Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rodion
When we arrive, the sleek black car is still stationary in front of the security gate.
We leap out of our vehicle, eager to see who the fuck it is, because it’s not Alyona.
She knows the code. The car’s back window slides down silently, revealing our father’s familiar green eyes, peering through the narrow opening.
“I don’t like to be kept waiting,” he says with a playful smirk on his lips. He glances toward the house before continuing, “The lovely Mrs. Potts wouldn’t let us inside. Is she the housekeeper?”
“Not exactly.”
We held off on telling him about Roza until we resolved the issue with Yuri. You never know who might overhear and spread such information over there, and we couldn’t take that risk.
“You didn't call to say when you were arriving,” Z states while entering the code on the keypad for the gate and then saying to me over his shoulder, “I told you we could trust Mrs. Potts.”
“I enjoy surprising you,” our father replies as he lowers his window further, and Ven nods from beside him. “I'll meet you at the house.” As the window rolls back up, his car drives through the gate.
Yeah, we have a surprise for you, too, Grandpa.
As we pull up to the house, his driver steps out and opens the door for our father and returns to the driver's seat.
“You’ve only been here a matter of weeks, and you’re already causing trouble?” our father remarks, unfolding his tall frame from the car and swiping a hand down the lapels of his overcoat.
I can feel irritation bubbling up inside me as I respond, “Well, we would have been here two years ago if you hadn’t insisted that Abram keep Alyona’s whereabouts a secret.”
His eyes flash wide in surprise for a fleeting moment, a glimmer of something like regret flickering across his face.
Just then, Ven strides around the car, his expression tense and wary.
Z, just as pissed as me, pulls back his fist with a swift motion, and crashes it squarely into Ven’s jaw.
The impact sends Ven stumbling sideways, his back slamming against the car’s hood.
A deep growl rumbles from Ven’s chest, his mouth flexing open and shut while his hand checks to make sure nothing dislodged, “What the fuck was that for?”
“Your part in keeping fucking secrets, asshole. We trust you implicitly and you had Abram lie to our fucking faces about Alyona,” I tell him to jog his memory.
Inhaling a deep breath, Ven rolls his shoulders, the fire extinguishing in his eyes. Not many people get away with punching Veniamin Vetrov.
“I thought it best. Yuri already had a vendetta against Diana. If he knew of her involvement with Alyona’s disappearance...” He shakes his head. “The risks were too high.”
Anger laces every word when I sneer, “So, as long as your woman was safe...”
He points a finger in my direction and puffs his chest. “Your woman was also safe. Here. Let me remind you, she asked for help getting out and involved Diana. I didn’t even know about it until Abram came to me.”
“Because she thought she had to leave to keep us safe,” Z barks, flexing his fingers, his knuckles no doubt already bruised from the impact with Ven’s jaw.
“Well, we didn’t have all the information then. Andru has informed me of the rest, and I came straight fucking here to help deal with it. So, unless you want to throw a punch too, Rodion, can we go inside, it’s been a long fucking flight.”
Don’t tempt me.
Mrs. Potts, our new nanny, a chubby woman with silver hair and age lines creating a map over her face, meets us at the front door.
Her blue eyes dart nervously between the four of us, sizing up our unexpected arrival.
“I apologize for making your guests wait outside,” she says, her voice formal.
“But you instructed me very clearly not to allow anyone through the gates without prior approval.”
Z offers her a reassuring smile, his voice calm and gentle as he replies, “You’ve done your job well, Mrs. Potts. There’s no need for apologies.” His soft-spoken charm makes her shoulders relax.
“Well, now that you’re both home, Roza has been bathed and is snuggly tucked in for the evening.
If you don’t need anything else, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early.
” Slipping her purse from the coat peg beside her, she pushes it over her shoulder and offers thanks to Ven and our father when they part to make a path for her to leave through.
Once the door closes behind her our father asks, “Who is Roza?”
Walking backwards, I extend both arms and raise a brow, “Why don’t we get a drink? We have a lot to catch up on.”
“I didn’t know about the kid,” Ven says, leaning against the kitchen counter, and running his hand through his beard.
Reaching for my glass, I knock back the vodka and savor the burn in the back of my throat. Although the circumstances are shit and what he did is still raw, it’s good seeing our cousin. And it has taken our minds off the clock ticking down for Alyona’s promised return.
Ninety-three minutes left.
“We didn’t know about the kid either,” Z grumbles, folding his arms and turning his attention to our father. “We have other matters to discuss regarding family secrets.”
My stomach drops.
Our father’s back straightens, and he slowly spins the glass on the table, the clear liquid sloshing inside. “Was it Roza who brought on this need to look into the Chester’s?”
“You know some things are best left unexplored,” I tell my brother, my soul mate.
I hadn’t considered that he might want to delve back into this topic, especially since Alyona disappeared on us again.
Her absence has consumed our every waking thought.
“It’s the past. Can’t you leave it there?
” I swallow down the fear in my throat. Because nothing terrifies me more than him looking into this and finding out what really happened.
“Why are you so adamant about me not knowing? Do you know what happened to them, Rodion?” My heart aches at the way he pronounces my name, each syllable heavy with disbelief, as if the mere thought that I might have known all along and chose to remain silent is incomprehensible.
And it is, because we don’t have secrets between us, apart from this one.
When I can’t form a fucking word, I open my mouth and close it again.
“Rodion?” His voice trembles as he startles, flinching as if an invisible force has physically pushed him away.
His eyes dart anxiously between the three of us, and all I see is the damaged ten-year-old Zahkar, who lost everything when I felt like I gained it.
When he became mine, I never thought about what he lost for that to have been possible.
Our father holds a hand out to me, signaling he will take it from here and gets to his feet. “Twenty years ago…”
“Alyona?” I gasp, cutting him off.