Chapter 20
Arriving
Aleks
My eyes meet hers, and all the anger boiling inside of me that she just left like that, with everything going on, softens.
“Are they all still down there?” Claudia asks.
Deacon grabs her and pulls her into an embrace, “Don’t do that again. Don’t take off and—”
“I needed to be with my sister.” She whispers, hugging him.
“I have no right to chime in, tell you what to do, and I know you’re a little bad ass, but yeah, not fucking cool, Tsarina.” I try my best not to growl, but I’m not sure I pulled it off.
“Sorry,” she says.
“You need to give them a tour,” Claudia shakes her head, “This place is—”
“Not warm enough for her,” I state, because I heard what she said.
Claudia smiles at her, “I’m sure it’s a perfect even seventy degrees in here at all times.”
“Miss Fairfax, could I speak to you for a moment?” An officer asks.
“Sofie,” a man calls, “Where are you? What is going on?”
“Fuck,” she sputters as she starts toward the voice and whispers. “Just stay right here.”
“You have company?” The man, now right behind me, says. “Why is there an officer here? What did they do? Are you in trouble?”
“No, Dad, we’re not in any trouble.”
“Good. Shall I call the staff up to get you drinks or —”
“It’s late, let’s not bother anyone,” she says.
“Miss Fairfax?” The officer calls to her again.
“Right, sorry, hey Dad, you wanna come with me?”
“You go ahead, I want to meet your friends,” he says as he steps past her and looks at me. “You’re one big son-of-a-bitch.”
“Dad,” Sofie gasps.
“This is years of internal planning on how to torment any man who thought he was worthy, and you never brought a boy home for me to do so.”
I hold out my hand, “Aleks Kilovac.”
“Russian?”
“Dad,” Sofie protests.
I nod, “Yes.”
“Gonna guess you’re the one here for her since the other man is with her friend?” I nod, and he continues. “What makes you think you’re worthy?”
“Are you expecting a sales pitch?”
“I’m expecting you to understand that if you’re looking for a pay day—”
“I don’t need a pay day, I have a job.”
“Yeah?” He crosses his arms. “What do you do?”
“I play hockey, professionally.”
“What happens when you get hurt? How do you expect to live if you can’t play hockey?’
“I’ve invested wisely. I —”
“Dad, he’s not going to get hurt, and he hasn’t asked me for anything.” Sofie sighs.
“It’s okay,” I assure her. “He’s asking the right question.” I look back at him. “I’m not reckless. I knew hockey had an expiration date before I ever stepped on the ice at Yale.”
That gets his attention.
“I was recruited for hockey,” I say, steady. “But I chose my degrees for after.”
“What degrees?” he asks, not sharp, just curious.
“Global Affairs and Statistics. Data Science, technically.” I pause. “I learned how governments behave under stress, and how to model risk when people lie to themselves.”
Sofie’s eyes flick to me. She looks impressed, which, yeah, I like that.
“I invested during 2021,” I go on. “Cybersecurity for infrastructure. Secure communications. Energy logistics. Things that get funded when the world feels unstable.”
He nods once, slowly.
“I didn’t gamble,” I add. “I planned. Made enough money and pulled it out at the right time.”
“And now,” he says, “you’re comfortable.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How comfortable.”
I hesitate, just long enough to be respectful. “If I never played another game, I would be fine. Not extravagant. But safe, a roof over my head, warm, and fed.”
Sofie exhales quietly beside me.
Her father thinks for a moment, the question clearly forming before he says it. “Then why keep playing.”
I answer without thinking. “Because I’m good at it.”
“One of the best, actually,” Sofie says quietly beside me. I look down at her. “Statistically accurate.”
Cute as shit, I think as I look back at her father. “And because I don’t need it.”
That earns a real look.
“You don’t want my daughter’s money then?” he asks.
“Dad, he makes way more than I do.” She sighs.
Another pause. He looks at Sofie now, really looks at her, then back to me.
“That,” he says, walking to a chair, “is a good thing.”
Sofie blinks, surprised.
“For the record. I don’t like anyone who needs my daughter. But I respect a man who chooses her.” He says as he moves to a leather chair.
Seated, he looks around.
“Miss Fairfax.”
“Shit, I am so sorry,” she says.
“I just wanted to let you know, he was awake when I went in. He’s aware of why I’m here.”
“He knows they’re here?” she asks.
He nods, “He said it was a good day, and he wasn’t going to let them muck it up. He asked me to tell them he was asleep and that he or Sofie would contact them tomorrow.”
“I’m so sorry about all this, officer,” she glances at his name badge. “Marino.”
“They’re still down there, but after I tell them to leave, could I use the lobby to take a statement?”
“I’m sorry, what?” she asks.
“Faulker’s going to press charges against Rathburn.” I tell her.
“I’m so confused.” She sighs.
“Sexual assault or harassment, I’m not sure which one, but mine was harassment.
Half the fucking locker room has had their dick rubbed without consent by that bitch.
If he comes forward, maybe others will.” She glances at Deacon and Claudia, “Not Moretti. He was here before she came aboard. It seems she fucks with ‘immigrants’, loves to remind us how lucky we are to be here. Power play.”
“Does Costello know?” she asks.
“Hell no.”
“Well, that’s stupid,” she huffs. “You should have told him. He’d have buried her.” She looks at Marino. “Not literally, he’s not a criminal.”
“I wear this badge to remind me, either I am. Doesn’t mean they don’t deserve that.” He looks from her to me. “She lay hands on you anywhere?”
“My thigh, but I shoved it away.”
“That’s assault.” He states. “Are you willing to give a statement?”
“I am.” I look at Sofie, then back at him. “You have a card?”
“You can go, I’m—”
I cut her off, “I’m not going anywhere right now.”
Deacon and Claudia are sitting across from him. Deacon is also getting the inquisition.
“Dad,” Sofie sighs as we walk over and sit next to her father. He takes her hand as he turns to face her. The way he looks at her, it’s evident that he treasures her.
“You were angry with me.”
She shakes her head, and I see her tap her leg twice. I’ve seen this on several occasions now and—
“She’s done that since she was little.” He says and taps her nose twice, gently with his finger. “Two taps and the problem goes away.”
“I do not,” she smiles sadly.
“You do,” I confirm. “The tapping part. I have yet to see it make anything disappear, but I will take your father’s word for it.”
He smiles as his gaze shifts to Claudia, “I’m afraid that you should brace for the worst too, my dear.”
“I’m sorry?” she asks.
“You look like her, you know.”
Claudia and Sofie’s bodies both visibly tense.
“Your eye shape comes from me, you share that with your sister. But you are that classic beauty that your mother was when I first met her while she was bartending at a place in midtown.” He taps his head.
“I can’t remember the name, but it will come back, I’m sure.
” He leans forward slightly. “That’s not important right now, but what is?
She was bartending; I assumed she was at least twenty-one.
I took her out to dinner a few times, and well,” he motions to her.
“I’d say I’m a bit late to give you the birds and the bees talk.
Nevertheless, I took her to a party once, and I found her with another man, doing drugs in the bathroom, and that was it.
When I saw her again, she told me she was pregnant.
I’m,” he scratches his head. “I think I told her if you were mine, I’d raise you because no doper was going to raise my child. ”
“Sounds like her,” Claudia says, eyes misting.
“When Paul Bronski confronted me months later, he threatened to tear me apart, told me she was a child herself. I went and asked her employer her age and whereabouts. He said she was legal, didn’t have a file on her, and begged me not to have him shut down.
He was shut down a week later. Bronski didn’t let up. I hired a man to look for her, Tomas.”
“Why do you call him Matteo?” Sofie asks.
He looks back, “The officer…”
“He’s gone,” I assure him.
“He preferred an alias, and I’d had an employee who looked a lot like him once, who I fired because he ended up being a rat.
” He shrugs. “Would you believe no one, not even the vile man who bought information from him noticed?” He waves his hand.
“That’s not what I want to talk about when moments like this are precious.
” He shakes his head, “I am so sorry that we couldn’t find your mother.
That life was hard. If you give Matteo names of anyone who made it more difficult, he could easily ruin their lives. ”
The way he says it is serious as shit.
Claudia just shakes her head. “As bad as times got, there really are good people in the world. They make up for all the others.”
He looks at Sofie, “Maggie asked me to put living heirs in my will, she knew it ate at me and said that it wouldn’t fix everything, but it was something.”
“I don’t want anything. I have a good life, I—”
“I’m not gone yet, beauty,” he smiles at her. “And I only have good days now and again. I can’t make up for the past, but I’d sure like to get to know you.”
He looks at Sofie, “And she could really use a sister that wasn’t so jealous of her that they have become vile.
What a horrible thing for a father to say about his children.
” He sighs loudly. “Nothing I can do about the other two, but they don’t care about what we’ve built.
Maggie and I, and Sofie just keeps growing it.
” He pushes to stand. “If I don’t go to bed, I won’t know if I’m confused or tired tomorrow.
But,” He smiles at Sofie. “You and I need to address the board. It’s time you’re named CEO officially. ”
“Dad, I—”