Max fixes me with adon’t be stubbornlook when I shake my head. “Peter gave your mother the locket and keyed your retinal scan to the door. This money was apparently never meant for your father. It’s yours. I bet it was his way of ensuring that Roman worked to prove himself, but he always had a rainy-day fund set aside for the next generation in case things went wrong. You can do with it whatever you like.”
Mine.
Not the family’s. Not Roman’s. Not the Kozlov Bratva’s collective wealth. Mine.
I’ve got my freedom and enough money to do whatever I please.
Now I just need to decide what that is.
Stepping up to the baskets of precious gems, I scoop a handful of cut emeralds and pour them into my pocket. Then I grab a stack of American dollars and head for the mouth of the cave. “Right now, I’d like to get a cold glass of water, a warm shower, and medical attention. Everything else can wait.”
Max shrugs his broad shoulders and follows me out. “That sounds like a damn good plan to me.”
Chapter 40
Nika
“I’ll be out here if you need me.” Max rests a hand on my back as I stare at the cherrywood door that separates me from Roman.
No, not Roman. Myfather.
We’ve had a few phone calls over the past four days while Max and I recovered in the hospital. My badly broken hand required surgery. We explained away the injury by spinning a tale about how we found ourselves stranded in the woods and how I slid off an embankment during our trek back to civilization. The hospital staff proved surprisingly understanding, and no one even mentioned calling the cops.
Shocker.
Now I’m here, in the Kozlov compound, about to confront my father face-to-face.
As I enter his office, Roman—no, Dad—rises, an imposing figure behind his reddish brown desk. His steely eyes track my every movement while the rest of his body stays rigid.
Though I’d still describe him as handsome, the years have left their mark in the silver at his temples and a few extra wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. How many of those came from nights grieving his lost family?
His shoulders remain stiff and strong, though. Unshed tears fill his intense dark eyes.
He’s wearing a black suit, his crimson tie left loose and the collar undone.
A strange urge to cry has me choking out a strangled laugh.
“You had a son.” I eye him, not as a challenge, but as an equal. “His name was Dimitri. He killed Mom and convinced me that you were responsible. That you were going to kill me, too, in order to keep the locket.”
I hold the pendant out from its rightful place on my neck.
Roman doesn’t say a word.
“I saw you rip it from her body that night. That’s why I believed him.” I push down those awful memories. “I thought you wanted me dead too. That’s why I came after you. To make sure you stopped hunting me, and to make you suffer like I did. I also wanted this necklace.”
Roman’s hands clench on his desk. “Nika. That was…always yours. I took it from you mother’s neck as a way to remember you both.” He gestures at the portrait on the wall. “It looks good on you.”
Tears track down his face, his eyes brimming with wonder as he regards me.
I don’t know what to say. How to speak past the years of pain and anger and longing for a home that I’ve ignored for so long.
I suck in a breath. “Dad?—”
He trembles, and for a second, I worry he might pass out from stress.
Without thinking, I rush forward and hug him, partly to ensure he doesn’t collapse.
“We have so much lost time to make up for. So many things to discuss.” He wraps strong arms around me and places a kiss on the top of my head. “But all of that can wait. Welcome home, Nika.”
