Chapter 14
Aurora~
Once again, I was back in Aleksei Korolev’s office, and while it was necessary, I wasn’t all that thrilled at having to have this conversation.
While Viktor and I were at a crossroads in our marriage, I still didn’t trust Aleksei or Kasimir Korolev, and so I was struggling with having to tell them the truth about what had happened at the pier.
As for Viktor’s nonsense last night, I’d chosen sleep over pointless arguing, especially since Viktor had to know that I wasn’t about to sit this one out.
He could beat on his chest all that he wanted, but it wouldn’t make any difference in the end.
No matter what, I was going to find out who came after me, and Viktor was just going to have to deal with it.
“I’m glad to see that you are doing well,” Aleksei said, kicking off the meeting. “We were all quite worried about you.”
I shot him a look, not caring that he was the Korolev Pakhan. “Oh, really?”
Aleksei’s lips twitched a bit. “Do you find that so hard to believe?”
“Yes,” I answered candidly. “I do.”
The man didn’t argue with me or try to convince me otherwise. Instead, he asked, “Given what you’ve been through, your answer has been earned. Nevertheless, tell me why you believed that it was Viktor behind the attack? Apart from the assailants being Russian, of course.”
“One of the men made a comment about wanting to rape me, despite being given direction not to,” I answered. “Who else would care about something like that? Any other enemy would have pushed for something like that if they’d been after making my family suffer. It wouldn’t have been a simple hit.”
“She’s right,” Kasimir chimed in. “If this had been a territorial hit, they would have taken her to make Roman pay.”
“Or me,” Viktor said. “After all, she is my wife.”
Eyeing me, Aleksei asked, “Is there anything else that we need to know? Yes, we’ve watched the video a thousand times, but with no sound, there’s so much that we might not know.”
Knowing that it was going to piss them all off, I still said, “I’ve already told my family everything, and they’re looking into it.”
Aleksei Korolev straightened behind his desk, his blue eyes flaring with a power that was reserved for men like him.
“Considering what you’ve been through, I am going to let that slide,” he said, his voice as cold as ice.
“However, let me make something absolutely clear, rebenok. You are a Korolev. Whether you want to be or not, whether you were pressured into marrying my son or not, you are a Korolev, and when you speak of your family in the future, we had better be included. Do I make myself clear?”
I stood up from the chair that I’d been sitting in, refusing to let these sonsofbitches intimidate me.
“You cannot bully my loyalty, Aleksei,” I said, purposely using his first name since he’d felt the need to call me child.
“Even without the attack, I’ve only been married to Viktor for a few weeks. I’ve been a Marchetti my entire life.”
Knowing that he couldn’t argue that fact, he said, “Sit down, and tell us what Roman knows.”
Now, while I wanted to tell Aleksei to go to hell, I knew that I couldn’t. No matter what, he was the Korolev Pakhan, and I had agreed to this marriage to strengthen our families against our mutual enemies, so pissing him off wouldn’t accomplish anything.
So, sitting back down, I said, “There was a fifth man.”
“What?” Viktor bit out, but I wasn’t surprised that he’d be pissed. However, Kasimir began humming, and I hadn’t been expecting that. “Are you fucking serious?”
I looked over at him. “I’m not going to keep arguing with you about this, Viktor. In fact, you guys are lucky that I’m even telling you anything.”
Kasimir’s humming got a bit louder, but it wasn’t until I noticed concern flash in Viktor’s eyes that I realized that the rumors were true.
There was something significantly wrong with Kasimir Korolev, and his singing really was a sign of something terrible to come, and with that curveball thrown my way, I changed tactics, aiming to soothe the Korolevs rather than antagonize them.
After all, the last thing that I needed right now was for Kasimir to go off on some killing rampage in my name.
So, after letting out a deep breath, I said, “He was hiding in the stacks and left after I’d been shot. Honestly, he’s the real reason why I had doubts about you being behind the attack.”
“Why?” Viktor asked, clearly pissed as hell.
“Because everything about the attack was sloppy,” I explained. “If they’d been Korolevs, then it shouldn’t have been that hard to kill me. Plus, the fifth man would have stuck around to make sure that the job had been completed. He wouldn’t have left like that.”
“Could he have just been some random person who’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time?” Kasimir asked, humming no longer.
I shrugged as I looked at him. “That’s the only other explanation for him leaving like that, but it’s kind of shitty that he wouldn’t try to help me or call the police.”
“Fear does crazy things to people,” Aleksei remarked absently. “I’ve seen it.”
“What did he look like?” Viktor asked, and it was clear that he was planning to fight with me later over this.
“He looked like the others,” I answered flippantly.
“Don’t give me that shit,” he snapped. “I know for a fact that you know what he looks like.”
I waited for him to rat me out, but when he didn’t, I finally said, “My father has a sketch of his face. I’ll ask him to send me a picture of it.”
“Is there anything else that we need to know?” Aleksei asked.
“No,” I replied truthfully. “Nothing else.”
“Well, I’m sure that you can understand how your activities must be limited until we get to the bottom of this, yeah?” he said, confusing me a bit.
“What do you mean?”
“Your project with the working girls will have to wait until this situation has been resolved,” he explained, and I almost laughed.
“What? Your son didn’t tell you?” I drawled out. “That privilege has been revoked, and I am back to being useless.”
“That’s enough, Aurora,” Viktor bit out, but I was frustrated enough not to care that he was pissed.
I looked back over at him. “Why? It’s true, isn’t it? And not only do you get to save millions on the venture, but now you can hang out with whomever you choose without me being in the way.”
Glass shattered against the wall, surprising everyone in the room, and it was clear that my husband had just reached the end of his rope. “Say that again, I fucking dare you,” he seethed.
“Is there a problem?” Kasimir asked, for once, not sounding amused.
“Nothing other than your brother preferring blondes,” I said, needing to get my licks in where I could.
Despite his declaration of love and explanation about that day, I wasn’t ready to let it go.
Viktor had humiliated me, and if that hadn’t been enough, he’d had me believing that he was fucking someone else while I’d been fighting for my life, and that feeling of betrayal didn’t just go away overnight.
“Perhaps this should be a private conversation,” Aleksei suggested diplomatically. “And if we are no longer moving forward with Aurora’s project, then-”
“We are,” Viktor told him. “We are, and my wife will be in charge of it.” Before I could say anything to that, he added, “And I swear to God, if you say anything to the contrary right now, I will fucking murder you where you sit, Aurora.”
Standing up, I said, “Remember this the next time you think to punish me, Korolev. No matter what you say, for the rest of my life, I will never forget her face, her voice, or how you two looked together.”
His head jerked back, and his face paled a bit at the reminder that I had a photographic memory, and he needed that reminder.
I didn’t have the luxury of a faded memory, nor did time move on for me.
I remembered every single fucking thing that touched me on a daily basis, and while I used that gift to my advantage often, it could also be a curse.
“Baby-”
I put my hand up to stop him. “Perhaps your father is correct in saying that this conversation would be better saved for another time.”
“Aurora-”
“Viktor, stop,” I said. “We have more important things to discuss right now, don’t you think?” Looking between all three men, I added, “Let me make that phone call to my father. The sooner that we get the sketch, the quicker that something can be done about it.”
Without waiting for any of their permission, I walked out of Aleksei’s office, then headed straight to the living room to call my father to convey what I’d told the Korolevs, and if he got mad at me, then I was just going to say to hell with all the men in my life right now.