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I start by telling her about Viktor, and that she was right. She did see him at the club. I inform her of our suspicion that he was looking to eliminate her family so he could have that power and that the men of the Mikhailov Bratva that went rogue was looking to jump ship.
“I can't believe this. How could Viktor betray our family like this or our men? This is going to gut my father. He’s done his wrong doings, but he’s tried to make amends. Only he’s failed at every turn.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying there is so much you don’t know, but I feel like I can trust you. I’m just afraid I may hurt my family, but if what you say and Viktor is behind this, my silence doesn’t matter.”
“You can trust me, Vasilisa. This room is a safe space. We’ve entered into this unspoken truce. Let me help you and your family if I can.”
She takes a seat on the bed and removes the towel from her head, her eyes focused on the floor. “I’m not Vasilisa, Kai. I’m actually Margo. I know you hate liars, but I couldn’t reveal this before now.”
“I know, Margo,” I reply, relieved that I didn’t have to confront her about it or, worse yet, have her lie in response.
“Wait ... how?”
“I have someone looking into your past. I wanted to get you closure as a wedding present. The birthmark gave you away,” I say pointing at her right foot.
“Shit. Yes, I think Viktor figured it out too,” she curses.
“Start from the beginning,” I suggest.
She tells me that much of her past is like she described it before with the separate private schools for her and her twin. As Margo, she was the more outspoken one and the one people gravitated to. Persephone was her best friend, but at times, she could tell that Persie resented all the attention people would show her. She knew her friend secretly liked her boyfriend Viktor, because she would change anytime he was around ... sometimes trying to flirt with him in front of her. One day while visiting Persie, she hadn't returned home from a dance recital. Her father used this window of opportunity to force himself on her. He said that if she told, he had enough dirt on her father to ensure he went away for life.
My nostrils flare as I watch her be a dejected shell of herself as she relives her story. I want to fucking punch something, and I haven't even heard it all yet. She continues to say that he started to demand she come over when he knew Persie would be away. He took her virginity, something she hadn't even shared with Viktor. Meanwhile, as she was stuck being molested by Persie's father, her friend was using her absence to try to get closer to Viktor. One day she came home early and caught Margo coming out of her father's bedroom. She blamed Margo for being a slut and started the rumors about her friend being a promiscuous whore. Viktor refused to believe it at first, but when he learned that she had become pregnant, he beat her until she miscarried. All the rumors made sense because Margo couldn’t tell him the truth about Persie’s father without endangering her own father. She had lost her best friend and now she was losing Viktor.
Persie's father would not stop even after she had lost the baby and hid it from her family. She threatened to tell everyone, saying that she saved some of his DNA from when he last came in her. He sent men to rape and kill her to cover his tracks and to keep her quiet. Only those he hired didn't know she was a twin. Nobody knew except Viktor and his mother. Her sister Vasilisa was killed because of her.
“First and foremost, I'm so sorry you had to endure any of that. Your hatred for Persephone makes sense now. It also makes more sense why she fell for you being Margo. Because you are Margo.”
“She didn't know that it was her father who tried to have me killed. She fell for the story shared in the news that I was raped by some unknown assailants and murdered as a Mafia retaliation. But she did suspect her father was raping me. She was angry and blamed me. Her mother had left him years ago, and he was using my body at will. Most of her guilt stemmed from that.”
I take a seat on the bed next to her and lift her chin. “That wasn't your fault. You were just a kid. I get your anger now.”
“Viktor moved back to Moscow very shortly after that when his father became Mafia boss so he didn't realize it was actually my sister who was murdered.”
She explains that her father and her brothers knew. With their lack of power in contrast to the reach of power Persie's father had, they had to lay low. Her father vowed that he would never stop looking for ways to bring the senator down, but in the interim, it was best if the senator believed his secrets died with her. If he knew he didn't succeed, he would try again. Later, the public realized Margo had a twin, but like the rest of the world, Persie’s father believed she was in fact Vasilisa and wasn't a threat. She tried to kill Persie for revenge. It was never about Viktor. Even though she did hear him say he wanted to take out everyone who had to do with Margo's death, that was from his own guilt.
“You said your father has tried to make amends. What did he do?” I probe, trying to put all the pieces together.
“When my sister and brothers were much younger, we lived in Moscow. Our father was hungry for more power,” she explains, finally able to look at me. “He came to the States to establish his own Bratva here. Viktor's mom wanted to escape his dad. He wasn't a very nice man. She was friends with my Mom, so our family allowed her to escape to the US with us. She was undocumented and worked as one of our house staff. My parents helped get her papers and right to stay here. They also paid for Viktor to attend private school with me. Vasilisa went to a different school. When Viktor's mother fell ill with cancer, she reached out to his father to send for him. She didn't want to leave him alone in this world without being close to family. Days after she died, his father sent for him to take his rightful place as heir. Viktor has always blamed my father for taking his mother from her home. He didn't feel that it was my father's right to intervene. The rest of the Russian families were in agreement. My father had crossed the line and was an outcast for his actions. Viktor only recently tried to make amends with my father, suddenly stating that he appreciates the education and everything my father tried to do to help him and his mother.”
“He had an ulterior motive,” I retort. “He now had some power and wanted to steal what little your father had left. He has been positioning himself to take over all this time.”
“I think you're right,” she agrees. “What now?”
“You know I can't let him live, right?”
It's ironic that I was initially planning to end his life because he was a threat to Persephone as long as he's on this earth. Now his life will end because of the threat he is to Margo.
“I know,” she responds solemnly. “I don't know when he figured it out, but if he knew I was Margo, why still try to kill me? If he was planning vengeance for me ... I don't understand.”
“His need for greed superseded any remaining feelings he had for you as teenagers. It's likely in his eyes that you no longer deserved saving in all of this because you let him think you were dead. It’s possible he knew the truth when he rejected your father's betrothal.”
“Well, he's dead to me now so do what you must. I won't be shedding any tears for him. The power has gone to his head. He is not the boy I grew up with. The boy I fell ...”
“In love with,” I finish for her. Her head drops again as she nods. “It's okay to say it. He was your first love.”
“It doesn't feel right saying it now,” she admits.
