Page 56 of Fractured Ties

Vadim relaxed a bit, but his sharp gaze drifted over Kolya’s face as though he was trying to read whatever he could from his son’s expression. “You wanted her, no?”

Kolya hesitated on that answer—it was an obvious yes, but that wasn’t why he thought before he spoke. It was how Vadim posed the question, as though he was genuinely interested in the answer. But why?

“The debt would be cleared, and everything was taken care of except for her. Not every girl needs to go to the whorehouses,” Kolya settled on saying.

“So, you took her.”

“I said that, yes.”

“Because you wanted her.”

Jesus.

He was not going to let that go.

“You could say that,” Kolya settled on saying.

Vadim nodded, and relaxed into his chair a little more. “Well, that’s going to be a problem, then.”

Kolya blinked. “Why would it be a—”

“Idriz—the Albanian who just left. I am sure you don’t need me to explain who he is, or who his brother is, for that matter. He was here because of your slave.”

Fucking hell.

That word—slave—raked along every one of Kolya’s nerves. He didn’t like it being used to describe Maya, but he forced himself to stay quiet yet again. This was another one of those situations where Vadim was clearly not looking for a response.

“Valbon Gashi—ring a bell?” his father asked.

“A distant one.”

Vadim waved a hand, saying, “Figures. He’s a cousin to Idriz, and thus, to the boss as well—Saban. He is also the one Ivan Kozlov owed the debt to. I have come to learn that debt was more than what was just on the surface—it was a running tab.”

Kolya swallowed down the discomfort starting to settle in his stomach. “And what does that mean?”

“Valbon had an arrangement of sorts with Ivan … or he had come to one after a spell had passed between them. Maya, that is. The girl.”

“Woman,” Kolya corrected before he could think better of it. “She’s beyond old enough to be called a woman.”

Vadim scowled. “I bet.”

He only shrugged.

“Be that as it may, Valbon took an interest, and Ivan gave in to the man’s request. Debt was paid then.”

“Clearly not,” Kolya countered, “as he still owed.”

His gaze drifted to the documents and money on the table he had needed to find in order to pay back that debt. Not to mention the man had lost his life because of it.

Vadim drummed his fingers to the desk. “Ivan ended up back in Valbon’s debt—not that the details matter this time around, as it won’t happen again. Point being, I have been told that the two came to a similar agreement as before. Only this time, the woman was to go to Valbon.”

Kolya stiffened.

His father likely didn’t miss it.

“Permanently,” Vadim added after a stretch of silence.

Kolya didn’t even have to think about an adequate response, really. “The deal is void with them—Ivan is dead.”