It was also an end to a part of the past that had haunted the entire family, an answer that he’d likely died before being able to share. The date of the letter had been two days before his death. He’d anticipated being discovered. But not before sharing the news of what he’d found.
“They’ve arrived,” Kirill stated. With the leaked news of my survival, I’d already heard the Petrovs were clamoring for a way to bring me down before I could return to the throne.
News traveled fast.
“Yes, Kirill. I’m aware.” I held the letter in my hand, still determining what to say. There was a chance I was wrong, but I doubted it. Still, there was one way to find out.
Inside the room were ten of my men, all shocked I was alive and with stories to tell. They were uncertain of their loyalty at this point, but at least they understood that respect was required.
Hearing footsteps, I bristled but took a deep breath.
“What the hell is going on?” Stash asked as he entered the room. “Kirill. Why the emergency meeting?”
“The rumors are true,” Mikhail said, the agony in his voice evident.
I turned and stood, leaning over the desk. “Hello, brothers. Are you shocked to see me?”
“How?” Stash asked, stumbling forward. His eyes were darting back and forth as if seeing an apparition.
“Kirill. He never stopped looking.”
Mikhail’s expression was guarded, but his body was trembling. After taking a couple of steps closer, he lunged toward me, wrapping one arm around me. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe you’re alive. We looked. We tried everything. We used every contact to try and find you.” He was close to hyperventilating. A long time before he’d been emotional. That had died the day our mother had been murdered.
When he finally pulled away, I could see tears in his eyes. I glanced at his arm, which he was favoring. “I thought about you. About both of you.”
Stash shook his head, his expression more guarded than Mikhail’s. “I always believed you were alive.” He came close, his embrace stiffer. “What happened?”
“Black Dolphin prison. It would seem the Italians were working with the Petrovs all along. There’s no way you could have known that.”
Mikhail hissed, clenching his fist. “I told you, Stash. I told everyone, Kirill included. My God. Three years. Gone.”
He was close to hyperventilating. “It’s alright. Now that I’m officially alive and have returned as Pakhan, I have a plan, but it will take patience.”
Mikhail lifted his head as if not expecting I’d take over. “A plan.”
“Yes, one that will expose the enemy.”
“What do you mean? How are you going to do that?” Stash asked, still tense. Still in shock.
“Well,” I said as a slow and steady smile crossed my face. I nodded to Kirill who took a deep breath before leaving the room. “As you’re both aware, our father was very much into the old ways. He was a firm believer in keeping certain traditions alive. I was expected to continue the course, stay the path as he’d say. While I was incarcerated, I realized that he was right. The old ways allow for certain traditions to continue, and to be taught to our heirs.”
As Kirill returned, Stash immediately stiffened.
“What are you talking about?” Mikhail half whispered, already on edge.
Rafaela was behind him, immediately heading toward me. She had a killer smile on her face, allowing her gaze to float back and forth between the two men. There was no sense of recognition, just an understanding that she now had an extended family.
She was without Golden, determined to rid herself of a few demons while helping me with mine. For both of us, this moment and whatever discovery was made would be difficult.
“This is Rafaela Marichetti. I’ve called her many things from my healer to an angel. She was there on the first days when I was kept locked in a cement block prison in Sicily. Likely because of course once news hit about the ambush, Stash sent several of our men to Italy to try and find out what had happened. With soldiers watching the waterways and the airports, there would have been no way for my kidnappers to take me off the island.”
“Absolutely we surrounded the island. We were there for a couple weeks searching. There was no sign of you.” Stash was adamant, yet his eyes continued to search mine. There was both hope and uncertainty, a cautious concern in the light flickering through his eyes. He had no idea how much he’d already helped in the horrible discovery.
Nothing that he’d purposely intended on doing, but as the family accountant, his work had been vital.
“Well, thanks to Rafaela, I almost escaped that prison. Sadly, her father, who of course was a retired enforcer and half-brother of Giovanni Pollizi, was none too happy she’d dared break a family trust. After our engagement was discovered and I was finally removed from Sicily, she was told I’d been killed. At first, I’d thought she’d betrayed me, which allowed terrible, violent thoughts to fester in my mind for three years. The ugly truth was that she suffered, almost as much as I did, but in the end, she always kept hope I was alive. Isn’t that right, my little healer?”
“Yes, I could feel Kazimir in my blood and nothing my father did or could ever do could take that away.” Her smile remained. “When you’re truly connected to someone, you can feel their life’s blood surging through your veins.”
