Chapter Twenty-Three
“You broke my eye socket,” Dmitri hurls at Kaz.
“You’re lucky I didn’t break your goddamn neck.”
The doctor mutters something in Russian before returning to tend to Dmitri’s eye.
“I leave town for one night. ONE,” Mama says. “And you boys turn into animals. Lili already told me how you swarmed her and Arkadi last night.”
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more awkward than I do standing in this living room. A Volkov family meeting is not something I should be a part of. Yvonne continues to scold Mikhail, Dmitri, and Kaz for their fight. She sounds like my mother. All the more reason for me to get the hell out of here. This has nothing to do with me. I stand, scooting closer to the door. Thank the saints, I chose to go barefoot after I threw on some jeans and a shirt. My footsteps are quiet but not quiet enough.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Dmitri growls. He flies across the room, getting right in my face. “This is all because of you.”
“No, it’s not,” I state. “I didn’t steal your money. The Taylors did.”
That’s the most logical explanation at this point. But Dmitri Volkov is anything but fucking logical.
“Through your family’s casino. Maybe that’s why you really killed Thomas.”
I narrow my eyes. I’ve about had it with this idiot and his bullshit. “Keep running your mouth, Volkov. I dare you.”
His bloodshot eyes clear slightly. Dmitri takes a step back, knowing I’m dead serious. I would gut him like a fish without batting an eye, and I’d do it in front of his stepmother.
“How do you explain the money?” he asks me.
“Thomas gave it to Bristol; Bristol found a way to run it through the casino without Simone finding out.”
Even to me, it sounds far-fetched. Simone is a known control freak. But it’s the only explanation. It’s the only possible thing. My family and I may not always ride on the right side of the law, but we aren’t thieves. We prefer to earn our money rather than steal it.
“There’s no way,” Dmitri scoffs. “We’ve met Simone. She wouldn’t miss something like that.”
“She’s been a little distracted lately,” I reply.
It’s true. In these last six months, she’s had a stalker, been kidnapped and rescued, and married my brother’s best friend. Bristol probably saw it as an easy opportunity.
Dmitri doesn’t buy my words. I can see it in how he shakes his head at me. But I don’t give a shit if he believes it or not. It’s the truth. Or close to it, at the very least.
“Let me call my brother, he’ll tell you we have nothing to do with this.”
Dmitri scoffs, turning away from me. “Let you call the very man you’re working for? Not a chance.”
“Were you dropped on your head as a baby?” I ask. “Or are you really this stupid?”
“What the fuck did you just say?”
“Enough,” Yvonne says. “Vivienne, go check on Lilianna, please. I need a moment to speak to my sons.”
“Fine by me,” I say before turning and leaving the room.
I need to find a way out of this place. I’ve been trying to be patient and wait for my brother to come get me. He has to know where I am by now. I’m sure Leland told him the Volkovs were behind my disappearance. But I’m sick of this place and sick of Dmitri. Kaz and Mikhail are fine, but the third brother is a douche.
I find Lilianna in the kitchen. She sits at the island with a bowl of cereal and her phone in her hand. The teenager doesn’t look up at me as I walk in.
“Still mad at me?” I ask.
Lilianna nods, taking a bite of her cereal.
“I’m sorry, Lilianna. But your boyfriend is kind of a jerk.”
Her eyes fly to mine. “He is not.”
“Sweetheart, did you hear the way he spoke to you?”
“He loves me.”
My heart cracks open. I’ve met many women in Lilianna’s situation. So in love, they’re too blind to see it’s all an illusion. It’s a dangerous place to be, and I refuse to let Lilianna fall prey. But I don’t know how to reach her. How to help her see the truth.
“Okay,” I relent for now. “Are you party planning?”
“There’s no point if Arkadi isn’t coming. The whole thing was his idea.”
“You don’t want a party?”
She shrugs. “I mean, I guess it would be kind of nice to see what it’s all about, but I wasn’t going to ask for one. It feels wrong to do it.”
“Why?”
Lilianna sighs. “It feels wrong to ask him to take care of me when he never wanted to be a father to begin with. My mother chose to be a mother, but he chose not to. Why should he have to be responsible for me now?”
“I think you’re wrong about him,” I reply.
“Is that because you were in bed with him and Kaz?”
I feel my cheeks heat with pink embarrassment. “That is not your business, kiddo.”
“I heard Dmitri tell Mama Volkov.”
“Of course you did. Look, I think you should have a party if you want one. I know being in a new place with new people is weird. And I don’t know what happened between your parents. But I think if your father knew about you, he would’ve chosen you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because he’s still here, Lilianna. You’ve thrown a lot at him over the last month. And he’s still here, trying to find a way to love you.”
I watch her as she soaks in my words. All I can do is hope she understands. I feel protective of Mikhail and her. Maybe it’s because I lost my dad that I want them to have that relationship. To have that closeness I used to. But I also think Mikhail’s ex has poisoned Lilianna’s mind with some really weird ideals. So maybe if we can show her that her mom was wrong about her father, she’ll stop believing all the others, too. But that theory hinges on the assumption that Mikhail isn’t the unhinged beast in her mother’s stories.
“Only time will tell,” Lilianna quips.
“You should still have a birthday party either way.”
“You think?”
“If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s to never turn down an opportunity for cake.”
Lilianna laughs. “Fine. I’ll have a party. Will you help me plan it?”
“I thought you were still angry with me?”
“A little, but I need someone to help me.”
I laugh. “Works for me. I’ll help you plan it. When is your birthday?”
“Saturday.”
I give her a look. “You really didn’t leave yourself much time, did you?”
“Like I said, it was a last-minute decision.”
“No kidding. Any idea what kind of party you want?”
She shakes her head, slurping on her cereal-flavored milk. “Would it be bad if I said I want it to be like the rave from the movie the other night?”
“It’s not bad. It’s good to ask for what you want. I’m sure Mikhail won’t care.”
“Could you ask him? He likes you.”
My eyes widen as a blitz of memories hit me. It felt mostly like being stuffed full of Mikhail and Kaz last night. If that was any indicator, I’d say they both like me.
“I’ll um, I’ll think about it. It’s not really my place, though.”
“What isn’t your place?” Mikhail asks, stepping through the door.
“Perfect timing,” Lilianna says.
She tosses her bowl in the sink, coming to stand next to me. “Please talk to him.”
Lilianna doesn’t stick around after that. She walks past her father and out the door, going who knows where.
“She’s still upset with me,” Mikhail says. He sighs as he walks over to the coffee maker and pours himself a cup.
“Of course, she is. You embarrassed her in front of her boyfriend.”
“So did you, and she seems to like you just fine.”
I shrug. “It’s different.”
“Right,” He takes a sip of his bitter black coffee. “What is it she wants you to talk to me about?”
“Her birthday. She wants a big party. A rave, she said.”
“A rave? Seriously?”
“A PG one, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure.” He laughs. “That girl. She’s just like her mother sometimes, I swear.”
“How so?”
Mikhail raises an eyebrow at me. He’s dressed in a crisp white button-down. The sleeves are rolled up, and his forearms flex as he raises his cup to his lips and drains the last of it.
“Are you fishing for information?”
“I’m not fishing. I’m asking. Tell me about your ex.”
“I married Katerina because my father ordered me to. We were married for a year before I filed for divorce.”
“So you never loved her?”
He smirks at me, ignoring my question. “She was a drama queen. Every other day was a life-or-death problem. It was tiring.”
“Is what she told Lilianna true?”
“You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
I shrug. “I’m just asking.”
“Yes, the things she told Lilianna were true, but I was not the one who did them. My father was. They were crimes he committed against his own wife.”
My mouth falls into an O shape. That’s an extra shitty type of person. To twist something like that is disgusting.
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Mikhail says.
“Why haven’t you told Lilianna that?”
“I’m not sure she would believe me if I did.”
“Fair point.”
The shriek of Mikhail’s phone penetrates the air around us. I make myself busy as he answers it. There’s no use trying to eavesdrop when they’re speaking in Russian. If only I had taken Russian in high school instead of Spanish. Mikhail’s voice turns cold as he replies to whoever is on the other end. He barks something into the phone before slamming his finger on the screen and ending the call.
“Everything okay?”
Mikhail looks over at me. For a moment, he looks every bit the cold-hearted bastard everyone says he is.
“Just work.”
My ears perk up. In a world as dark as ours, work almost always equates to violence.
“Anything interesting?”
“Why? Are you bored, pretty girl?”
“Maybe. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten my hands dirty.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Stabbing my brothers wasn’t enough?”
“Are they dead?”
Mikhail smiles at me. His white teeth contrast with his tanned skin. He runs a palm over the scruff spread over his jaw.
“You have no idea how perfect you are for us.”
“So I keep hearing.”
But it doesn’t mean a damn thing.
“Usually, I’d hand a job this messy off to Kaz.”
“But?”
“Get your coat. We’re going out.”
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Giddy and excited. Except the only thing I’ll be tearing open will be bodies.