“Kol’ka.”
Viktor gets out of his SUV, and I step out of my car. After this week, this is the last thing I want to do, but I know why he’s waiting here at my home.
“How is Alexei?” he asks.
I lean back against the car and cross my legs. “As good as you might expect. He doesn’t want to talk right now.”
“I don’t imagine,” Viktor says. “This changes everything.”
The uncertainty weighs heavy on his face. As the pakhan, it is up to him to decide when we go to war. And when a sin like this has been committed, we have no choice but to go to war. Upon our return to the states, we got the news that Alexei’s pregnant wife had been murdered in our absence. It’s a crime too horrific to imagine, and I have no doubt that Alexei will be painting the city with the blood of our enemies in no time at all.
“Are you certain she’s dead?”
Viktor sighs. “I don’t know. It could be months before we know for certain. There is nothing left to identify, but it won’t stop Alexei. He will need to be kept in check.”
He believes me capable of keeping Alexei in check, but he’s wrong. I will not be the one to stand in the way of his vengeance. I will be the one to hand him the gun.
“I need you to keep an eye on him,” Viktor says. “Just help him come to terms with it. Let him kill who he wants, within reason. I don’t need a war on our hands until we know exactly who’s responsible.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
Viktor nods, but he isn’t finished. “About Ana—”
I am tired of this discussion and, more so, this dark cloud looming over me. I’ve had a very long journey and difficult news, and I’m not in the mood to feed him more lies. If there is anything I learned from Alexei’s pain, it’s that life is too short. It needs to be now or never.
Viktor wants the truth, and the honorable thing to do is give it to him. I will face whatever consequences he deems necessary, but I will not live another day under this oppression.
“Viktor, I can’t marry your daughter.”
His face mottles with red. “What do you mean you can’t marry my daughter?”
“It wouldn’t be fair to her. She deserves more than I can give her. She deserves a man who loves her.”
“Are you telling me that my daughter is not worthy of you?” he sneers.
“Not at all. In fact, I’m telling you that I am unworthy of her. You’ve had your suspicions about the Valentini girl from the start, and I am sorry to admit that you were right. She isn’t Russian, but she’s mine.”
There’s a moment in which I think that Viktor might put a bullet between my eyes here and now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
“I should cut out your stars for dishonoring my family this way,” he says.
“If that is what you must do, then I accept it. I will go to my death willingly, as long as you promise to leave Tanaka untouched.”
He laughs. “And why would I promise that? The whore seduced you. She blinded you. And now you ask to cast my daughter aside and spare the life of the woman who will take her place?”
“You accepted Alexei’s choice. Now I am asking you to accept mine.”
“Ana is in love with you.”
“Ana knows nothing of me. She is young, Viktor. Too young to marry someone like me. She should be with someone her own age. Someone who can give her everything she needs. I am sorry that I hurt her. I am sorry if I led her on, but I did not want to disappoint you. I did not want to insult the honor you had bestowed upon me.”
He lights up a cigarette and smokes it in silence. Perhaps it was not the ideal time to bring it up, but I don’t regret that I did. Even if it means I don’t breathe another day on this earth, I won’t regret it.
“What of Manuel?” he asks. “Have you found the answers you seek?”
“Yes.” I kick the dirt beneath my shoe. This is the part he will not like. “I was correct. He beat and tortured and killed my mother, and Sergei gave him the honor of doing so.”
Viktor shakes his head in visible disgust. “And still you ask to spare his daughter’s life? Where is the justice in that? What about your mother? Will she have died in vain so that you may please your dick?”
“No,” I force out. “I would ask for your blessing to kill Manuel myself, as well as any of the men in his employ who touched her.”
“And your father,” Viktor adds.
“And my father,” I agree somberly.
Viktor tosses the butt of his cigarette on the ground and stubs it out with his shoe. “It would be a reasonable request, if it weren’t for one small matter, Kol’ka.”
“What is it?”
“Nonna called to report that some of Manuel’s men broke into the house while you were away.”
That isn’t possible. That doesn’t even make sense. I glance at the house, but Viktor goes on.
“They took the Valentini girl, and they destroyed your security system. It’s what I came here to tell you.”
I abandon Viktor for the stairs, determined to see it for myself, but the pakhan isn’t finished delivering bad news.
“Before you think about storming into Manuel’s compound, you should know that the feds got him. Everything is cordoned off. You won’t get in there, and you won’t get near him. She is gone, Nika.”