Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
MIA
The day after he asked, Sasha and Aunt Linda come to see Demitri and me. Daniel trails in behind them, a silent observer. And probably a peacekeeper, if we need one.
“Demi.” Sasha nods. “You look much better.”
Using his fancy new talking toy, Demitri types. “ Can’t talk, don’t say anything about the voice.”
Sasha laughs, shaking his head. “Good thing that boy went army. He’d have driven us all crazy in the agency.”
“ What agency exactly ?”
“That’s hard to explain. Linda?”
Aunt Linda steps up to the bed, rubbing Demitri’s good foot. “We work for an unknown. We don’t have letters, and we answer to two people.”
“ Who ?”
“The President. And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Demitri blinks at them. I blink at them. Daniel says nothing.
“Surprise?” Aunt Linda uses jazz hands and an awkward grin. Demitri closes his eyes and shakes his head.
“ You did this my whole life ?”
“Yes. I was recruited while in college. Imagine if that news had gotten out.”
“ You’d be dead. Why ?”
“I didn’t want that life. I fell in love.” Sasha looks at Linda. “I didn’t want her life to be in danger every day. Nor do I think she would have stayed with me if I didn’t find a way. So I found a way.”
“I was recruited at the same time. Aunt Marley recruited me, Uncle Frank, Sasha. They were professors in the ethics class we took together in undergrad. They were looking at retirement and wanted us to take over.”
“How many of you are there?” I ask.
“Not many.”
“ Why didn’t you ever try to help me ?”
I look at Demitri’s face, and it’s full of a lifetime of hurt. Pain. Fear. This isn’t adult Demitri asking. It’s a scared little boy who grew up in a life he never should have had.
“I tried, Demi. I pushed for boarding school. Military school. Hell, I tried to get your otetz to send you to your babushka back home. He wouldn’t let you go.”
“ Who killed the others? The siblings? ”
“It might have been Andrey. But he wasn’t much of a kid killer. Couldn’t torture them like he likes.” Sasha pauses to look at Demitri’s hand, silently proving his point. “He might have beat you when you were younger, but I know for a fact he went easy on you. Never broke a bone then. We have a different theory.”
“Daniel and his team have been helping us with that,” Aunt Linda says, looking back at the man himself. “We don’t know for sure, and the records and people have been lost to time in some cases.”
“When the family was brought down the first time, it was by Davis Mills, who you know. His keeper, Marks, with the FBI, is currently serving jail time for assisting the enemy. When we started looking into her, there was a direct line between her and Katya, who we knew as Karina.”
“What do you mean?” I ask again, hoping these are the things Demitri wants to know.
“Karina had no past. No family, no record, nothing. She was too clean, which raised flags for us. No one is that squeaky. Joker couldn’t break her file. She had help. After we learned her real name, we were able to start piecing things together. Marks grew up in the same foster home as Katya. They became close, and from what we can tell, Marks helped Katya hide. She turned a blind eye to her when drug investigations were going down. She provided her with the information on the inheritance Ivan had, and what part of it was legal.”
“ She betrayed her office.”
“ And put a lot of people in danger. Life-threatening danger.”
“Why would she help Ivan get away with everything if she was Katya’s friend?” I ask.
“Money. Plain and simple. The woman was greedy and at the end of the day only out to take care of herself. Sure, she’d help her friend get a new identity, find others who would help her, stuff like that. But Ivan was the money and Marks was making money.”
“What happened to the other uncles? Katya said they were disposed of.”
Sasha clears his throat, looking away from both of us. “Andrey. Katya found them and asked for their help before I made myself findable. They didn’t want to help.”
“Where does Demitri come into all of this?” I ask, needing to know.
“I needed to keep him protected. Linda has been the watcher of the family since I joined. She was my handler, for lack of a better term. But she watched the family for me. She kept tabs on everyone coming and going through the house and the family. The women Ivan had, what happened to them, where they ended up. The lower levels that disappeared. She helped me keep my cover by remembering the details I couldn’t think about.”
“ My siblings?”
“Yes,” Aunt Linda replies. “I know all of their names and where they are. I know what’s happened to all of them.”
“ Mika? What really happened?”
Sasha bows his head, doing the cross over himself. “I couldn’t save her, Demi. I didn’t get there in time.”
Demitri folds in on himself. He still feels the pain in his heart that will never heal. I don’t blame him. There’s a part of me that will always be jagged with scars. He reaches for my hand, pulling it to his lips and pressing my palm against them.
Sasha stands, coming to our sides, putting his hands on both of us. “I’m done. I’m an old man, plemiannik . I want to enjoy what time I have left. I want to spend it with my real family. With my wife, with you, if you’ll have me. It’s time.”
“What about you?” I ask Aunt Linda, already knowing what her plans are, but asking for Demitri’s sake. “What are your plans?”
Without hesitation, she pulls out a box and hands it to me. “This is for you. When you’re ready. We hope that you and Demitri will think long and hard and come to the same decision Sasha and I did.”
The couple stands and says their goodbyes, leaving us to stare after them.
“ You know?”
Daniel looks at Demitri and nods his head. “I guess in some ways, no matter how removed we are from ‘the family’, we’re never really too far away, are we?”
“ Are you embracing your Italian roots?”
“Hanging out with you and the Irish man too much.” Daniel grins back.
When Daniel leaves I hold up the box between us, not sure if it’s a gift or a time-bomb.
“ Open it.”
I do as he asks, and on top is a letter. Opening it, I scan it quickly before quietly reading out loud to Demitri:
‘My dear Mia, I know all of this is shocking and a little terrifying, but you, my dear girl, can handle it. Inside this box is everything you need to get started. The key to the apartment I’ve used for years to meet with those who had secrets to tell. I’ve moved anything personal out, and it’s yours now. Use it, or return the key to Daniel, and he will know what to do.
You and Demitri are the ones we’ve been searching for, waiting for. The first time I saw you, I knew you were the one. That you fell into our Demitri’s arms and he couldn’t find it in himself to leave you, we knew you would be the next generation to take over. To watch, to learn, and to listen. To hear the secrets others were afraid of.
Both of you are uniquely qualified because of your individual pasts. The resilience both of you have shown to survive and flip off those assholes of yesteryear shows your strength, both mentally and physically.
Please do not go into this thinking there is no risk. You will face them. And you will overcome them. We will train you on how to handle them. We’d never leave you out there completely on your own. If you decide to do this, we are here for you. Both of you. Together, you are unstoppable. All our love, Aunt Linda and Sasha.’
The letter goes on to list all the names and locations of Demitri’s half-siblings and the locations of both the office we are to contact if we choose to do this and the house that Aunt Linda and Sasha have owned for the entirety of their lives together.
We stare at each other, not sure what to say. I look back into the box and find a keyring with six keys on it, all the same cut. Perplexed, I look back to Demitri, who shrugs.
“Something we find out when the time is right, maybe?” I quietly ask.
He nods, not releasing my hand to type.
Guess we have some thinking to do.
SIX MONTHS LATER
“Brodie, need an order of mozz!” I call through the window.
“On it, Boss.”
Thursday nights are still rocking with the college kids, and they do love their alcohol and fried foods. We’ve made it through the semester break and the holidays. I look at the ring Demitri gave me on New Year’s Eve when he asked me to marry him. We were on the beach in Diamond Cove visiting Aunt Linda and Sasha. And yes, she’s still Aunt Linda to us. Guess she always will be.
I look at the corner of the bar, full of my family. The one I made. The girls are all here, as well as some of the guys. Aiden sits with them next to Demitri. Grady is behind the bar with me, now a regular part-time bartender when he isn’t out rescuing people or guarding their bodies with his life. Demitri smiles when I look at him. His face is still a bit crooked, but I don’t mind. His injuries have mostly healed, but the scars will last forever. He’s not as adept in the garage as he was because of his fingers. His elbow causes him so much pain when the weather changes, and he’s got a slight limp from the broken ankle, but that hasn’t stopped him.
He goes out running every morning. Mostly to prove to himself he can. Then he comes home, drags me to the shower, and greets me with a good morning orgasm before we start our day. I’m not mad about it.
Both of us are in touch with the therapist on ANON’s staff, Claire. Demitri has been able to talk out so many of his demons from the past, and he’s lighter somehow. He doesn’t carry the weight of guilt anymore. Claire introduced us to her friend—and Daniel’s mother-in-law—Gloria, who it turns out was the therapist I was being recommended to. Small world, right? We all laughed about the coincidence, and she praised my man for his patience and gentleness with me. We met her a few times, and I still speak with her on occasion when I’m in Briar Mountain, but my own mental health is much better as well.
“Um, hi,” a small voice interrupts my daydreaming. “I’m sorry to bother you, but, um, I have a question?”
I stare at the girl, who doesn’t even look old enough to be in the bar, taking note of her appearance. Her clothes seem faded and too big, like she’s lost weight. Her face is pale, gaunt. She needs a good meal, that’s for sure. Her hair looks dull, clean, but a few days past a fresh wash. However, it’s her eyes that have my attention. The haunted look. It takes me a few minutes, but I recognize the girl.
“Lacy?”
She nods, and I look over at Demitri, who immediately stands and slowly moves to us.
“What do you need, sweet girl?” I ask.
“I need to know where I can find Aunt Mia? I was told she would be here.”
I nod, having already guessed. I smile at her and she relaxes. “I’m Aunt Mia,” I confide. “And that man walking toward us? That’s Uncle John. How would you feel about Brodie making you something to eat and we can go talk in the office?”
She smiles, and a little of the Lacy I remember is there. “I’d like that, but I’m not sure what I can eat.”
“I’ve got just the thing.”
I point to the office and speak quietly to Grady. Demitri has already moved to the kitchen to talk to Brodie, and I make eye contact with the girls before removing myself from behind the bar. All of them blow me a kiss, knowing I might not be back out tonight, and I meet Demitri at the kitchen doors. I pull out my phone and show him the screen.
Source: It’s time to give Brodie the key and make it official. He’s now family.
“Will we ever figure out who that is?” Demitri asks.
“Don’t know, but we can worry about it later.”
“Just one thing before we do this.” He smirks, pulling me in for what would normally be a panty-melting kiss, our tongues dancing with each other before he pulls back. “It’s been too long since I’ve done that, needed to fix it.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Krasotka . Let’s go help our new plemiannica .”
“Together.”
“Forever.”