucking—that piece of—that absolute…” Her rage dims, and she whirls back around to face me. “How am I gonna tell Mom about this? This will destroy her.”
“You don’t tell her,” I say simply. “There’s no reason for her to know, and she doesn’t need the stress. I’ll deal with it. It’s my fault, anyway.”
“How is this your fault?”
“I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
I thought scaring that fucking mudak would do the trick, but he’s made it clear now that he’s never going to stop. I should’ve seen that. Should’ve dealt with it permanently.
Laila goes deathly still. The silence stretches. Her eyes are pooled in shadow, so I can’t quite tell what’s going through her mind.
“He’s not going to leave you alone, Laila.” I walk over to her, my footsteps echoing in the silence. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him touch my family.”
Tears fill her eyes, and then she falls into my arms, sobbing.
“It’s gonna be okay,” I whisper. “I’ll take care of it.”
She cries for a long time. When her sobs finally die down, she pulls her head back. Tries to smile, but it’s thin. “Arsen, I appreciate everything you’re doing for me?—”
“It’s my job.”
“But can I ask you a question?”
I pause. Fuck only knows where this conversation is going. But wherever it leads, I’ll give her the truth. She’s strong enough for that. She’s earned it. She deserves all of me.
“Ask me anything, roza. ”
“At dinner, when we ran into Alessandro, you made it sound like you were responsible for your grandfather’s death…”
Dammit. It’s not that I’m trying to hide things from Laila, but I would have preferred to keep the uglier aspects of my life away from her.
But she’s strong enough, I remind myself. She’s earned it. She deserves it.
“He was not a good man, Laila.”
“Like Charles.”
I nod as the parallels become too obvious to ignore. “He became paranoid as he got older. He groomed me to take over for him, but he was also threatened by me. It got to a point where it was either him or me.”
She plays with the collar of my shirt, pointedly avoiding my eyes. “It just seems so brutal. Was it hard for you?”
“Death is always brutal.” I trap her arm between my hand and my chest. “But my grandfather was never my family—not the way the Bratva and my men were. I had to take him out to protect myself and the people who relied on me.”
“You don’t have to explain it, Arsen,” she says softly. “I trust you.”
I draw her hand to my lips and kiss each finger. “Then trust that I will do what’s best for you. Always.”
She closes her eyes and sighs. “I do.”
“Arsen.” My shoulder shakes, and I blink through a sleepy stupor. “Brother, wake up!”
I peel heavy lids open to find Dominik looming over me.
Laila’s head is on my chest, her breathing deep and even. I meant to carry her to bed, but we fell asleep on the couch in my office.
“What the fuck is going on?” I whisper.
Dominik doesn’t answer, just gestures for me to follow him. Reluctantly, I disentangle myself from my wife and follow him out into the hallway.
The lights are all dimmed, so I know it’s late. I can’t have slept for more than a couple hours, and I feel every single hour I’m lacking. I drag a hand down my face. “What is it?”
“I found Jasper. Actually, I didn’t have to.” Dom points towards the windows. “He’s scaling the walls as we speak. I was going to have security take him out, but I figured I’d let you know first.”
Before Dominik has even finished, I’m running through the house towards where I know I’ll find Jasper.
It’s not the first time he’s tried to break in. There used to be a gap in security camera coverage. Apparently, the idiot thinks nothing has changed.
When I cross the lawn and spot the ivy-covered wall to the west, I also see a dark silhouette using the creepers to shimmy down.
I tread softly so Jasper won’t hear us coming. When he drops down to the grass and turns around to see me waiting, he falls back against the wall hard enough that he bangs his head on the brick. The reek of alcohol and sweat is like a dense fog around him.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
“Nice of you to visit, Jas. But the front gate would have worked just as well.”
He clears his throat, avoiding my eyes. “I didn’t think they’d let me in.”
“You don’t seem to understand that this is already your second fucking chance, Jasper.” I advance on him, forcing him back against the bricks. “A second chance you never should’ve gotten in the first place.”
“I never meant for any of this to happen.” His gaze veers from me to Dominik and back again. “I got in over my head.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. What was the stumbling block this time: cocaine or heroin?”
“Arsen—“
“Answer the fucking question.”
His eyes are dark and bloodshot. A mottled purple bruise covers half his face. “I want to get clean, man. I just… I need some help.”
I grit my teeth. “How much trouble are you in?”
He’s twitchy, his head sitting on his shoulders like a bobblehead. “If you pay them what I owe, I’ll be square. Then they’ll leave me alone, and I’ll be free. I’ll get clean and pay you back.”
“Who do you owe?”
“Just these… these guys,” he answers vaguely. “I built up a bit of a tab, but I swear, I’ll pay you back, Arsen. It’s just, these guys are adamant about being paid tonight. If you just give them what they want—” His eyes flick back over his shoulder, towards the wall. “—they’ll leave.”
In a second, I snatch him up by the front of his shirt and pin him to the wall. “You brought the dealers you owe to my house? Where my family is sleeping? Have you lost your fucking mind?!”
He cringes back as far as he can in my hold. “They’re tailing me. They won’t let me out of their sight. They’re threatening to break my?—”
“Whatever they threatened, you’ll get worse from me,” I snarl. “You put my family at risk.” Jasper’s eyes teeter from side to side, never focusing on anything for long. “ And you’re high as a fucking kite.”
“Coming down fast, though,” he mutters. “I wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t desperate.”
I drop him to the ground, shaking my head in disgust. “You’re a coward.”
Jasper flushes, but he doesn’t argue. “I’ll turn things around, I will. Just… please back me up here.”
I turn my back on Jasper and face Dominik, who looks like he’d love nothing more than to chuck Jasper over the wall and let his enemies have their way with him. He might as well have a giant I-told-you-so sticker plastered on his forehead.
“Dominik, keep an eye on him.”
Dom nods as Jasper croaks, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go fix your mess.” I keep walking, not bothering to look back. “As per fucking usual.”