11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Nikolai
Istudy Lev’s face to see if he’s lying to me.
“Why did you call me over?” he asks, standing in my foyer, looking perfectly at ease. “I was out looking for your wife.” Do I detect a little bit of anger in his voice or am I imagining it?
I don’t really know Elena well but I could tell in her face that she wasn’t lying. That she really did see Lev corner Lana at our wedding. But does that mean anything? Was Elena mistaken in what she saw?
“I called you over because I just received some news. Did you talk to my wife on my wedding day?”
Lev pauses before he huffs. “Of course I did. You saw it. When I wished you two congratulations.”
“Yes. You did do that. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about when I wasn’t there. Did you corner my wife when she went to change her shoes? Did you threaten her?”
“Why would you think that?”
“That’s not a denial.”
Lev shakes his head. “I did no such thing.”
“Her sister saw you. Talking to Lana. She said you looked like you were threatening her. Were you?”
“Her sister is wrong. Clearly she takes after Lana.”
I stand up straighter. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t have time for this questioning. I’m trying to do my job by looking for your wife.” He heads to the door but I tell him to stop.
“I know you were against my marriage from the start. Do you have a problem with Lana, Lev?”
His back tenses but he doesn’t look at me. “I just didn’t think you should have gotten married. I mean, how can you trust a woman in this world? That’s all. But I don’t have a problem with your wife.”
“Then why can’t you say that to my face?”
Slowly, Lev turns around and looks me square in the eye. “I don’t have a problem with your wife. Happy?”
“Then where is she?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? She probably ran away. I’ve seen you two. You scare her.”
I flinch and I hate how Lev can see it. All I can think of is how Lana told all of her fellow ballerinas that I hurt her. She tried to kill herself after seeing me torture that man. Maybe she did run away. Maybe I’ll never find her again.
But if she did run away, there would be a paper trail I could follow. And so far, there hasn’t been anything.
“I’m worried someone took my wife,” I say, studying Lev’s face. His features don’t shift. But then again, I know Lev and how good he is at keeping his composure.
“You have a lot of enemies.”
“Do I? I made peace with Gregory Karetov, who was once my enemy. I don’t have that many. Not when I’m at the top. Not when I control this city.”
“You’re the Bratva, Nik. You will always have enemies.”
I walk closer to him until we’re toe-to-toe. “Did you do something to my wife, Lev?”
His head jerks up. “Why would you ask me that? We’ve been friends for years. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“I know we’ve been friends for years. But we’re also Bratva men. People can easily turn on each other.”
“Why would I hurt your wife? Would reason would I have?”
I dawns on me then, looking into his eyes. How angry he was after I changed Lana to be the beneficiary of my will. “You were mad that I went back on my promise to you. You were mad that Lana got everything in my will.”
“Sure. I was mad. But that doesn’t mean I’d hurt your wife, Nik. Not when we’re friends.”
“Mmm. Of course.” I take a step back. “I am sorry, Lev. I shouldn’t have accused you. I just want to find my wife.”
He fixes his jacket and pushes back his hair. Is it my imagination or is his hand trembling? “It’s all right. I know you’re upset. But let me get back to finding her for you. I promise I’ll find her. You’ll get your answer to where she’s been.”
“Thank you.”
Lev leaves my house but that doesn’t mean this is all over.
The moment he drives away from my house, I get into my car and follow him. I call Dimitri to do the same. “Lev is driving south.” I give him the exact road I’m on. “Come find us.”
“Got it, boss.”
Then I call Boris to do the same. He agrees without hesitation.
I stay far back so Lev can’t see that I’m following him. Lev is a paranoid man though. He always assumes someone is following him and will do everything in his power to avoid that. I watch him take random turns and speed through stoplights.
At one point, I lose sight of him but Dimitri gives me a call, letting me know he has sights on Lev. It helps lead me straight back to him.
This is insane, I tell myself. Tailing the man I have trusted most in this world. But I know Lev was angry when I married Lana. I know he was angry over the will. And if Elena was correct, Lev cornered Lana at our wedding. Without me there.
It’s hard to believe he could betray me but my gut has never been wrong. Lana has been missing for a long time now. She either ran from me or someone took her.
Lana is too focused on her dance career to leave that all behind. So that means someone took her.
Or she killed herself. I shut my eyes for just a second. No. Don’t go there. But my brain can’t help it. There is another chance that Lana could have ended her life and that’s why I can’t find her. That’s why there’s no paper trail. Because her body is just… somewhere.
But where would Lana kill herself? None of this makes sense.
When you’ve been in the mafia for as long as I have been, you notice when things don’t add up. And something isn’t adding up right now.
I keep losing Lev. Thanks to Dimitri and Boris though, I keep finding him. Where is Lev going? It’s clear we’re getting out of the city and going to the countryside. The rural countryside that’s made mostly out of trees. Why would he go here? I didn’t even know he had property all the way out here.
Maybe there’s a lot I haven’t known about Lev.
I lose Lev once again. The countryside doesn’t have many roads but there are tiny off-roads a person can take. Surrounded by trees. I drive along the main road, looking around but I don’t see anything. Where did he go? He couldn’t have just disappeared like that. Not on a singular road like this.
And that’s when I see it. A tiny outcropping. I stop the car. Looking through the trees, I can just barely make out a small cabin in the distance. My gut is telling me to get out.
I call Boris and Dimitri to let them know where I am and to come before I exit the car. My gun is in my hand, pointed at the ground.
The air is quiet here. Not even the sound of a bird chirping. The ground is covered in snow, muffling my footsteps. I shiver. My jacket isn’t warm enough for this weather. It’s not a big deal when I go from my car to my house but right now, it could cause problems.
I push those worries aside and focus on moving forward. The closer I get to the cabin, the more obvious everything is. Lev’s car is parked before the house. There’s no one else here.
I try the doorknob and it slowly opens. Stepping into the house, all I smell is musty air. This place is rundown. Bird droppings and mouse droppings everywhere. The furniture has seen better days.
The cabin is an open concept. I can see the living room and kitchen all from the doorway. There’s three doors in different walls that must lead to different rooms. I turn to my left and open that door. A bedroom. No one inside.
The second room is a bathroom. Also no one inside.
I know Lev is here so that leaves only one more door to check. I try to keep my footsteps light but I’m sure Lev can hear me. So why hasn’t he come out? What exactly is he doing?
I hesitate by the third door. I strain to listen but can’t hear a sound. With no other choice, I open the door and someone comes bursting out, running right into me.
Lev.
He stumbles back when he sees that it’s me. “Nik?”
“Lev. I didn’t know you owned a cabin out in the woods.” I keep my gun down. So far, I haven’t seen anything that would make me suspect him.
“I didn’t know you followed me here. Why did you follow me?”
“Because something strange is happening and I was listening to my gut.” My eyes flick behind him to the open door. The only thing I can see is stairs leading down to darkness. “What’s down there, Lev?”
Slowly, he shakes his head as his eyes narrow. “You shouldn’t have come here, Nik.”
That makes me raise my gun and point it at him. “What is going on?”
He also has a gun in his hands and points it a me. “You promised me everything and then you took it from me. How was I supposed to feel about that?”
“Is Lana down there? Is she… dead?” My breath catches in my throat.
“You actually care for the bitch? What is wrong with you? She should mean nothing to you. I’m the one who stood by your side and helped you grow in this business. Not her. Why does she get everything when I did all the hard work?”
“Is Lana down there, Lev? Just tell me.”
“Don’t make me shoot you. You’re my best friend.”
“I don’t want to shoot you either. So just tell me where Lana is. We can work this out.”
“Bullshit,” he hisses. “There’s no working this out.” He pulls the trigger. The bullet lands in the wall beside my head. My ears ring from the loud gunshot.
I react and fire at him but Lev is already running for the front door. I could follow him but I need to see if Lana is here. With a growl, I turn away from Lev and run down the stairs to come into a basement.
Lana is chained to a pole. Her chin is to her chest but I would know my wife anywhere. Beside her is a dead body. One of her fellow ballerinas. I recognize the girl but I can’t remember her name.
“Lana.” I kneel down beside her and push her hair out of her face, raising her chin up. “Lana.”
Her eyes flutter open and they widen when they see me. Instead of looking happy, she only starts screaming. Blood-curdling screams.
I wince. “Lana, it’s me. It’s Nikolai. Your husband. It’s me. Nik.”
She gasps and her eyes seem to finally recognize who I am. “Nikolai?” she whispers.
“Yes, sweetheart. It’s me. I’m here to save you.”
“You are?”
“Yes. Haven’t I always saved you?”
A sob rips itself from her throat and she cries large, ugly tears. But she has never looked more beautiful to me right now because I have her back.