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“I strongly suggest you don’t negotiate,” the officer said, but I shook my head sharply.
“Mamachka is my only priority,” I said. “I’ll be in contact.”
“Please be careful,” Sadie said.
“Are the kids okay?” I asked. “Where are they?”
“They’re more than fine,” she said, “thankfully.” She pointed them out behind the wheel of the nearest squad car, whooping along with the siren and all wearing caps.
“I love them,” I said, smiling wryly. I looked down at Sadie. “I love you too.”
“I’m not saying it until you come back,” she said, but she stood on her tiptoes to kiss me.
* * *
The address was a warehouse for one of the shipping companies my company owned, right on the water. A chill breeze made it even colder, and I wished I had my coat. I’d left it with Sadie.
When I entered, Sergei pointed a gun at me. Beside him, Mamachka cringed.
“There’s no need for that,” I said, holding my hands up. “There’s no need for any of this, Sergei. Didn’t I take care of you? Didn’t my parents take care of you?”
“You would’ve left the whole thing to me,” he said, gesturing wildly with the gun. “But you had to go and claim those stinking bastards as legitimate heirs and ruin everything.”
“Like I already told you, it’s fine,” I said. “It’s just money, Sergei. How much do you want? I’ll give it to you. It doesn’t matter.”
He shook his head. “I thought I was all the family you needed, Misha. You fucked me over with all of this, writing me out of everything.”
“If you want the company, take it,” I said, approaching carefully. “I have what I want right here in Smythe. You can have it all.”
“It’s the insult. The lack of thought — of consideration — that you had for me,” Sergei said. I was beginning to understand that he wouldn’t be so easily placated. That maybe he was really out for blood.
“I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign,” I said. “I’ll give you everything. Just let this woman go.”
“Charlotte Ware,” Sergei spat. “This woman says she’s a mother to you. More than your own mother? More than the parent I was to you?”
“I’m sorry,” Mamachka said. “I couldn’t let him take the children. I told him they were nothing to you. That you would do whatever he said if he had me.”
“No one’s done anything wrong,” I said easily. “What we’re going to do right now is talk a little business. Mrs. Ware doesn’t really have anything to do with that, does she, Sergei? There’s no one who knows the business like you do.”
His chest puffed with pride. “That’s right.”
But by then I was close enough. And he was distracted. I put myself between the gun and Mamachka and wrenched Sergei’s arm around until he dropped the weapon, sending him to his knees with just a little more pressure.
“Just like I taught you,” Sergei said almost admiringly.
“Go, Mamachka,” I said. “There’s police waiting outside.”
As soon as she had left the room, I leaned down and put my lips to Sergei’s ear. “You killed my parents, Sergei. I know it was you. Don’t deny it.”
“It was just business — nothing personal, Misha.”
“What business? The family business was all that mattered.”
“There were plenty of competitors who wanted it,” Sergei said. “And then there was a highest bidder — someone who made it worth my time to end your parents.”
“But I got the company.”
“And you had to fight for it,” he pointed out. “Fight against everyone else who thought they might have a chance to get at least a piece of the pie.”
