Chapter 19
ISABELLA
“What are we doing here, Izzy?”
I can feel Anya’s eyes on me as I look at my father’s front door from the car.
When Anya came to pick me up that morning, I told her pretty much the same lie I’d told Alexei, replacing the word ‘panties’ with clothes.
And when she showed up to drive me, I told her that there was a little place that I knew of in my old neighborhood.
I think she might’ve suspected something was up when she saw that we were in a residential neighborhood instead of some mini-mall or shopping center. Now we’re parked and she’s staring at me, waiting for an explanation.
“I won’t be long,” I tell her. “Just wait out here for me.”
My hand goes for the door at the same time that Anya’s hand lands on my leg. “Hey. What did I tell you? You can’t pull this shit, okay? You know Alexei will skin me alive if something happens to you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen, I promise,” I tell her.
She just stares at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. She looks away for a second, leaning her head to look up at my father’s door. “So, what are we doing here, anyway? Whose house is this?”
I honestly don’t want to tell her. I’d rather keep her as far away from my intentions as possible. As much as I like Anya, she’s never made any bones about where her loyalties lie. But every other lie that pops in my head just sounds a lot worse than the truth.
“Listen,” I tell her, “you can’t breathe a word of this to anybody. You gotta promise.”
She side-eyes me. “Izzy.”
“We’re family now, right? Part of the Bratva, the brotherhood? So, your secrets are mine and vice-versa.”
She smirks at me, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s not how it works. If you’re doing something that might fall back on Alexei—”
“It’s not. It won’t. I promise. It’s just…” I sigh. I might as well just tell her. “I have to talk to my father, that’s all.”
She blinks. “This is Pecora’s place?” she asks. She takes a second look, her eyes filled with a kind of childhood wonder. “Huh. I always thought it’d be bigger.”
“Yeah, well, times are rough,” I tell her. “Anyway, I have to talk to him.”
She shakes her head slowly as she leans back in her seat. “I thought I told you to stay out of this, Izzy. Getting in the middle of Bratva business is only going to get you killed, you know.”
“I’m not getting in the middle of anything. I just want to talk to him. There something wrong with a daughter wanting to talk to her father?”
She stares at me and I know she sees through my bullshit. “This is a bad move. Let me drive you back home—”
“No. Listen, you don’t have to be involved, okay? Just stay out here in the car and make sure I make it back out. That’s all you have to do.”
“That’s getting me involved.”
“No, it’s not.” I put my hand over my face in exasperation. “Look, you can drive me back if you want to, but I’m just going to find a way to get back here once you’re gone. Isn’t it better that you’re here to have my back just in case?”
She looks away, her eyes examining the street ahead of us. Finally, she says, “Fuck. All right. You got fifteen minutes. If you’re not back out here, I’m coming in guns blazing.”
“Thank you, Anya.”
I get out of the car and jog up the walk to my father’s door.
Anya’s words have been echoing in my head since that day at Maxim’s house.
“Stay out of it,” she said. Sure. I don’t know how anyone can possibly expect me to stay out of this.
Especially when I’m pretty sure they would all do the same thing in my shoes.
I ring the doorbell and wait. It’s still early, but I know he’s gotta be home. I hope he’s up by now. Sometimes, he likes to get up late if he had a long night. I glance at the time on my phone. It’s almost midmorning, so he should be mulling around the kitchen in his robe and slippers.
The door opens and there he is, just like I imagined, wearing his old, beige fluffy robe and gray slippers that Annie got him for Christmas last year.
He sees me and his face splits into a smile. “Isabella,” he says. “Come in, come in.”
He steps to one side, letting me in. I walk into a living room that I last saw the night everyone was arguing over my sister bolting. I pick up the faint smell of peppers and sausage mixed with my father’s cologne. That must have been what he had last night for dinner.
“This is a surprise,” he says. “Haven’t even heard from you since the wedding. Can’t call an old man every now and then?”
“I’ve been busy.”
He chuckles and stuff his hands in his robe pockets. “So, how’s married life treating you?”
I could laugh at that, his asking me about a life that he sold me into. “It’s fine,” is all I say.
“Fine? You two are still in your honeymoon phase—”
“Can we not act like my marriage to Alexei is a normal thing, please? I don’t have the time for the banter, anyway.”
His smile fades and he sighs. “I would have thought that you’d be making the best of that situation.
Alexei’s a handsome guy. Loyal, from what I understand, too.
I hear a lot of those types like to keep mistresses on the side.
I’m not judging or nothing. I had a couple of goomahs when your mother was still alive.
I think it’s a common thing between cultures, you know? ”
I don’t know where this bullshit is coming from, but it doesn’t matter. I’m on a timetable, here.
“Anyway,” he says as he heads toward the kitchen. “I just put some coffee on. You want any?”
My stomach’s been weird since my first cup of coffee. I’d better chill on my caffeine intake. “I’m fine, Dad.” I follow him into the kitchen, where he’s standing at the counter and getting a mug from the cabinet. I’m just standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall.
“You can’t sit down for a second? What’s the rush?”
I sigh. “I can’t really stay long, Dad. There’s something I gotta tell you.”
“Sounds serious,” he says as he pours the coffee into his mug. “Should I be looking for a crib?” I glare at him. He looks over his shoulder at me and laughs. “I’m kidding. Jeez. If I’d known you would lose your sense of humor once you settled down—”
“You’re in danger, Dad,” I blurt out. “Somebody took a shot at Alexei and his father got pinched the other night, and now everybody thinks you had something to do with it.”
He pauses, then turns around to me. “Isn’t it against the rules or something for you to be telling me this?”
“Dad—”
“Not that I don’t appreciate this show of loyalty for your old man, but you’re one of their wives now. You can’t cross party lines when it comes to business. Actually, you’re not even supposed to know much about their business. How did you come across this information?”
I sigh. He’s completely missing the point. “That’s not important. What is important is that you’re in danger. For real, Dad.”
“Honey,” he says, putting the mug down on the counter, “let me explain something to you. In this line of work, I’m always in danger.
Once you become the head of a family, the target on your back gets bigger.
It comes with the territory. That being said, the important thing is not that I know about this perceived danger.
The important thing is that you understand that what you just did could be construed as a breach in my contract with the Mechnikovs. ”
I just stare at him. What the hell is he talking about?
“I can’t afford for them to think that I can’t trust them or they can’t trust me,” he goes on, turning back to his coffee.
He takes a sip, then he says to me, “Isabella, there are things that happen in this business that you don’t understand.
Moving parts that you don’t know well enough to see.
You can’t run around like a headless chicken every time you hear some rumor—”
“It’s not a rumor,” I tell him, a little bit of desperation in my voice.
“Dad… Alexei was shot outside of one of your restaurants, okay? They found the guy who did it and he pointed the finger at you. They really, actually, truly believe that you’ve broken this deal with them.
This isn’t a joke or a game. They’re coming for you. ”
He stares at me for a long time, then he looks down at his coffee, contemplating what I’d just said. “It was at one of his clubs,” he says. “Where Mechnikov was pinched. Early in the morning too. What the hell was he even doing there during off hours?”
I don’t think he’s talking to me. He’s looking off into space, working it out in his head, I guess.
He sucks his teeth after a moment of silence, then, “If what you’re saying is true, then I’m not the only one with his head on the chopping block, Isabella.
They might come after you, too. Especially if they find out you came here. ”
“Let’s just focus on you, okay? You need to make plans to get out of here. Sooner rather than later, you get me?”
“Yeah, I get you, I get you.” He takes another sip from his mug. “All right. Consider me warned. Now, you get out of here before your keepers come looking for you.”
There. It’s done. He knows, and now he’ll do what he must to get himself safe. I walk over and hug him. He flinches with surprise and with a laugh he says, “Whoa, whoa. I got coffee here.”
I kiss him on the cheek as I pull away. “Okay, I gotta go. When you’re somewhere safe, get in touch with me, okay? Maybe send me a burner phone or something.”
He smirks at me. “Sure thing, Buttercup. You stay safe, too. Anybody who’d go back on their deal with me like that can’t be trusted. If you can get away, then you do that. Maybe we’ll meet up and regroup later.”
I nod as a lump forms in my throat. I think I was a kid the last time he called me Buttercup. “Sure thing, Dad.” I turn and I leave, the heavy weight of worry lifting from my shoulders.
At least he’ll be safe. For now, anyway.
I get back outside and Anya’s standing by the car, sunglasses on as she surveys the street. The moment she sees me, she steps aside and gets in on the driver’s side of the car.
Once I’m in, she says, “I hope whatever you just did doesn’t blow up in your face.”
“It won’t so long as you don’t mention it to anybody else.”
She looks at me and in the shade of the car, I see her eyes through the dark lenses. I think she’s debating. Finally, she looks away and says, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
She starts the car and we’re gone, back to the penthouse. The butterflies in my stomach are still turning, making me a little nauseous for whatever is to come, but at least I know my father will be safe.