Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
LOCH
“Our sister! How the fuck is that possible?” Axel fumes, pacing like a lion across our mom’s living room, its wooden beamed ceilings, plank floors, alabaster walls, and sweeping ocean views like a cage to him.
White slipcovered sofas and coastal-blue chairs frame the open space, with each spot taken by the stunned kings and queens.
None more shocked than our mother.
Her elegant face, frozen in horror.
“Mom.” I reach for her hand. “I’m sorry to break this news. Fuck, are you okay?”
Alena sits on my lap, nudging me, shaking her head because it’s clear.
My mom’s not okay.
Today was supposed to be a celebration. Our entire family together after Sire’s sermon, celebrating his safe return and Axel’s son, Lev’s arrival.
Alena and I were going to announce our engagement.
Again. Wren’s pregnant. Ruby’s pregnant.
Nick and Zar are partnering with a surrogate. They’re expecting a baby too.
This was supposed to be the perfect start to the perfect year.
Instead…
“A sister?” Grant asks, leaning forward, clasping his hands with Delphine beside him, wringing hers. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”
“I’m shocked that fucker has the balls to be here,” Nick seethes. “One of us needs to shoot his ass and end this hell.”
“It wouldn’t end it,” Jace predicts, sitting with Nash and Vale on a sofa, their eyes narrowed, taking this all in. “His soldiers have orders to come after all of us? Right?”
He turns to Sire, who’s nestled with Wren in an oversized chair. She’s on his lap, and he’s not letting her pregnant belly go. “Right,” Sire confirms. “And now it all makes sense.”
“What makes sense?” Ruby challenges, then chides, “And keep it down, y’all. Lev’s napping in the other room.”
Lowly, Sire explains, “When I was in Moscow, waiting for my surgery, I met with Tariel.” He looks to Axel. “Remember him?”
Axel nods, still pacing. “Our father’s Avtoritet, his top brigade leader.”
“Yeah,” Grant adds, “he was always nice to us.”
“He was,” Sire agrees. “I think he felt sorry for us. And I hope he’s the next Pakhan once Ruslan dies. I told him, we, the kings, do not want that throne. He can have it.”
“In exchange for what?” Nash calculates.
“In exchange for the intel he gave me,” Sire continues. “He said Lev wasn’t the only child taken.”
“What?” Ruby glances around. “You mean, one of you has unknowingly sired another child, and Ruslan has them?”
“No.” I clench my jaw, hating the pain on our mother’s face, the pain I caused. “He meant Sasha, our sister, was taken.” All eyes fall on me, disbelieving, but I insist, “I don’t have the words to describe it, except I was looking in the mirror the moment I met her.”
“Yeah, the moment you met her as Sheremetev’s escaped wife,” Jace snarls.
“Okay, hang on.” Wren directs the room. “Back up. First, tell me, how is Sasha your sister?”
Stares turn to The Queen, who hasn’t spoken.
From her white linen armchair, she stares, transfixed by the ocean. Roman sits on the ottoman, holding her hand, but it’s like she’s trapped in her memories. Miles away. Years ago.
“Mom.” I touch her hand again. “Mom, please say something.”
For a long moment, she doesn’t speak before a tear slides down her cheek as she mutters, “I can’t believe he did it.”
“Did what, my Queen?” Axel finally halts, his words warm with concern. It mirrors mine.
She looks at him, then at me, pain brimming in her lapis eyes. “I can’t believe he took my daughter.”
My heart stops. Logic stunted. “But, Mom, how’s that possible? You only had six children, right?” Glancing at Nash. “That you gave birth to?”
She shakes her head as Sire clears his throat. He explains to me, “That she’d remember. You, Nick, and Jace were cesarean births.”
I blink, not following. “And so?”
Axel’s nostrils flare. He remembers too. “And so, Mom was knocked out for them. Seemed excessive at the time, and it was. It was his control.”
“So, what are you saying?” Horror hits Ruby’s face. “Are you saying Ruslan took a newborn from her? Nadine had twins, and he took her daughter, without her knowing? He’s that evil and powerful?”
No one nods.
No one agrees.
No one breathes.
The truth rips the oxygen from the room.
Until Jace snarls, “I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
Rarely does Jace get mad. He’s the kind one. The gentle giant. The loving one until you fuck with someone he loves. Then he’s ruthless, and more wicked and ruinous than any king.
“But wait.” Wren raises her hand. It’s cute. She can’t help it. “I have a question.”
Sire caresses her curls. “Yes, Angel?”
“Why would Ruslan do it?” Wren asks. “Why would he take his daughter and not take his son? And whose twin is she?”
“Loch’s.” Alena turns to me, studying my face. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Then again, I didn’t see so much. But Loch…” Tears well in her eyes. “Sasha. She’s your twin. It’s obvious. You have the same eyes.”
“What?” I turn to my mom. “Is it… is it possible?”
She won’t stop shaking her head. She won’t stop crying, ironically elegant in how tears silently stream down her face, schooled like stone.
A skill she learned while married to our father.
“He never let me see ultrasounds,” she murmurs. “He never let me hear heartbeats. He controlled my doctors, my medical care, my births. But I was so big with you, I knew something was different. And I went into early labor, and when I awoke, he said there were twins, but one had died and…”
She gulps, choking down a sob.
I’ve never seen my mother like this, almost broken, and it kills me. I glance around the room, and I’m not alone. Tears for her tears fall.
“But why would he take his daughter?” Delphine sniffs, crying. “Why not his son, no? It is all he wanted. A dauphin. An heir to his throne. A boy. Why leave Loch and take Sasha?”
Mom wipes the tears wetting her cheeks. “The tests he’d make the doctors run. For each pregnancy. He knew about me and Maxim. That Maxim was the only kindness, the only love I had.”
“Amniocentesis.” Vale nods. “You can use it to test paternal DNA and for heteropaternal superfecundation.”
“Okay, Dr. Sex,” Ruby gently teases. “What does that mean?”
But Vale has a PhD in this. I trust her expertise. We need it.
“It means,” she explains, “the same mother but different fathers. Two eggs, two acts of insemination closely timed, but one pregnancy. It’s rare, but possible. And it results in twins who are half-siblings.”
My head spins. My world. Our world, whipping out of focus. “So, so… I have a twin?”
“We have a sister,” Axel decrees. “We all have the same mother, and in our hearts we know who our dad was, despite who our father may be. Either way, Sasha is ours. She’s Mom’s daughter.”
“Oh, Nadine.” Alena falls to her knees by my mom’s chair, reaching for her hand. “I’m so sorry. He took your daughter. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m okay, dear.” My mom finally focuses, stroking Alena’s hair.
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.” But Jace is in a rageful trance.
“Hang on.” Wren waddles to her feet. Her fists land on her waist, her baby bump proud.
“This puzzle is pissing me off. Now we know who Sasha is. She’s Nadine’s daughter.
Our family. And given what a big, Bratva asshole Ruslan is, he took Sasha, without Nadine knowing it.
But whose daughter is she? His? Or Maxim’s? ”
“His,” Axel reasons. “All Ruslan cares about is his blood, his lineage. And Loch?” He looks at me, my gaze a blur. “I meant it. You’ve always had Maxim’s honor. You’ve always had his hero’s heart. You’re Maxim’s son, and Sasha is Ruslan’s daughter, so he took her.”
“And then Sheremetev took her!” Sire jumps to his feet. “God have mercy, that’s it!”
“What’s it?” Ruby shakes her head. “This pregnancy has all my blood, not my brain. Explain it to me.”
“Don’t blame it on pregnancy,” Wren insists. “You’re a new mom to Lev, you’re not sleeping, but I get it. Sheremetev and Ruslan are sworn enemies. Ruslan took Sheremetev’s territory and trade, so Sheremetev took the one thing Ruslan couldn’t replace. His daughter.”
“Fuck me,” I mutter, fighting my shock. “Fuck me, that’s it. That’s the connection: Alena, Wren, Sasha, Ruslan, and Sheremetev.”
I jump to my feet, joining Sire’s sermon. “Remember when someone tried to take Alena? I bet it was one of Sheremetev’s soldiers.”
“Someone tried to take me?” Alena’s horrified.
“Yes,” Nash answers her. “You were a toddler. And me and your mom were working, and Nadine was babysitting you when a man broke into her house and tried to kidnap you.”
“What?” Alena’s eyes bulge. “That’s twice now someone’s tried to fuck with me?”
“Yeah.” Nash nods. “Sorry, not sorry, sweetpea, for all the protection.”
“You know what’s so sweet?” Grant boasts. “Loch was there. He was just a little tyke who fought that fucker like a champ. He tried to protect you and Mom.”
“What?” Alena whips her stare from Grant to me. “You tried to save me?”
“Yes, he did.” Mom stirs, finally sitting taller.
“So, Sheremetev couldn’t take one of ours,” I explain to Alena—to the others.
“He couldn’t extort us to work with him against our father.
Whatever the fuck his plan was. But he’s a piece of shit trafficker, so while he waited, he tried to traffick Wren and other girls.
Then he took Sasha and forced her to marry him so he could bring her here, out of Ruslan’s reach, but rubbing it in his face. ”
“Ruslan led me to Wren,” Sire divulges.
“What?” Now Wren’s whipping her stare to Sire. “How did he know about me?”
“I mean.” Sire takes her hand. “Ruslan’s been sneaking me intel for years about different trafficking rings throughout the South. Really, he was sending us on missions to find Sasha, but thankfully, Angel.” He pulls her to him. “I found you.”
“But I found Sasha,” Alena adds. “And now, Sheremetev has her again. And Ruslan said yesterday, he wants me and Loch to find her. He said if we returned her to him, he’d leave us alone.
It’s a truce. And Sheremetev is The Warden, known for trafficking in our area, the mountains, just as he did with Wren.
So, Sasha’s right under our noses; we just have to find her. ”
“We will find her,” Mom snarls, surging to her feet. “So help me God, I will rip those mountains apart to find my daughter. She’s mine! Not his! I want those men, on their knees, so I can shove their bleeding balls down their throats. Do I make myself clear?”
She’s back.
I grin, “Yes, Queen,” answering in unison with the others.
“All of you.” Mom points to us. “Queens and kings. Every brain and every bullet. We use everything to find her. To bring her home to us. We work together on this. No fighting. Just find my daughter!”
“Oh, thank God.” Alena slumps, relieved, muttering under her breath, “No more Loch and Axel fighting about my first. Let’s just find Sasha.”
Nash turns to her. “What did you just say?”