Chapter 26
Alina
Iwake up energized. There’s nothing like a deadline to get my ass moving.
Not that I even knew about it until three days had already slipped past.
But no worries. Doesn’t matter.
I can beat the shit out of this problem with my bare hands.
“Morning, sunshine,” I say, sing-song, as Seamus comes downstairs. “I have coffee brewing.”
He pauses to kiss me lightly. I’m taken aback by how normal that feels, but I try not to let him see it. “You’re in a good mood. Did someone get laid last night?”
“Don’t be crass.” My cheeks turn pink and I have to turn my back on him or else he’ll tease me for it. “I have a mission. That always focuses me.”
He goes still. “Alina…”
“No, don’t start. I’m not going to do anything stupid, but clearly this whole Molchanie thing is about me.”
“I can handle this. You don’t have to stress. Worry about Sistine.”
“That’s just some stupid store. This is your family we’re talking about.” I wave him away when he glares at me. “We’re a team now, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
I step forward and jab a finger into his chest, staring hard. “We’re a team now, right?”
He sighs and holds up his hands. “Yes, dear. We’re a team.”
“Good. That means equal partners.”
“In most things—”
“In all things. Conversation over.” I stride past him toward the stairs. “Enjoy your coffee!”
“That woman’s going to get me killed,” he mumbles as I leave.
But that’s the thing. I plan on making sure that exact scenario doesn’t happen.
Whoever this Molchanie is, she never imagined she’d get tangled up with a woman like me.
“I’m sorry, Alina, but your father is very busy.” Katya seems genuinely sorry as she gazes at me over her date book. “He has meetings all morning—”
“I swear, if you try to pretend like his meetings are anything other than him watching the news and doing push-ups, I’ll punch you in the neck.”
Katya sighs. I hate being firm with her, but there’s no way I’m letting her send me away. I don’t have time for that.
Three days. That’s all.
And if I don’t figure out who Molchanie is and what she wants, someone’s going to die because of me.
“I’ll see what I can do, but only because it’s you, Alinochka.” She snaps her book shut and marches off, leaving me in the sitting room of the Morozov house.
It’s funny, coming back here. I grew up in these rooms and hallways, but they don’t feel like my own anymore. The second I was old enough to move out, I ran off to college like my ass was on fire, and I never looked back. Not even during the summers. When I was gone, I was done with this place.
Now I’m here again and I can feel a little nostalgic.
Dad gave me a decent childhood. There was a lot of weirdness, obviously. He kept long hours, had secret meetings all the time, and there were constantly creepy armed men lurking around. But everyone was always kind to me since I was the Pakhan’s spoiled baby daughter, and I liked that role.
I leaned into it for a while.
Now I look back and wonder what I was thinking. Why did I buy into the Bratva lifestyle so much? The nice clothes, the expensive jewelry, the privilege and comfort. I like all that, but it’s all just stuff. It’s precarious. It can be taken away at any moment.
Maybe this crisis is making me a little existential.
“Would you please refrain from scaring Katya?” Dad appears in the doorway, scratching at his belly. “She loves you dearly, but the woman is like a skittish baby deer sometimes.”
“I think you underestimate her. She has to be pretty strong to stomach you all day long.”
He grunts, smiling slightly, and comes to sit on the couch across from mine. “To what do I owe the pleasure of my baby girl’s visit?”
Papa’s unshaken, his eyes slightly red, probably from not sleeping very well. He’s in slacks and a polo shirt, but he looks slightly unkempt and rumpled. It’s not like him at all.
Ruslan Morozov is normally a powerful man. He knows how appearances can be important. The way he looks reflects on the way people treat him. And right now, he looks like shit.
“I need to ask you some questions, Papa, and I need you to be honest with me.”
“When am I ever dishonest with you, Alina?”
“Always. Every second of every day.”
He waves dismissively. “You are being dramatic.”
That pisses me off. He always calls me dramatic when he wants to pretend I’m not worth listening to. I decide to dive straight into the reason I’m here, hoping I can catch him off guard.
“Who is Molchanie? Who is she, really?”
Papa’s mouth twitches. He stares at me, not moving, and that simple reaction tells me everything.
He knows something more than he admitted before.
“Nobody can answer that,” he finally says. “Why are you asking me?”
“She’s from Moscow. You have a lot of contacts back in Russia.”
“Molchanie isn’t like that.”
“What do you know about her?”
“Nothing. Nothing important. She’s a hired killer, that is all.” His expression darkens the more he talks. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I want to know the truth.”
“There. You have the truth. Molchanie is an assassin. An expensive one too.” He stands slowly with a grunt. “You have wasted both our time.”
“You know more than you’re saying. What connection do I have with her?”
He flinches back, staring at me. “Why would you think you have a connection to Molchanie?”
“She keeps mentioning me to Seamus.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“You’re lying. Ask some of your Moscow contacts. This is important, Papa. Lives are at stake.”
“I told you already, I know nothing and I cannot help.” He walks away, angrily shaking his head. “This is typical of you, Alina. Your silly mind plays tricks on you.”
“I’m not being silly.”
“Aren’t you? Accusing your father of knowing something about a woman like Molchanie? She is dangerous. That’s all you need to know.”
“Papa—”
“Enough. No more. Do not ask me about that woman again, do you understand? No more!”
He storms out. I watch him go, surprised at his anger. I didn’t expect him to spill everything he knows, but I also had no clue mentioning Molchanie would make him that upset.
Clearly, there’s a lot he’s not telling me.
Which is extremely frustrating. I have three days to hunt down Molchanie, or at least to find out why she cares about my marriage to Seamus so much. Papa could help if he wanted, but it’s clear he’s not going to.
“Katya? Can you do me a favor?” I find the housekeeper in the hallway pretending to dust a dresser. She does that when she wants to hang around while looking busy.
“Anything at all, Alinochka. I just hope you can forgive your father. He can be so difficult sometimes.”
“That’s fine. I’m used to it. But I want to know where Taras is.”
She looks surprised. My much older brother and I never got along very well. We’re half-siblings, and he always treated me like a nuisance at best.
“Taras is in the gym downstairs.”
“Thank you!”
I stride past her and head into the basement. I find Taras sitting on a bench, sweaty and catching his breath, idly scrolling on his phone. He’s got his usual scowl on his face and glances up when I call his name.
“I didn’t know you were home,” he says, not sounding happy about it.
“Just here to ask Dad about something, but he wasn’t helpful.” I sit across from him.
“I doubt you’ll get more out of me. I’m still not finished with my workout.”
“What do you know about Molchanie?”
He frowns slightly. “The assassin? Not much. She’s expensive.”
“Dad said the same thing.”
“Because it’s true. Twice as much as anyone else. But she’s very, very good. Always gets the job done and cleans up afterward too.”
“Papa wouldn’t talk about her. The second I mentioned her name, he acted all strange.”
He grunts, tilting his head to the side. “He’s been strange for the past few days, actually. More reserved. Hiding in his office. I have no idea what’s going on with him.”
“Think it’s got to do with Molchanie?”
“I doubt it.” He puts his phone aside and glares at me. “Are we done? I need to get back to lifting.”
“Pleasure as always, brother.”
“Half-brother,” he corrects, which I knew he would.
I leave him to his weights, my brain working in circles.
Papa knows Molchanie. I don’t know if they’re close or if it’s something else, but they’ve got a connection. I’m absolutely sure of it. But I don’t know how that loops around to me.
I need to figure it out.
If I can, I might be able to stop Molchanie from killing again.