AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What if our children weren’t antistasi?
“Maybe all of that is true,” Alessandro said. “However, her mother is an excellent shot, and yet all of the former boyfriends and girlfriends of her children are still breathing despite their many sins. What did you think when your mother strangled Liudmilla in that hotel room? How did your perfect older brother take it?”
Konstantin’s smile widened and he bared his teeth at Alessandro. It bothered him. Alessandro’s thrust had hit home.
“My mother loves us unconditionally,” Konstantin said. “She wishes only the best for us, and she will take sins upon herself for our benefit. Can you say the same? More importantly, can you do the same?”
Alessandro turned his head to glance at him.
“What can you offer her, really?”
“Whatever you are thinking, stop thinking it,” Alessandro told him.
Konstantin smiled. “Recently I’ve had an occasion to visit the Siberian diamond mines. They have a saying there. ‘A man who finds a diamond never gets to keep it.’ Thank you for finding this diamond, Sasha.”
Alessandro pulled into the parking lot in front of the new Justice Center, parked, and looked at the prince. I almost took a step back. He’d gone into his Artisan mode, and his face was so cold.
“This isn’t the Imperium, Konstantin. And she isn’t a rock, she is a person. You’ve grown accustomed to thinking everything belongs to your family including people. It’s a bad habit. In this country people have freedom and a choice. Whatever choice she makes, I’ll help her realize it. If someone decides to block her path, I will remove them.”
Konstantin gave a theatrical shiver. “Very menacing.”
“1547.”
“Is that supposed to mean something?” Konstantin raised his eyebrows, but his pose shifted slightly.
“The code to the little wooden cabin your parents use in Berekhino when the pressure becomes too much and they want to hide and fish on Oka River. Consider your next move carefully.”
The screen went dark.
“I’ve looked up the Liudmilla incident,” Bern said. “Konstantin’s older brother had a fiancée who hung herself in her hotel room while on holiday with her family. She had a history of ‘mental instability’ according to Russian press. Make of that what you will.”
I crossed my arms and stared at the screen.
“The way he talks about you suggests he’s thought about this. It’s not a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“Yep,” Runa said from the couch. “He watches you.”
“I caught that.” Prince Berezin had developed an unhealthy interest in me. No, it was more likely that the Russian Imperium developed an interest in me, which was bad any way you looked at it. I would have to figure out a good way to discourage it. Permanently.
A door slammed shut, and Arabella burst into the tower brandishing a piece of paper. “Four hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars?!”
Runa jerked upright. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Bern told her. “Go back to bed, baby.”
“Are you kidding right now? Is this a joke?” Arabella waved her arms.
Bern squinted at Arabella. “I told you to stop playing that gacha game. Spending real money on digital characters can only lead to trouble, especially considering the odds.”
“It’s not my gaming bill! It’s the bill from the Office of Records!”
Ouch.
“I’m going to kill Leon,” Arabella growled.
Bern put on his noise-cancelling headphones and stabbed his finger at the meeting room.
“Let’s talk in there.” I headed to the gaming room, texting Leon as I walked.
“Four hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars!” Arabella snarled.
Leon shrugged. “I thought it was rather reasonable.”
Arabella stared at him, and I wondered if her head would explode. My sister’s volume control had suffered a critical malfunction. She seemed to be communicating in declarative statements only.
“Look,” Leon said. “Twelve cars, two broken light poles, and a chunk of the parking lot that has to be repaved. We’re paying replacement cost for the cars based on the current market value. We’re giving them an option of taking a lump sum or a replacement vehicle. Most of them want the lump sum, which actually favors us . . .”
She planted her arms on the table and leaned forward. “That’s not the point.”
“They could have charged us for the building,” he said in his most reasonable tone.
“We shouldn’t be paying any of these costs. We did not cause this damage. Xavier, Gunderson, and Arkan are the ones who wrecked everything.”
“I checked with Sabrian,” I said. “We can sue Gunderson’s estate, but they would likely turn around and sue us for wrongful death. They won’t win, but it will be long and painful and will drag on forever, at the end of which we will be left with a bunch of legal fees. Unless we can get House Gunderson to pay them, but according to their credit reports, their financial situation could be better, so even if we did win, it would take years to—”
“We don’t have to sue Gunderson. Let the Keeper sue Gunderson.”
