AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Adam worshiped Vanya and ended up laundering money for him, until his guilty conscience pricked at him shortly after. But at that point he couldn’t get out. So, he decided to be a mole, feeding evidence to me. He trusted me to hold it for him and together we worked to form a dossier to turn over to law enforcement.”
I know where this is going now. “But Vanya found out and had him killed.”
Dad nods. “I thought I would be in the clear, that he wouldn’t come for our family. But that was false hope. I haven’t returned to you, to the city, to Milenna because it’s too dangerous and I need to finish this once and for all.”
My pulse is picking up and adrenaline is surging through me. I’m barely keeping up, but I’m hanging on to what Dad’s insinuated. He can’t come back until the threat is gone.
“So, we could be a family again,” I say. “Once Vanya Vidovic is arrested.”
“For that to happen, there’s something I need you to do,” he responds. “I need you to access the dossier and covertly get it to my associate. Once I have the evidence and we file the case with a few, select justice departments, we’ll be in the clear. Vanya must be stopped, nothing else matters.”
He’s saying this like it’s as easy as buying a cup of coffee on the way to work. Like I’m some experienced secret spy and this is something I can simply do during a lunch break.
“You are the only one who can help me with this, Laina,” he says. “I can’t risk going back to the house, back to the city. I have to stay a dead man. But you’ve never made a move against the Vidovic Group. For three years you’ve been silent, you’ll be flying under the radar. You have a bodyguard too, right?”
I nod as I press my fingers to my temples. I can’t believe Everett’s not here for this. Dad comes around to stand in front of me, finally looking me in the eye with conviction.
“The Vidovic Group is an unchecked menace that must be stopped. I have to defeat them, ruin Vanya. I’ve done everything I can on my own to collect more evidence, but the last piece of the puzzle, the final nail in the coffin is the evidence in the dossier. Get it for me and all will be made right.”
I meet his gaze and wonder why his fatherly instincts don’t seem to sense the fear rolling off me. There’s no comfort coming from him. If it were Mom, she’d be hugging me breathless.
Dad doesn’t say a thing, just rests his hand on my shoulder, looking at me with expectation, his hand feeling heavier by the second. I fill in the words for him. He needs me to do this, I can make him proud if I do this, I can do this for him, for Mom, for our family to be together again.
“What do I have to do?” I ask, straightening my back and squaring my shoulders.
“Do you still have the family safe?”
I nod. “It’s in my closet now.”
“Good. When you open it, use your handprint like you normally do, but punch in your social security number before opening it. There’s a false bottom. Access that and wait for further instructions. If anyone asks for a passphrase, tell them ‘It’s snowing in the Black Hills.’ Got it?”
I nod, repeating it to myself under my breath. He starts to back away from me and I strain to activate all my senses, to trap the feeling of his presence.
“Remember, you cannot tell anyone that I’m alive,” he says. “Keep yourself safe by keeping this secret.”
“Can I tell Mr. Delancey?”
“No. No one. If something were to happen, I need you to deny my existence.”
“I’ll perjure myself if I have to.”
Dad smiles and I take a mental snapshot of him; a lopsided smile, a creased face, but still those cutting steel eyes.
“That’ll be the day,” he says. “My rule-follower child perjuring herself.”
“I want us to be a family again, if we can.”
“Of course, I know you want that,” Dad says.
“Will I see you again here?” I ask.
“No, I’ll leave the Maldives immediately.”
I nod and my body struggles between crying, clinging, or composing myself. I go with the latter.
“Dad-”
“Laina, make me proud.”
