Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Kirill
“What have we found out?” I ask as we pull up to Yulian’s place.
“I debriefed Yana this morning,” Edik replies as we fall into step with one another. “Annika didn’t say a thing to anyone at the auction that was suspicious. Didn’t try to sneak off to speak with anyone, didn’t do anything but play the dutiful wife just as you asked her to.”
I can’t help it. I’m relieved. Being on guard with Annika is far harder than I realized. Any time I’m around her I feel the stone I’m made of turn to warm jelly, and it’s hard as hell to fight it.
“Her phone records?” I ask.
“I listened to all of her phone calls in the past week last night,” Edik replies.
“There were only two calls she’s made and they were on her first day at the compound.
She talked to her sister and Yulian about her discomfort the first day but they told her to calm down.
In fact Yulian urged her to be more obedient to you.
Other than that she’s just called her art dealer, Max, and all they discussed was their new meeting schedule. "
Edik pauses before adding, “Maybe it wasn’t Yulian who hired the hitmen. Maybe it was someone else.”
God, I hope so.
“Maybe,” I say aloud as we climb the steps to the brownstone. “But we’re going to find out for sure.”
Edik moves to knock on the door, but before his knuckles even touch the wood it opens and Yulian’s man, Viktor, is greeting us.
“Caught you on the security cameras,” he explains as he lets us in. “I don’t believe Mr. Shabalin is expecting you today.”
“We’re family now,” I reply, “We don’t need appointments.”
Viktor looks none too pleased at my response, but he still gives us a respectful nod and waves toward the couch.
“Please wait here. I’ll see if Mr. Shabalin is available.”
I glance sideways at Edik and we both ignore the invitation to sit. Instead we follow Viktor through the artfully decorated first floor of the brownstone. If he’s annoyed, he doesn’t say so, but I know he can hear our footsteps behind him. We follow him out of the front parlor and down a wide hall.
I glance at the walls surrounding us and can’t help but notice not art, but family pictures decorating them.
Annika. Valya. Taken at varying ages and times in their lives.
High school plays. Graduation. Dances. One picture catches my eye more than the rest. It’s a family photo.
One taken before the passing of Yulian’s wife.
It’s not staged like most family photos but instead looks as if it was candid.
They’re in a park of some kind. There’s a large tree with a blanket underneath, shaded by the green leaves.
Yulian is sitting on the blanket; the sleeves of his blue shirt are rolled up and he looks like he’s about to roll on his back from laughing.
His late wife is in a white sundress and hat, leaning toward the tree with her arms outstretched and a wide, laughing smile on her face.
Valya and Annika are young. Probably not even ten yet, and they’re on either side of the tree, looking as if they are about to pounce into their mother’s arms. They’re both wearing wide, slightly defiant grins.
The ones children sport when they think they’re about to one up their parents.
It’s the first time I realize that Yulian isn’t just a member of the mob, but a father. At one time a husband. In the photo he just looks…normal.
Could my life ever be like that? With Annika? With our child?
“Pakhan?” Edik murmurs by my side. “Are you alright?”
I blink, realizing that I’ve stopped walking.
“I’m fine,” I reply. “Where did Viktor go?”
“He’s just up ahead. He stopped in the kitchen. That’s where Yulian is.”
I continue through the hall, ignoring the rest of the pictures hung there, and I walk into the kitchen to see Yulian looking unnerved. His usually styled hair is messed up, his white dress shirt is untucked and only half buttoned. I’ve never seen this man any less than perfectly polished.
“Hello, Yulian,” I greet calmly.
“Pakhan. Edik,” Yulian says, finally focusing on us. He stops moving from counter to counter.
“Did you lose something?” Edik asks.
Yulian shakes his head, presses his knuckles into the gray marble counter.
“My apologies, gentlemen, but I am having an off day. Did we have an appointment?”
“No,” I reply, taking a step toward him. “We just wanted to drop by. See how you were. You seem off. Everything alright?”
For a second I see something in Yulian’s eyes. A flash of willingness to say the truth. There’s something else there, too. Worry. Then his eyes shift to something behind me, and his face goes blank.
“Everything’s fine,” Yulian states.
I turn and raise an eyebrow as I see Pyotr of all people strolling into the kitchen. He grins at me as he goes to the bowl of apples and picks one up. He takes a bite and then with a mouth full of juice and fruit he says, “Hey, big brother.”
“Pyotr,” I greet, my tone stiff. “What are you doing here?”
I turn back to Yulian and ask, “Is he bothering you?”
Yulian quickly shakes his head.
“Oh, no. It is always an honor to have a Pavlovich in my home,” he replies with haste.
“Yulian, you are the picture of hospitality,” Pyotr replies through another mouthful.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I say, turning my focus back to Pyotr. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you the other night Valya and I were getting along,” Pyotr replies with a shrug. “We’re just hanging out upstairs.”
“Hanging out upstairs?” I ask. “You’re a man now, Pyotr, not a boy. If you want to spend time with a lady, you take her out, not hang around her father’s house and invade his privacy.”
“It really is no trouble at all,” Yulian answers quickly. “Valya seems quite sweet on him. And I just want my daughters to be happy.”
Before I can reply, Pyotr chortles and nearly chokes on his apple.
“Yes, all daddies who want their daughters to be happy force them into arranged marriages. You’re funny, Yulian,” Pyotr says, finally swallowing his food before speaking.
I bristle at Pyotr’s open arrogance and disrespect. Yulian may or may not be behind my ambush but my people, my family, have always handled things with a certain air of civility. At least in the talking stages.
“Don’t lecture me, brother,” Pyotr says as he catches my glare, then slaps Yulian on the back. He flinches. So does Viktor. But neither of them moves.
“He knows I’m just joking around. Right, Yulian?”
“Of course,” Yulian replies, keeping his eyes and hands on the counter.
“Edik, take Yulian and Viktor into the parlor, would you? If you all don’t mind, I want to have a word with my brother,” I say.
The three of them leave immediately, and as soon as I’m alone with Pyotr I’m walking around the marble island separating us.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing,” I growl as I reach for Pyotr, but he steps back before I can lay hands.
“Something is up with Yulian.”
Pyotr's usual sarcastic tone is gone, and he says it with such seriousness that I cease my chase of him.
“Explain,” I command.
Pyotr glances around, as if making sure we are alone, and then leans toward me.
“Look, I like Valya. She’s a cool chick. But her father? Something’s not right with him. I don’t know what it is yet but I can feel it. That’s why I’m not taking Valya out on dates. I want to be here. Keep an eye on him and Viktor.”
I study Pyotr’s face, looking for any shred of his usual carelessness, but all I see is blatant concentration.
My brother and I may handle things differently, but we do get things handled.
And even though I choose not to tell Pyotr what Edik and I discovered during our interrogation, I decide that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have eyes and ears in Yulian’s house.
“Fine,” I say at last. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
Pyotr lets out a breath of apparent relief and gives me a surprisingly appreciative smile.
“Thanks, big brother. If something’s up with him. I’ll figure it out. I won’t let you down. And if there isn’t anything up with them, then I just get to spend more time with Valya. It’s a win-win.”
I huff out a laugh.
“Sounds like you might be in love with her,” I tease him, taking a step back.
Pyotr chuckles as he shakes his head.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he replies.
“Keep me informed with how this all goes from now on,” I tell him, turning to take my leave.
“You got it, big brother,” Pyotr calls, and as he leaves to go back up the stairs, I go to the parlor, thank Yulian for his time, and Edik and I take our leave.