Page 117 of Fractured Ties

There was a warning lingering heavily in his father’s tone. The promise of swift violence if Kolya didn’t give Vadim the answer he wanted. The problem was—there was no way for him to lie or hide this anymore.

It was there.

His father knew.

It meant betrayal. It meant Kolya had purposely betrayed his father by proxy. Not by outright acting against his father and the Boykovs, but by willingly omitting details that would have affected the way Vadim chose to handle his business.

And Maya.

But that was the thing, right?

Kolya was never going to do anything that put her in danger, and that included Vadim and whatever he fucking wanted.

“When did you suspect this was the case?” Vadim asked quietly.

That violent gleam had yet to leave his father’s eye. Vadim continued standing as still as a statue but for the way he kept clenching his fist. The thin thread of control his father was hanging on was just about to snap.

Kolya figured he should get out of the way, but what was the point? If not today, then his father would act against him another day.

It was inevitable.

Kolya wouldn’t be able to escape it.

“When?” his father asked again.

Kolya’s gaze darted to Konstantin, and though his brother wouldn’t care or even ask for him to do it, he offered the truth in a way that suggested he was the only one who knew. “When Konstantin was attacked in his car—I started looking into things on my own and put two and two together. It made sense.”

“That long?”

Kolya chose not to answer. His father didn’t actually want him to. He expected Vadim to strike out at him, but surprisingly, his father’s hand cracked down hard enough on the table to make everyone’s glasses jump.

“You betrayed me—your father—for a woman. You chose to spit on the legacy I am willing to pass onto you for that? Do you even know what you’ve done?”

Not particularly, but he figured Vadim would be quick to correct that ignorance and teach him. So was his father’s ways.

“Fine,” his father spat, “you get the woman, Kolya. She’s what you want; what you’re so willing to fucking ruin everything I’ve given you for, yeah? Get her, then. But know, absolutely everything you take from me has a price. This will not be different and you will pay accordingly. How dare you, Kolya.”

It was not even a question.

His father stormed from the kitchen, leaving the three of them sitting in silence.

Konstantin spoke up first—unsurprisingly. “Bad things are coming for us, brat. From Vadim, bad things are coming.”

No doubt.

He just didn’t care.

He needed to get Maya back.

15.

If there was ever a face Maya never wanted to see again, it was Alexei’s. His face—although, far less pudgy—reminded her of their father’s. Sharp lines and eyes that were so cold they burned when he chose to look at her. It was almost better when he wasn’t looking at her—when he was pretending she didn’t exist at all. Just like their papa. That alone was more than enough to turn her fucking stomach into a mess of knots.

And not the good kind.

“Move,” Alexei barked.

His hand hit the spot between her shoulder blades with a rough smack. Maya hadn’t been expecting it and stumbled over her own two feet. Barely missing a crack in the tarmac that easily would have sent her flying into the pavement.