23. Yana
Fyodor’s Rules #29 - Know when to admit defeat.
Iwas pretty sure Lukas had given up on trying to engage me in conversation. He had kept pushing me for some kind of emotional declaration, something about how I’d missed him or that I still loved him. I am sure he would have simply settled for an acknowledgement that I no longer hated him. But I couldn’t give him any of those words. I was still angry, and the more he talked, the more furious I became. And feeling furious led to me being stubborn.
Neither of us were getting anywhere.
I had to be keeping him from his work, there was no way that his normal job was to sit around and babysit people. In fact, I knew it wasn’t. But he must have trusted the staff he delegated to, because apart from the occasional phone call, I had his undivided attention.
And it was driving me crazy.
I needed some freedom. A chance to breathe air that didn’t have him clouding it. If I could just get out of this penthouse, maybe I could get word to my security guard pet that I was here, and then I wouldn’t feel so trapped. I knew Fyodor wouldn’t rescue me, but at least he would know I was safe. Instead, I was trapped in the kitchen, where Lukas was now refusing me a basic right.
“You won’t talk to me, so you don’t get coffee. You keep moaning how you’re a prisoner here, and you can’t trust us. So maybe it’s time we treated you that way. They only get bread and water, right?”
My eyes narrowed, the coffee machine was right behind him, and if I smashed his head into the counter, I could enjoy a quiet cup while he bled out on the floor. It was not exactly in line with my plan—wearing him down until he finally told me why they had tried to have me killed—but it would be a big tick on my revenge agenda. Unfortunately, or perhaps in a moment of good fortune, I was interrupted before I could answer. A throat cleared behind me.
“Yana, I would like to speak to you in my office, please. Lukas, I am sure your dogs would like some time out of the penthouse.”
I hadn’t turned around to look at Nikolai yet, my eyes remaining firmly on Lukas. He looked like he was going to argue, and I wanted to see it. His gaze flicked between Nikolai and me rapidly before he sighed and nodded.
Coward.
Since I would obviously not be getting a show, I turned to Nikolai. He looked more relaxed than usual, leaning against the wall, one hand in his pocket. He was still dressed in a suit, but he gave off the vibe of someone who slept that way, just in case they had a midnight meeting.
Motioning for him to lead us, I waited until he moved before I followed, despite knowing where his office was located. Lukas had given me an abridged tour on my second day as their prisoner. Having Nikolai at my back wasn’t a position I preferred. I liked to keep all of them where I could see them, so I didn’t have to worry about another knife in my back.
I had no choice but to move past him when he stopped just inside the doorway, holding the door open, but I wasn’t about to let him think I feared him. Keeping my back straight, my hips swayed sinuously as I moved into the office. I had more capacity to appreciate it now that I wasn’t half dead from blood loss. It was decorated much the same as the rest of the penthouse—which was to say not at all—his desk took up less space than you would expect, while most of the room was dominated by the different seating.
It was clear the boys did most of their talking in here, rather than in the living room, like normal people.
I took a seat on one of the couches along the wall. I was sure he was expecting me to sit in the strategically placed seat in front of the desk, but I had no interest in engaging in his power plays. If he wanted to talk to me, he could do it without the piece of wood between us. And without sitting on his throne. That’s all those fancy office chairs were modern day thrones for would be kings.
Nikolai seemed a little thrown by my seating choice, but quickly took it in stride. He didn’t join me on the couch, rather he turned the chair from the front of the desk so it faced me, and he was now sitting in the middle of the room. It still put us at different heights, but he was much taller than me and that would not change anytime soon, so I didn’t let it bother me.
“As I am sure I don’t need to point out, it has been a couple of days since you joined us. Yet, we are no closer to having the answers to any of the questions we asked you.”
Oh, so we were just jumping straight into it, were we? I raised my eyebrow, unimpressed with the way he was framing things.
“I’m here because I was kidnapped and tortured.” There was probably a more delicate way to put that, but this wasn’t that type of conversation. He seemed to want to sugarcoat things, but I was growing weary of that. I wanted honesty, and I needed answers.
“Alexei has a very particular way of gathering information. But you seem to know so much about us, I am sure you knew that already. He can be very protective of Pasha. It was foolish to go after him.”
I didn’t need him to point out the failures in my plan to me; I had done enough of that on my own. “What do you want, Nikolai? Lukas and I were spending quality time together.”
I ignored the bemused expression on his face, I was sure he had heard the arguments. No matter how much I tried to pretend not to care about what Lukas said, all it took was a few words from the man and I was on edge. It wasn’t even like he knew where the chinks in my armor were and targeted those. It was more like my armor vanished when he was around. No matter what he said or what he did, I felt all my plans vanish, and I just became angry and barely in control of myself.
“To talk, pchelka. This has gone on long enough, and you and Lukas don’t seem to be able to come to any sort of compromise. So, now you and I are going to talk. We must have something you want. You have been carrying these burdens for so long, so let’s speak and come to some sort of arrangement. Resolve some of this anger.”
As though it was just that easy, as if talking about the past would undo all the hurts that had been done. Did he think it would make the betrayal suddenly okay, and like the last decade hadn’t happened?
“And what sort of compromise are you offering? Are you going to let me go? You can’t just keep me a prisoner here forever. I have things I need to do, people who are relying on me.”
The tilt of his head was worrisome; I didn’t like it when people looked at me like that, like I had given them something they wanted. “Is one of those people Fyodor? Pasha has been looking for him.”
Pasha would never find him, but I didn’t say those words out loud. We had spent a decade hiding from the people looking for us. If I said that, though, he would point out that they had managed to catch me. But that was only because I’d made one stupid fucking mistake. And Fyodor was too smart for that.
“I thought you said you had something to offer me in return for information?” I tried to steer the conversation away from Fyodor. There was no way I could do it for long, but I was curious about what he was going to offer me.
Given his sigh, he was already frustrated, or maybe he was as tired of this whole situation as me. “What happened, Yana? You’re so hostile towards us. We’re your family. Do you have any idea what we went through when we thought you were dead? It almost killed us. Literally. I only just managed to get the others out in time, and even then it took Lukas and Pasha months to pull themselves together again. Alexei nearly got himself killed. He was on such a warpath.”
There was that familiar surge of anger I had become so accustomed to feeling the last few days.
“Stop saying that!” I couldn’t keep it in any longer. Every time they said how sad they were, it was a knife twisted in my guts, the pain unbearable. “You all don’t get to act like trying to have me killed was some great hardship for you all. Clearly it wasn’t. Haven’t you been cruel enough!”
I was panting by the time I stopped, and it took me a couple of seconds to wrangle my emotions back under control. Nikolai was staring at me in shock, but I couldn’t look at him right now. I twisted my hands around each other and crossed my legs, cringing at the feeling of the loose sweatpants I was wearing.
What I wouldn’t give for my own clothes right now.
Whether he was waiting for me to compose myself, or getting his own thoughts in order, it was hard to tell. But when Nikolai spoke, his voice was softer than I had ever heard it before. “You think we tried to have you killed?”
I couldn’t contain my scoff. I think I had done more scoffing in the last few days than I had in my entire life.
“What do you mean ‘do I think’? I know. I saw the bounties you ordered. We came to look for you, sure that it was all some kind of hoax and you had vanished. Phones disconnected, your things gone. All because you couldn’t face us, like the cowards you are. Well, don’t worry, I have had plenty of time to imagine the things I would do to make you all pay for everything I lost. All while you sat here safe and sound, smug in your fucking victory. So don’t try to gaslight me now, khuy.”
Nikolai didn’t look shocked anymore, he looked angry. Good, at least now they could finally stop pretending I was being kept alive because they cared. Clearly, they just wanted to pump me for information before they killed me. I would do the same thing in their place; I had planned on doing the same thing to Pasha.
“We saw the bounties too, Yana. The bounties on all of us.” There was that scoff again, but he didn’t stop speaking. “Along with pictures of you and Fyodor, dead.”
“Of course, you saw pictures of us dead! How else were we supposed to make you think you’d succeeded? We needed time and space to gather our power so we could repay your betrayal in kind.”
His eyes were narrowed now. “So you not only know where he is, but the two of you are behind the attacks on us?” His tone turned cold, and my veins glazed with ice. How the hell was I falling for the same tricks I used on other people? Fyodor wasn’t just going to be disappointed in me, he’d be disgusted.
“We only arrived in town the day before the Masquerade. If someone is attacking you, well clearly, you’re not as neutral as you thought,” was all the damage control I could improvise. They were all still wearing those damn earbuds. I needed to work out how to get one of them alone when they weren’t wearing them, then this would all be over.
“Yana, I don’t know where you got this idea that we’re the ones who tried to have you killed, but I would have thought you knew us better. That you trusted us.” The hurt tone in his voice would not get to me. I would not let it. This was just another one of their lies.
“The only people who can betray you are the people you care about. The ones you trust. Clearly, you had your own plans for gaining power in the city, and it didn’t take you long to carve out your own territory. Look at this place, you sit on your little throne.”
His hand was wrapped around my throat before I could take another breath, squeezing tightly. He was pulling me up slightly, my weight suspended by his grip, the two of us now at eye level.
“We paid for this place in blood, Yana. One night of absolute violence. Every contract killer and bounty hunter in the city who wasn’t neck deep in family ties—dead. We did it to keep ourselves safe, but also to avenge you. To make sure we killed whoever had fucking taken you from us.”
Both of his eyes were red now, and his fangs pressed against his lips. He looked like he was on the verge of snapping. Right now, I wasn’t sure if it was his temper that was going to snap, or my neck.
“Prove it.” The words weren’t as forceful as I would have liked, but there was only so much I could do with the minimal air in my lungs. I felt his fingers tensing against my throat as if he was considering breaking it before he let me go.
Of course, he was going to walk away from this standoff.
My surprise when he pulled out his phone was obvious, I was glad he wasn’t looking directly at me. And less than a minute later, Pasha was stepping into the office, tablet in hand, looking between the two of us.
“Judging by the tension in this room, I take it things are going well on the negotiation front.” Neither of us reacted well to his joke, but he didn’t seem worried. Instead, he just shook it off and looked at Nikolai.
“Yana is under the impression we were the ones that put the bounties out on her and Fyodor’s heads.” Nikolai had moved behind his desk and now stared down at me coldly. I was fine with the chill, it was better than all his fake caring bullshit.
And definitely better than the kicked puppy look Pasha was giving me.
“Of course, we didn’t do that . . . we would never.” Gods below, he even sounded hurt. Though I would not indulge him. Nikolai just waved a hand, as though none of what I thought mattered.
“I know you’ve kept the files we were shown, as well as the files on what we did, with all our notes. Could you show them to her, please?” He could have asked Pasha to show me a menu for all the emotion he displayed.
Pasha’s fingers moved over the tablet easily, before he turned it and handed it to me. As soon as I took it from him, my fingers immediately skated over the surface. But I wasn’t looking at what he had shown me as I tilted up the screen, making it harder for him to see what I was doing. Pasha must have been expecting me to try something though, because the internet had been disabled, and it required a password to turn back on. So much for using this chance to get a message out.
With no other choice, I looked over the photos and documents Nikolai wanted me to see. The first was somewhat familiar—I had seen the bounties before—but their list was longer and had their names on it as well. Fyodor had the largest total, then me and Alexei tied, Lukas came next, and then Nikolai and Pasha together. That must have frustrated Nikolai; he had always thought of himself as the best of us because he was the oldest.
The next were two pictures, side by side. One clearly looked like a dead Fyodor. He had clearly been taken out by a sniper rifle and was laying sprawled on his side, I could see some of his tattoos. But it was the other photo that made me queasy. I remembered the photos we had sent of our fake deaths; we were both shot execution style. I hadn’t been lying on my back, my throat slit wide while blood pooled around me, and my severed tongue laying on the ground.
That photo was going to give me nightmares.
The next document was a list. Some names were vaguely familiar, but not all of them. Each one had a list of locations next to them, and one highlighted beside each name. There were times and other notes about habits, weapons, any Scion abilities. It was a kill list, judging by the strike marks through the names.
It was compelling evidence, but I wasn’t totally convinced. I couldn’t be sure, after all, things could be faked. Wasn’t that what this all came down to? I handed the tablet back to Pasha, who took it carefully, smirking as his fingers flicked over it.
“Always look for an escape plan. Rule nine. Nice.” That wasn’t the wording I remembered, but while the structure of Fyodor’s rules often changed, the sentiment always remained the same.
I turned my attention back to Nikolai. These were his negotiations, after all. “How can I be sure that’s not been faked by Pasha? You want me to believe you were sold fakes after all?”
Leaning back in his chair, he watched me. “We got more than we bargained for, in our last pact for truth. I still owe you a question, so ask, and I will answer it truthfully, as per the pact.”
I had forgotten he still had a question left to answer, but now it had been brought to my attention, I could still feel the weight of the pact on my chest. The plan crashing down around my ears had stolen my focus at the time. That and the fact that one of them, Alexei, probably, had knocked me unconscious. Taking a small breath, I exhaled slowly and tilted my chin up.
“Were you, or any of the other Sirota brothers, responsible for the bounties placed on mine and Fyodor’s heads?” I had been careful with the wording. I didn’t want him to weasel his way out of telling the truth because one of the others had done it, and not him. It was more thought than I had put into most of the words I had said recently.
It felt like the question was just hanging in the air between us before he shook his head. “None of us wanted either of you dead. We didn’t put out a bounty. We weren’t responsible. We ran because we thought they were coming for us next, and we didn’t want to die, Yana.”
It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. I felt the magic lift; the pact fulfilled. Three questions, each answered honestly. As the magic faded, though, my world crumbled around me. The pillars I had built my life on for the last ten years were based on a lie.
What the hell was I supposed to do now? How was I supposed to feel?
There was only one thing I could think of, I needed to call Fyodor. We needed to talk about this, all of us. Unable to look at Nikolai, while the weight of what he had said pressed on my chest so heavily I could barely breathe, I sought the comfort of Pasha. His dark eyes filled with no malice, no coldness, just a desperate yearning to be believed.
“I need to make a phone call. Please.”
He looked at Nikolai first, and when the vampire nodded, he took a phone from his pocket, holding it out to me.
“It can’t be traced, and it’s secure, if that matters.”
It didn’t, but I appreciated his reassurance. My thumb felt heavy as it swiped over the numbers long memorized, and each ring felt like an eternity. I almost let a sob out when I heard it pick up, a long silence stretching out.
“Hello?” The gruff voice was suspicious, but that was to be expected. He didn’t have this number.
“It’s me. I’m safe, but we need to talk. All of us.” My voice was shaky, and he probably thought I was scared.
“Rybka? Where are you? Where have you been?” In contrast, he didn’t sound scared or angry. He was as firm as ever.
“At the boys’ hotel, downtown.” I didn’t look at Nikolai, not seeking permission as I shared with Fyodor where I was. “I have some new information and we need to talk. All of us. Please.”
“I’m on my way.” The line went dead before I could respond, and the phone slipped from my fingers, hitting the carpet.
All we could do now was wait.