Who else would have access? Who else could install surveillance in Nika’s sanctuary? And who else would be so fucking disgusting?
Mirror in hand, I sweep through the house, hunting for more hidden cameras.
I find the third in the right speaker of the surround sound system, aimed at the entire living room and high enough to see over furniture. Number four is in the decorative frame of a wall mirror positioned to capture the spots the first one couldn’t.
I add them to my growing collection.
In the kitchen, I pick up three more. The gym has five. None in Dimitri’s bedroom or the comms room.
Only in the areas Nika would frequent.
How convenient.
My stomach twists as I return to the bedroom. Nika sleeps peacefully, blissfully unaware that the man she trusts most has spied on her entire life.
She stirs as I sit on the edge of the bed. Smiling, she lays her head in my lap and hooks an arm around my thigh. “Why are you out of bed? Come back. It’s chilly without you.”
I shove the fluttery, twisty sensation in my chest to the side.
Survival first. Also, she deserves the truth.
My stiffness must clue her in because she sits up, peering into my hand and the collection of spy cams.
“What are these?” She pokes at my palm, pushing the electronics around.
I ignore her question in favor of one of my own. “How do you know Roman killed your mother?”
“I…” She stops, swallows, and frowns. “I saw it.”
“That’s not what you told me. You came through the bushes and watched him kneeling over her.” I wait for her to nod before I continue. “Did you see the knife?”
“What do you mean?” Nika pushes up and tugs the blanket around herself.
“Lilia was stabbed to death over twenty times. I read the police report. The autopsy. Did Roman have a knife in his hands or nearby or hidden in a sheath?”
“No, but he could have tossed it.” She pauses. The next words come slower. “And Dimitri said…”
She glances from the cameras to me, then around the room. Her pale face has an almost green cast to it.
I push her, just a little more. “Dimitri said. So you didn’t see this for yourself.” As I raise the cameras, the morning light catches on the lenses. “These are cameras. You told me there weren’t any cameras here. Or guns.”
She appears genuinely confused. She’s never questioned Dimitri, likely never thought to. He saved her, raised her, and gave her purpose when she had nothing. Kids don’t question why adults love and protect them. They just accept it.
But Nika’s not a kid anymore.
“I believe you only wanted the locket. That’s what you asked for, what you reached for every time, and what you got.” I hold her wide-eyed gaze. “What exactly does Dimitri want?”
Chapter 31
Nika
My mind can’t accept what I’m seeing. Just keeps slamming into a wall of, “Dima is my right-hand man. He wouldn’t do anything without my say so,” and bouncing off.
How long? Months? Years? Since I was…
No. I can’t think about that. I can’t stand Max’s pitying look either.
“I found one in here.” He points to the plastic mount by my door, where the smoke alarm should be. The one Dimitri changes the batteries in every three months. The one that didn’t go off when smoke filled the room. “And one in your shower stall door.”
