Chapter 13 – Kat
I padded down the hallway and into Danil’s private study and home office, grateful to the powers that be that it wasn’t locked.
Since I found the thumb drive in my bag, I had been intent on finding an opportunity to watch it without interference from Danil or anyone else. I had no idea what to expect on the drive, but I was sure it was meant for me, just like the note from the wedding bouquet.
I still depended on one of Danil’s laptops since I couldn’t exactly go back to my apartment to grab mine. That explained why his home office was my top option; it also explained why I had to wait till this night since he rarely left the office whenever he was indoors.
I turned the compact laptop on his large desk toward one of the two chairs across from him and opened it, switching it on.
I sighed when it requested an unlock password.
What else did you expect, Katria?
I thought about using the mid-level hacking skills I had picked up from my department’s occasional collaboration with the cybersecurity team at the company, but I chose to try simple, common sense first.
I tried his full name. Wrong.
I put a space between the two names. Wrong.
I sighed again.
One more trial. Then, I’ll go the hacking way.
Then I entered ‘Yezhov Bratva.’
I was greeted by a bright wallpaper showing a blue sea. Without wasting any time, I plugged in the thumb drive.
My dad’s face was the first thing I saw. That made me check the date in the timestamp.
I didn’t just pause the video to check the date, realizing it was the same year my dad died.
I paused it to gather the mental strength I needed to look at my dad’s face—the face I watched turn pale in a pool of blood years ago, the face I would do anything to see again.
The date was just one month before my dad was killed.
I pressed the space bar again, and the video continued to play. Nothing seemed to move, at first. My dad sat in a leather chair, like the one across from me, as he scribbled on a white sheet of paper on his desk. Then, he raised his head as he said, “Feliks.”
That name sounded familiar. But I couldn’t place it.
The person answered, “Kyle. Heard you flagged a record issue.”
That voice.
Where did I hear it?
Then he got within view as he approached my dad’s table. The dark, long hair jogged my memory. It was salt-and-pepper now, but that almost-too-sweet voice was the same.
The image of his face as he settled into the chair opposite my dad’s was my final confirmation.
I had met him before.
First at the wedding. And just some hours ago at the Bratva event. I remembered the tiny yet significant unease I felt when Marielle introduced us. His overt sweetness seemed so fake that I found myself not wanting to talk to him, even though our paths crossed a lot during the party.
I remembered the note I got at the wedding.
What truth does this Feliks know?
“You’re laundering off-ledger,” my dad disclosed. “I don’t know how I managed to miss it. They are large amounts.”
“Then stop looking,” Feliks stated, shrugging.
“That puts the Bratva at risk. You know that,” my dad argued, sitting more upright.
“So, you’re going to lecture me about what is right for the Bratva now, aren’t you?” Feliks questioned, his expression taunting. “I’m the Mafia’s advisor; you should know your place.”
“This has absolutely nothing to do with titles, Feliks. And I certainly wouldn’t need to lecture you if you were doing the right thing,” my dad countered, sitting more upright.
“Then fucking looking the other way! What’s so hard about that?”
“Do the right thing!” my dad argued, in the same loud tone Feliks used.
I watched the atmosphere in my dad’s office change as both men started yelling louder, practically lunging for each other.
“What business of yours is it if I do or I don’t?!”
“I’m accountable to the Bratva! It goes without saying, my interest lies with the Yezhovs!”
“Don’t you have something else to look into?”
“I’m not here to look away. That’s tantamount to contributing to the fall of the Bratva. Asking you is extending some courtesy. Do the right thing.”
“Would the world stop spinning because the ‘almighty’ Yezhov Bratva falls like it deserves to? And what if I don’t?”
“I’ll report it!”
Feliks’s sarcastic laugh was the last thing I heard before the video ended.
I didn’t need to know where the argument ended or what shady business my dad had discovered.
One thing was crystal clear: My dad had been loyal to the Yezhov Bratva.
He hadn’t committed treason.
Someone made him take the fall; they used him as a cover-up.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Danil’s voice from behind me cut through my thoughts.
My mind immediately flooded with images of the night my dad died. While I had been angry and even furious then, my mom later explained how the Mafia really worked. Treason was the offense that allowed no second chance; death was the only penalty.
I had let go of my active anger at Danil, the man who killed my dad, when she told me that, even though she was sure my dad wasn’t a betrayer, the Yezhovs wouldn’t have come for him if they didn’t have enough proof that he was.
Even when circumstances brought us together, I slowly realized my anger and resentment had more to do with his attitude than with him being my dad’s killer.
But if it turned out that he killed my dad for something he didn’t do, I would fucking kill him.
I turned around, then moved to the side, allowing him to see the screen as I played the video again. He moved closer to the table and began watching, frozen.
Anger crept up in me as his eyebrows furrowed in a look of shock. Like it wasn’t his damn job to verify before meting out punishment.
“Did you know my dad wasn’t a traitor?” I lashed out.
“Where did you get this video?” he inquired, instead of giving me a damn answer.
My palm hit him across the face as I spat, “I don’t fucking know.”
He held my wrists in an iron grip, restraining me.
“If anything, any thread of proof, made your dad innocent, I would never have had him killed. I’m a just man; I take great pride in that,” he declared.
“I hate you!”
“You can hate me all you want, but you will never,” he started, his voice icy as he bent his face closer to mine, “ever leave me.”
He got his point across.
I’m trapped.
My eyes shifted away from glaring at him and moved to the floor.
I heard him sigh as he suddenly let go of my hands.
When I looked up in surprise, I was faced with a sight I never thought I, or anyone else on Earth for that matter, would ever see.
A remorseful, almost pained, expression on Danil’s face.
“Katria,” he breathed, his voice low, causing my heart to tighten involuntarily. “I have no knowledge of this video recording or where it originated. You must believe me. Don’t torment yourself with pain.”
His gaze held mine until I blinked.
He’s not lying.
And I fucking hated it. I should be able to hate him.
I walked past him and stormed out of the office without another word.