Page 65 of Care: Part 1

"Luckily for me, I still had you and grandma. I swore on my life that I would do everything I could to make sure you both were okay. That meant staying away so the Russians wouldn't detect you. I should've known better than to trust that fucking son of a bitch!" He shouted angrily, leaving Avelina to flinch.

She looked at him in shock, confusion suddenly settling on her features.

"Who?"

"Doesn't matter. She's ancient history after doing what she did to our family."

Natasha.

Avelina quickly put the pieces together. There was more to the story that she didn't know.

If it weren’t for the genuine hurt in her brother’s eyes, she would’ve pressed on the subject more.

"What have you been doing all this time?" Avelina asked him, her brows pulling together in confusion.

"Aside from looking after you, I've been building my own army to take down Zolotov's.”

Avelina gleamed down at the blackbird tattoo he was sporting. It was the same tattoo that was on the man who stabbed Adrik. "Were you responsible for the man who stabbed Adrik?"

The very thought of Vincent hurting Adrik didn't fail to pain her. She felt guilty for the way she felt, but Avelina knew that she couldn't help it. It was a nagging feeling that she wished would go away, but it wouldn't.

"Yes. I'm looking for someo-"

"His sister?"

He nodded his head slowly as a sigh surpassed his lips. "Yeah, her. As I was saying, I am looking for her. Zolotov is the only person that she cares about," he stated.

Avelina's brows pulled together as she processed his words. "So, you planned to stab him and scare him into submission?"

"No. I planned to kill him," Vincent stated as if the words meant absolutely nothing.

To Avelina, those words meant everything. Of course, it hurt her that Adrik's sister had done something so gruesome. However, Adrik was only guilty of protecting his sister. He didn’t deserve to die for loving his family.

"What?"

"I know how you feel about him but trust me when I say that their whole family is shady. You may think he cares about you, but I swear he doesn't. All they do is use people," he said behind a clenched jaw.

She thought about his words and couldn't help but wonder what happened between him and Natasha. Was it possible that Natasha used Vincent just as Adrik used Avelina?

"I'll let them live with that on their conscious, but I don't want to live knowing the fact that my brother killed my-"

"Your, what?" He asked with a raised brow.

She watched him cross his arms over his chest while a disappointed expression settled on his features.

"Doesn't matter.”

As she glanced over at Vincent, she began to wonder much he knew about her and Adrik.

"I already know, Avelina," Vincent sighed, clarifying her doubts.

Avelina didn't know how to respond. So, she settled with silence.

"I know we don’t have the best relationship, but I promise I will work twice as hard to fix it. All I ask is that you leave Zolotov alone because he is not good for you. Do you understand me?"

Avelina detected the worry in his eyes. She couldn’t help but glance down at her phone one last time to see if Adrik had bothered to contact her.

"Fine."