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“Why ... why are you telling me this?”
“You see, my dear, you should know how ruthless and heartless Rafail can be.” His gaze wandered around the room, searching, and looking for possible movement in the shadows. “I feel sorry for you. You think you're safe now until you're not. His bloodthirst for revenge has cost us much over the years. We now have so many enemies who could have been our allies...”
Uncle Oleg spoke more about Rafail’s abuse of the absolute power Vlad had bestowed upon him. He said, “That’s sometimes the problem with the younger generation. They let these things go to their heads.” Then he blatantly said that Rafail was a bad leader.
I became silent. About the veracity of his leadership, I didn't think I had anything to say. In my opinion, they were all bad leaders. It was their world that snuffed out the life of an innocent man. But his uncle was on to something, and I wanted to know what.
I moved forward to the edge of my seat as well, pushing off the fluffy comforter. “What do you propose?”
A flicker passed through his eyes, and I could have sworn it was a gleam of satisfaction, but I was too consumed with rage to care what it was.
“Are you willing to strike a deal with me?”
The corners of my lips tilted to the side, mirroring Rafail’s interested look when he wasn’t in the mood to laugh. “What kind of deal?”
He straightened up in his seat. “I’ve been standing in his shadow for a few years now, and frankly, I'm tired of it and trying to keep up with him and his dealings. Look at me, I'm an older man. I have more experience and I certainly wouldn't betray Vlad’s trust. I know that I have much more to offer the family.”
Skip the manifesto and get to the point.
“So ...”
“I want him out.”
The force of his confession made me sink back into the sofa.
“If you want to, we can do something together to take him down and eliminate him.”
Eliminate him?
And he said it as if I had a choice. But deep down I knew I had none. His audacity in approaching me with such a suggestion was shocking, but it showed how serious his intentions were and how deadly he could be. I had an uneasy feeling that if I turned down his offer, Rafail wouldn't be the only one eliminated.
It was good that I had no intention of refusing. The anger burned through my veins faster than the actual blood, and even though I knew Uncle Oleg was only using me for his political purposes, I didn’t care.
The most important thing was getting justice for Liam.
“If we enter into this agreement, you first must know that I can’t kill a person. No matter how upset I am.”
He grinned, and a sick churning started in my stomach. “Leave the elimination techniques to me.”
“Good.” I sounded like Rafail. Shake him off, Juliana. Shake. Him. off.
After a brief pause moment, I sucked in a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“How can I help?”
Chapter 20 – Rafail
Juliana stood by the tall, floor-to-ceiling windows, her blonde curls cascading down her back, contrasting with the black lace of her dress as she stared out at the thick gray clouds, her arms wrapped around herself. I leaned against the wall, my shoulder pressed against the cream-colored paint, one hand in my pocket and a cigar to my lips.
She had embraced herself during the eulogy and the lowering of the coffin into the ground, trembling and shaking with tears. And she was still hugging herself now. She didn’t allow me to touch her even once. Neither on the flight to Denver, nor at the funeral service, nor now.
She just stood there, as stiff as a stick, watching rain pelts hit the glass windows.
I sucked on the cigar and felt the rush of nicotine through my blood. I couldn’t recall the last time we had a conversation, or when I heard her voice in my ears. And the feeling that I was probably not going to hear it for a long time made me sick.
I pushed myself off the wall and grabbed the doorknob to leave. But she cleared her throat, and I exhaled white puffy smoke rings. She turned away from the windows and met my gaze with a squared chin. “Can we visit Liam’s house?”
Without a second thought, I knew I was not going to deny her anything. But it was the first thing she had said to me in days. I wanted to draw more words from her. Evoke something ... anything that would make her speak to me.
