Chapter 25 #2
While I suspected he was in his seventies, he appeared much older as if life had been difficult for him. However, he was impeccably dressed, his suit tailored and he wore several rings including two made from diamonds and black onyx. Even frail, he appeared formidable.
And there was something vaguely familiar about him. Why?
Nina remained where she was and I had no intention of letting her go.
He lowered his gaze to Nina and his face immediately softened, his eyes watering. What in the hell was going on?
“You’ll have to forgive my son. He can be far too aggressive. You must be Nina.”
She looked up at me for guidance. “I’ll ask you the same thing I did the other man. Who the hell are you and why are you keeping us prisoner?”
With his hand still on the cane, he waved me off as if what I was asking was nothing. “I apologize for the accommodations, but I’ve been out of town on business.”
That still didn’t answer the question.
He kept his eyes on the little girl as if seeing a ghost. “You look so much like her. So very much.”
“Where is my daddy?” Nina demanded and I wanted so much to give her a high five.
“I assure you that you’ll see your daddy again. At least that’s what I’m counting on. And your uncles. That way the family will all be together.”
We were bait. We were nothing but bait. Oh, my God. This was Yuri Dmitriyev. I was sick to my stomach.
“When they do come, they will kill you.”
He laughed, returning his now amused gaze to me. “Oh, they will try and they will fail. But I will finally have everything I’ve been waiting for. Decades of waiting. Decades of hungering for retaliation.”
“Who are you?” Nina asked again before I had a chance to push him for additional information.
“Nina, honey. I’m your great-uncle. You’ll be safe here with us. After all, this is your home.”
“I already have one and he’s not you,” she insisted.
Moscow.
We were never going home.
Sasha
“Yes?”
Her voice was frail, fearful, and her eyes held the same terror upon answering the door and seeing a stranger. Yet when the recognition settled in, tears of sadness replaced the anxiety.
“Elena.” I’d decided to use her real name. The house was small and in a decent enough neighborhood, yet she kept to herself, likely fearful of being discovered.
What she’d done in escaping with her niece had been nothing short of miraculous and so very brave. Yet if discovered by anyone from three different families, she would instantly be killed.
That much I knew about acts of revenge demanded by the Bratva.
“Sasha.”
I nodded and she threw her arms around me.
“Oh Sasha. I heard so much about you. Please come in.” When she noticed Bernie standing behind me, her breath hitched.
“Don’t worry about him. Bernie, I’ll be right back.”
“Yes, sir.”
She was beautiful and clearly Selena’s relative. But time and grief had taken the same toll as it had done with me.
“When did you learn the truth?” she whispered.
“Earlier today. Why didn’t you come and tell me yourself especially after Selena was killed?”
“Because my beautiful niece begged me never to tell you who she was. She loved her life.” She lifted her head, her eyes imploring.
“She was fearful if you were told, it would change everything between you and she was so in love with you. She adored being your wife. When she was killed, I couldn’t bring myself to cause her spirit additional pain or destroy the memories you two shared.
Plus, you had a little girl to think of. ”
“You’re saying she knew her true identity all along.” The angst in my heart remained.
So did the rage.
“Not until she was a teenager. She kept asking me questions about her mother and father. When she found her mother’s necklace with the cameo, I had to tell her.” She sat down slowly, shaking from shock.
“So she knew who I was, someone who she should consider an enemy.”
“You’re not like Yuri. Neither was your father nor Boris. They were decent people, which was why they were captured and tortured.”
Something else I didn’t know.
Sighing, in still trying to put the pieces together, I’d come to realize that my own father and uncle had known about Selena from day one. That’s why they’d both tried to discourage me from marrying her. I’d thought it was about some crazy notion she wasn’t good enough for me.
They’d known what could happen.
And it had.
Elena dropped her head into her hands. “I’m so sorry.
When she learned of your existence, she was insistent on finding out about everyone in the family.
She had no other family than me and I never told her the real truth about her mother.
She didn’t know the horrors Katerina had been through.
I wasn’t about to ruin her life. I thought it would be a passing phase.
Then she ran into you and I think from day one she was in love. ”
“All the years I’d suffered thinking I was the reason for her death. That the bullet was meant for me. That’s not true. Is it?”
A single sob left her throat. “I don’t think so. They needed my Natasha to fulfill an obligation and would have stopped at nothing to bring her back. When you married, she was considered sullied. I know the monster. He would want her killed for what he called a betrayal.”
“Because Katerina died.”
My comprehension surprised her. When she whispered her answer, her lower lip trembled. “Yes. She was about to be married to the monster and she couldn’t take it. I tried to stop her but couldn’t. She killed herself. It was all such a horrible tragedy. All I could do was to protect Natasha.”
I could tell she was lying, but I knew exactly why she was. Too many people had died because of the need for power.
“I finally fell in love with another woman. She’s beautiful and so intelligent, compassionate beyond means and for some reason, she fell in love with me.
I don’t know why since I’m such a fucking asshole and have been for years.
She was taken along with my daughter because of this horrible secret and this rift between members of my family. ”
“Oh, no. Sasha.”
“I’m certain they’re in Moscow and I will get them back.” A part of me wanted to be angry with her, but the fury would be misguided. She was as much of a victim as Selena… as Natasha had been. Maybe more so because of the chances she’d taken to protect her niece.
“Yuri is a very dangerous and vindictive man. If they have this woman and my great-niece, you will not likely see them ever again.”
“I know the story of the rift and the wars, but I just don’t care. I will see them again and bring them to safety. And do you want to know why?”
“Because Selena gave her blessing to love again.”
“Yes, and because Nina has not yet met her great-aunt. That’s soon to change.”