Chapter 24 #2
After scanning the birth certificate and sending him everything, I returned to my computer. While I couldn’t be certain, I believed I was the only member of the family to keep a little black book of contacts and reasons why the person highlighted would help with anything I needed.
What my family didn’t know was that the kid brother, the younger sibling and cousin had teeth.
And they were sharp.
I was working off adrenaline and way too many cups of coffee. While I’d yet to see that my hard work over the last fifteen hours had come to any real fruition, reconnecting with old contacts and searching through the remainder of Selena’s items had kept me from losing my mind.
Or acting on my need for revenge.
While it had become apparent I hadn’t known my wife as well as I’d believed, what little I found in her things that drew questions didn’t cause me concern.
An heirloom necklace wrapped in crinkled tissue paper with a single photo inside of a beautiful girl obviously taken many years before.
A flower pressed and kept inside a book of Russian lullabies.
From what I knew, my wife hadn’t spoken Russian.
She’d certainly never acted like she’d known what I was saying.
Or was I wrong about that?
She also had rarely asked me to translate whatever term of endearment I’d used. How strange that I’d never thought her behavior odd. Because she hadn’t given me any reason to question her.
All through the long hours of searching, a horrible nagging thought had dug at the darkest sections of my mind.
What if she’d been playing me the entire time? What if our love hadn’t been real?
Whatever the truth, my instinct told me my past had collided with my hopes for the future.
Or perhaps I should say her past as well.
What I refused to do was to allow anyone to take away the two most important people in my life out of a need for revenge. They could go fuck themselves.
Jaxon had gone through my house, discovering several bugs.
In other locations as well. There’d been an entire team sweeping.
We had new computers. New emails. Hell, new phones, but I had a terrible feeling the security wouldn’t matter.
Whoever was behind this would stop at nothing until they got what they wanted.
Lainey and Nina were merely part of the puzzle.
The knock on my door didn’t surprise as much as irritate the hell out of me. I’d noticed Mikhail in being Pakhan had ordered guards to maintain watch over my estate as he likely had for every other family member. Either that or he’d wanted to ensure I didn’t do anything stupid.
I could ignore the intrusion, but I was in the mood for some confrontation. Perhaps that would allow some of the excessive rage to slip away. Clear thinking was exactly what I needed to maintain.
“Sasha.”
Huffing, I glanced from Alessandro to DiAngelo. “Whatever you have to tell me must be important for you to fly down here from Reno.”
They glanced at each other, both looking grim. “Do you have a few minutes?” DiAngelo asked.
I opened the door wide, stepping back. “My place is your place.” That moment I realized I’d trashed the house. Not my typical behavior, but I had no one to answer to.
“You’ve been busy,” Alessandro said, chuckling.
“I’ve been trying to find answers. Make yourself at home. The bar is open. I have coffee.”
DiAngelo pulled a file from the case he’d brought with him. “Your instincts were correct.”
“My instincts. I’m beginning to wonder if I can trust anything about my thoughts or beliefs. Why do you say that?” As soon as he handed me the file, I sat down, shoving shit out of my way on the table.
Alessandro sat on the edge of his seat, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers steepled.
“You were right to believe the emblem was a crest. The reason you had trouble finding it was that it was from a prominent family in Moscow who held significant power up until the nineteen seventies. They were wealthy, influential, and considered brutal. By all rights, it’s suggested they were the true Bratva.
Their soldiers bore the emblem as a required sign of loyalty. ”
“Like the man who attacked me here at the house. So their soldiers still exist.”
DiAngelo nodded. “Yes. Few and far between from what we’ve found, but the lineage has carried on. Rumors on the dark web are that the family seeks to regain power and have been planning to do so for years.”
“What happened in the seventies?” My hackles were raised, the sense of foreboding keeping me right on the precipice.
“A war unlike Russia had ever seen. Sides were taken, three extremely powerful families taking center stage, all determined to collect and keep power. You know one of them. The Dmitriyev family.”
I snorted as soon as he mentioned my blood. “Yeah, well, Uncle Yuri is a true savage.”
“Both Boris and Ivan were as well, although two and three years younger than Yuri. After the brutal murder of your grandfather, Yuri gained more power than you might have been led to believe,” he continued.
“The other two families are the Antonova and the Petrov families, the Petrovs still considered little more than animals to some. However, they gained the ear to the government over the years through extortion and blackmail.”
DiAngelo’s answer was a mere reminder of the stories my father and uncle had told us about how horrific living in Moscow and other parts of Russia had become.
The level of violence, murders, and arsons had increased tenfold as various factions had fought to gain power.
“What does this have to do with the birth certificate I found?”
“Everything,” Alessandro stated, nodding toward the file. “You should know there’s another dark web only accessible in Russia. We hacked it, but in doing so, it’s entirely likely the various parties in the country realize someone has been looking into a world they want no one else to discover.”
“I’ll take my chances,” I snarled.
“The picture of the man outside your guest house appears to be Lachlan O’Shaughnessy.
You wouldn’t know him and his picture has rarely been taken.
He’s only twenty-two, but according to some, a vile human being.
Don’t get too excited about it. If what we found is true, your instinct the Irish family was being used as enforcers could be correct. ”
I kept my eyes pinned on his for a few seconds before opening the file. A young woman stared back at me who could have been Selena’s twin. Except it was obvious the photograph had been taken decades before. “Who the hell is this?”
“That’s Katerina Antonova. The family I mentioned and the crest on the square and tattooed on the soldier belongs to them.”
Alessandro waited for the news to sink in. “Are you trying to suggest that Selena is Natasha Antonova?”
He nodded. “Yes, Katerina’s daughter by a man she fell in love with out of wedlock, a man who was later murdered.
This is where everything begins to unravel and much of the information has been lost or purposely destroyed.
From what I could find, Katerina was also killed, or she took her own life.
That is something I’m not certain of. So many records were destroyed by acts of arson.
If I had to connect the dots, I’d say for political reasons.
Given most of her family was murdered, any direct descendant would be considered a valuable commodity. ”
“For the other families attempting to gain even more power.” I shook my head, glancing out the window seeking some type of clarity.
“Again, this is conjecture, but from bits and pieces, it would appear Katerina had been promised in marriage to someone. The identity of that person we couldn’t find, but it would have been someone of importance.”
“Someone to bring two families together to increase their weight of power in all of Russia.” I sat back, raking my hands through my hair. What the fuck had my father and uncle hidden from us for decades?
“You said you believed you were the intended target of the killing seven years ago. What if you were incorrect and Selena was?”
DiAngelo’s voice was deep, as reflective as the way I was feeling.
“I don’t see how that’s possible. She was a young woman who I accidentally met from a little family in Illinois.
Her parents were killed when she was young.
I think she had an aunt taking care of her.
I never met her. She was American through and through. ”
They studied me with the same intensity I’d seen from my father and uncle.
“Maybe you’re right, but why would she have the birth certificate in her things?” Alessandro was right of course.
I lumbered to my feet, heading toward the open door. At this point, I needed a breath of fresh air. “This is crazy. So you’re trying to make me believe that Selena, aka Natasha was Russian royalty. What happened? Did she run away? How old was she when her mother was killed?”
“Four, maybe five. We’re not sure. Young enough she would have lost any accent.”
“Then what the hell are you certain about, Alessandro?” He certainly didn’t deserve my anger. He’d discovered some very intricate details I’d yet to find. Even with all the contacts I had. Granted, maybe a few of them were fearful of telling me what they’d found.
“I don’t think I’m telling you something you don’t know, Sasha, but the factions still exist inside Russia.
They do their best to keep the rest of the world from discovering much about them, but from what I’ve seen and from our sources inside Italy, two of the three Bratvas now control factions of the government.
And there’s enough support behind the Antonova family that if they were to find their…
for the lack of a better phrase, royal couple, they could create a coup.
Sounds crazy, but this is Russia we’re talking about. ”
“Selena was supposed to take her mother’s place for this royal coup.”
Alessandro nodded. “Completely plausible, but when she married you, she became soiled, especially given the rift in the family.”
The tension in my body was becoming painful.
“Do you want to know the truth? I’ve heard only a few select stories about what my father and mother endured or my uncle when they still lived in Moscow.
They told us just enough to use as a reminder to be thankful for where we grew up and how lucky we were. ”
“Perhaps they were trying to protect you,” DiAngelo suggested.
“Or trying to hide their lies.” I hated myself for thinking that way. “If what you’re saying is true, it’s the reason Nina was kidnapped. A bloodline. She’s fucking seven years old.”
“Yes. That’s the conclusion I came to. The other reason is that Nina has both Antonova and Dmitriyev blood in her.
That would solidify an alliance that had originally meant to be handled through marriage.
Even if they were forced to wait, just her appearance in the world would be enough to alter the course of power. ”
I fisted my hand, bringing it to my mouth. “I need more proof. Even what you’ve told me won’t be enough to force the truth from my father.” I spun around, glancing from one to the other. “Does she have an aunt or was that just a story?”
Alessandro stiffened. “Yes, Sasha. Katerina’s sister who brought Natasha here. She changed her name from Elena to Betty Martin. I can only believe she had connections that enabled her to erase their previous identities. Selena was raised American with few memories of her life in Russia.”
“If this is true, then my marriage was a lie. Maybe she was being used by Uncle Yuri to destroy us.” My jaded thoughts were eating me alive. The love had been real. I could feel it even now.
Both men appeared uncomfortable, neither wanting to answer.
“Only you know the truth to that, Sasha. I will tell you something my mother used to say to us. Fate can never be twisted enough that it won’t find its way back home. Sometimes you just need to believe in what’s in your heart.”
DiAngelo’s words were haunting. I’d loved her. She’d loved me. Her legacy had given me a precious gift in Nina. And the way Selena had been as a woman had allowed me to fall in love again with an incredible woman that I refused to lose.
Nothing and no one from my past would ever be allowed to take something so precious again.
“What are you going to do?” Alessandro asked.
“Whatever it takes to get them back.” I meant every word. “Did you find out where Yuri resides?”
“He has several estates, all highly protected. We don’t have anyone inside Russia who I would trust with accurate information,” DiAngelo admitted.
“But I do.” I had enough people who owed me favors. Time to call them in.
“Just be careful, Sasha. The world in Russia is nothing like what either one of our families have experienced living in the States. If they were taken to Moscow, the chance of getting them back is…”
“Oh, I will get them back, Alessandro. Never underestimate me. You’ll only lose the bet. Where is this aunt?” I barked out.
“She lives forty-five minutes outside of Las Vegas.”
I’d always wondered who’d left white roses on Selena’s grave from time to time. Selena had told me her aunt had passed away from natural causes. How many lies had been told to try to buy happiness?
Now I knew.
Now it was time to end the past, breaking the chains and forging the future.
With the woman I loved.