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“Fine! You want me to leave?” she threatened.
Egor rolled his eyes as he continued gnawing on his steak. He didn’t even glance at her when he added, “I thought you’d never ask.”
Yulia stood up abruptly, dropping her fork with a clang and shoving her chair back so that it scuffed loudly on the polished wood floor. “Enjoy your empty calories!” she spat at Annika before storming out of the room.
“She was always a little touched in the head, but your mother has really gone off the rails since you moved out,” Egor said to Annika calmly. As if he hadn’t just bullied her into leaving.
“You didn’t have to say those things to her,” she said quietly.
Egor raised an eyebrow at her, still chewing. “Your mother never learned to grow a thick skin about things. So sensitive all the time. It’s exhausting trying not to upset that woman. But I’m sure your husband-to-be is teaching you to be tough, right?”
“Sure. Yeah, we’re working on that together,” Annika relented.
“I can’t imagine a Sokolov man speaking to his fiancé too kindly either,” he added. “Women have to suck it up while the men work. The sooner you learn to be quiet and grateful, the easier it will be for you.”
“Thanks for the advice, Dad,” she muttered.
He set down his fork and knife and squinted at his diamond-studded wristwatch. “Well, it’s been lovely to see you, but I must get going.”
“What? Already?” Annika asked in surprise. She had barely touched her plate.
He stood up and tossed his napkin on the table, brushing his hands off. “I have important business to attend to. You’ll be the wife of a Pakhan soon enough, then you’ll understand.”
Without so much as another glance at his daughter, Egor Baranov turned and stalked out of the room. Annika sat at the table alone, staring at the excess of expensive, delicious food spread across it. Their family dinner had lasted a total of maybe ten minutes. Annika began to wonder if it was always this bad. Maybe those few rosy-hued memories she had were just lies she told herself back then. It was easier to pretend her family was normal and happy than to accept the reality of their coldness.
Annika heard her mother ranting and raving on the phone in the den while her father’s heavy, plodding footsteps creaked across the floorboards of his study upstairs. There was the soft clink of dishes being washed by staff in the kitchen, and behind it, that maddening grandfather clock ticking away the miserable minutes.
Nobody cared what Annika did or said. She was borderline invisible, just like she’d always been. It hurt to come home and feel so unwelcome. Tonight’s fiasco had proven to Annika that her parents didn’t deserve her loyalty. Mikhail had been kinder to her in the short time they were together than in all the years of her childhood here. She could hardly wait for him to come pick her up in an hour. Being here was more painful than she ever expected. But she had come here with a goal, and she was determined to reach it.
So, unnoticed by anyone, Annika slipped out of the dining room. She slinked upstairs and down the long hallway, rimmed with portraits of Egor and his predecessors. She crept so quietly, avoiding that one especially squeaky floorboard in the center of the hall, until she could stand pressed against the door of her father’s study. She barely breathed as she listened in on what sounded like a phone conversation with his advisor. Annika didn’t expect to hear anything very juicy; normally her dad’s conversations were exceptionally boring. But Mikhail had tasked her with gathering intel, and this seemed like as good an opportunity as any.
“He’s managed to keep her alive, so that’s something,” Egor was saying. Annika listened closely. He went on, laughing, “Compared to her mother? She’s easy. That girl has always wanted her daddy’s approval.”
Annika tensed up. Anger flickered inside of her.
“Well, as long as somebody gives it to her. I must say, it’s a relief to give up some of the responsibility. It’s a pity he won’t get to keep her. I’m enjoying the peace and quiet.”
There was a pause. Annika wished she could hear the other end of the conversation.
“No, she doesn’t have a clue. I’m certain of that. She may be more even-tempered than Yulia, but she’s not any more intelligent.” He laughed and added, “We don’t need her to be clever. All she has to be is pretty.”
Annika thought about pushing in the door, angrily stomping her feet and cursing at her father for speaking so cruelly about his own wife and daughter. But then she heard him say something that made her blood run cold.
“Well, yes, but we’ve done it before. Of course, Irina was much easier. The woman was headstrong; she refused a bodyguard. Can you imagine? If you think about it, Vasili is just as culpable for her death as we are. If he had put his foot down and controlled his woman, maybe she would’ve survived,” Egor chuckled. “He let her waltz right into our trap. The Sokolovs didn’t see it coming back then, and they won’t suspect it this time either.”
“What,” Annika breathed, the realization breaking over her like a tidal wave. Mikhail was right: her father was responsible for Irina Sokolov’s death. She felt dizzy, the room spinning around her as she listened to her father’s cruel words.
“You’re right. Pride was her downfall, too, thinking she was too good for me. Why any woman would choose Vasili Sokolov over a man like me I’ll never understand,” said Egor bitterly. “She should have known better than to reject a Baranov Pakhan.”
Annika’s heart raced. She could hardly believe her ears. Not only was he responsible for Mikhail’s mother’s death, but he had done it out of revenge? A petty payback for rejecting him? Annika was disgusted to her core. No wonder her mother had always seemed to despise her father. If Yulia had any inkling as to Egor’s true colors, there was no way shecouldlove him. But Egor didn’t sound even remotely contrite about his murderous actions.
He laughed to his advisor. “Exactly. We’ll get away with it just like before. And this time, we have a secret weapon. An idiot like Mikhail Sokolov can be seduced into stupidity. He won’t even know what hit him, and neither will she until it’s too late.”
CHAPTER15
MIKHAIL
The sun blazed overhead,cracking the dry earth as it beamed across the rolling desert landscape. Black birds cawed and circled in the sky, making strange shadows rotate on the ground. Lizards sunned themselves on flat rocks while tiny mice scurried underneath them in the endless hunt for shade. The cacti grew thick and spiny, their resplendent pink blossoms soaking up the rays. Craggy trees waved in the soft breeze that danced through the valley in an occasional breath of respite. The underbrush was dense, and it seemed that everything that grew here came with prickly bits. It was a difficult area of the desert to reach, and most of the nature here was totally untouched. The creatures who called this corner of the dunes home had little fear of people. They were a curiosity that showed up every now and then, but most of the time, there were almost no human beings for miles and miles in any direction. The only ones mixed in among the desert animals today were Mikhail and Annika.
