29. Daniil
Daniil
We pull up to the estate gates and the family crest stares back at me, the black metal wolf with the skeleton key in its mouth.
The driver pulls through, and we wind up the long driveway toward the white mansion with its black roof and massive modern windows.
Behind it there’s a pool that connects to what used to be the guest house, and I can see our childhood home in the distance.
Lina wants us here for safety. It makes sense given everything that’s happened. It’s just a prettier version of being locked up, but whatever. I’m too exhausted to care.
Mikhail gets out and comes around to my side, helping me out and grabbing my elbow to steer me toward the entrance. “We moved everything from the apartment. Haven’t unpacked yet though,” he says, glancing over at me as we step through the door.
Lina’s sitting on the couch with her phone.
She looks up when we walk in and gestures to the couch facing her.
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you the truth about what happened when you were young.
We kept it from you because we thought we were protecting you.
I know that sounds selfish, but we believed it was the right choice at the time. ”
We head to the couch, and Mikhail helps me down before sitting beside me. Once we’re both settled, he nods at her to continue.
She takes a breath, then looks at us. “When Roman came to America, he took New York from the Nozares family. Everyone knows that story. He had to be ruthless to secure the territory before bringing us over, so he took out every single one of them. During that time, he started hearing rumors that Santiago had gotten some whore pregnant. She was German, and Santiago sent her back home.”
My brain is trying to process what she’s saying, and I nod.
She clears her throat and sighs. “Roman searched for information about this woman because he wanted to know if there were loose ends Santiago might use against us later. He tracked her to Germany and went there to see for himself. The place was a disaster, littered with trash and animals, falling apart at the seams. The woman, Mia, your biological mother, was a drug addict. No one knows if Santiago was aware of that when he sent her away. Roman cleared out the entire place and killed everyone there.”
She takes a breath before continuing. “When Roman was about to leave, he heard crying coming from underneath the floorboards. He had to search the whole house for the source, and it took him forever because the sound was muffled, echoing through the walls. He finally found you under the floor in the back room, crying, covered in dirt. You were so little and malnourished that he said it would have been a mercy to kill you, but he didn’t do it.
Instead he took you and faked your death.
Sent them pictures of a dead toddler from police evidence to make it believable.
I had just miscarried twins a few months before, so he brought you to me. ”
She swallows. “But you were in such bad shape that we had to take you to the hospital immediately. You spent a month there fighting infections while I visited every day. You had cuts and burns and bruises all over your body, faded black ones, yellow ones, fresh ones everywhere. Scabs and open wounds that kept getting infected. You almost died in the first week at the hospital. It was horrific, Daniil. We took you in, changed your name, gave you the Avrorin name, and raised you as ours. That’s the entire story. ”
I don’t know what to do with any of this. My brain refuses to grasp or understand any of that. All of that happened to me?
Mikhail pulls out his phone and scrolls to the questions I prepared. “Does Santiago know he’s his son and that he’s alive?”
“No,” she says, tapping her fingers against her knee.
“The attack wasn’t connected to this. They were just trying to sabotage our operations.
I got reports that Mateo Nozares was there though, no one knows why.
We’re setting up peace negotiations with them now thanks to Yulian.
No more attacks. They accepted because Roman is dead. ”
Mikhail and I exchange a look.
“Did Danya have anything with him when you found him?” Mikhail asks, reading another question.
“No. Just the elephant.”
“The photo. Why keep it?”
She swallows, her gaze shifting to me. “I wanted to remind myself that I did something good. That having you in my life, saving you, was worth all the risk.”
Sweat beads at my forehead, and Mikhail shifts beside me, the bruises on his neck show better in this light. I swallow hard, closing my eyes. She doesn’t even know what happened to him…
Mikhail starts to read another question, but I open my eyes and mouth no. I can’t handle anything more. I got the answers I needed. I just want to move on.
She catches the exchange. “We just have to keep you two a secret for a little while. I’m not doing it for selfish reasons. I promise.”
Mikhail curses under his breath. “We already told you we would, so quit bringing it up.”
She sighs and rubs her jaw. “It’s still weird for me, seeing you two together like this. But I want you both to know that I accept you. I love you both. It’s just going to take me some time to get used to it.”
I don’t blame her. This has to be a mindfuck to process. We’re brothers to them. They watched us grow up side by side, so seeing us like this probably breaks their brain a little. I get it.
My hands come up to pinch the bridge of my nose, my breath coming short and shallow.
“I think that’s enough for today,” Mikhail says.
“Da. I can help you to bed,” Lina says, and I hear her shifting up from the couch, footsteps coming toward me.
She helps me stand, and Mikhail takes my other arm, both of them guiding me down the hallway to the bedroom downstairs.
My bed from the apartment is already set up and I sigh in relief when I see it.
“You sure you don’t want to know anything else?” she asks softly.
I give Mikhail a look, and he answers for me. “No, he’s tired.”
She reaches over and pats my arm gently. “I’ll be putting the funeral arrangements together. You can come over whenever you want. And Daniil, I’m sorry. I really am.”
Once she leaves, I lower myself onto the bed carefully, a second later, the bed dips as Mikhail climbs in next to me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Do the answers help at all?”
“Not really. I was caught off guard.”
He reaches over and grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. “I’ll take care of you. As long as I’m here, you’re safe.”
I don’t know how to process any of it. I knew something bad happened to me when I was little, but hearing the details out loud makes me feel sick. At least Roman’s gone. That’s one good thing in all of this.
“He told me he wanted me to take over,” he says quietly.
“What?”
“He said I was supposed to be his heir, whatever that means. I don’t want to do it. I don’t know why he thought I was a good fit for any of it.”
“You are though. You just don’t see it. You’re strong, and you would have been good at it.”
“Nah. I don’t want it. Let Yulian or Lev have it. They actually care.”
He rubs his thumb along my jaw, those blue eyes staring down at me. My hands come up to trace over the family motto tattooed across his throat.
“Mikhail.”
He gives me that look, the one that says don’t push it, so I think carefully about what I want to say. “Whatever he said to you isn’t true. I want you to know that. Nothing that bastard ever said to you was true, and whenever you want or need to talk to me about it, I’m here. Okay?”
He nods, swallowing hard.
“I think I need to see a trauma specialist or something,” I say. The words feel weird in my mouth, but I force them out anyway. “Someone who could help me process all of this.”
“You would do that?”
“I mean, I don’t know how it works when I can’t even talk to anyone but you, but you could come with me. Would you do that?”
“Of course, Danya. Anything.”
I hold back the words that this is for him as much as it’s for me.
He needs someone to talk to about his problems, even if he doesn’t see it yet.
If he goes thinking it’s all about helping me, maybe he’ll figure out along the way that he needs it too.
What he’s been through has been so much worse than anything the rest of us dealt with.
“I really miss you, by the way,” he says, groaning. “I haven’t had an orgasm since the day of the event.”
I huff out a breath. “Same.”
“Maybe later when you feel better.”
I shoot him a look. I’m exhausted. I need at least a month of sleep before I can function like a normal person again.
“Do you want to ask the rest of the questions you had me write down later?” he asks.
“No.”
“Danya—”
“I heard enough. I’m done with that part of myself.
She gave me what I needed to know, and I don’t want to dig any deeper.
The only thing that mattered was whether anyone from back then was still alive, and she said they’re all dead.
So I need to move on now. We got the answers though, thank you for not giving up on helping me find them. ”
“Are you sure?”
Nodding, I glance around the room. The walls are white and sterile, and I hate it.
Once we’re both feeling better, maybe we can paint them, make everything brighter and more alive in here.
Turn this place into something that actually feels like home instead of another pristine cage. We could get dogs too.
“Can we paint the walls?” I ask.
“Whatever you want,” he murmurs, his hand sliding down to rest on my hip. “We can make it look however you want. This is our place now.”
He kisses my neck and tightens his arms around me. I sigh in relief. My eyes are already closing before I can think about fighting it.