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Dimitri is dead. Dominika is dead.
The words replay in my head.
“Fuck all,” Vadik says. “Under our noses the whole time, she was. We trusted her. She joined our family for holidays and graduations. And she fucking killed our parents.” He looks down at his glass of scotch, shaking his head in disbelief.
The news about their parents has understandably sent the guys into a funk, probably along the lines of what they went through when they first lost them. I’ve been there, myself. Just when I start to think I’m over losing my mother, the grief comes roaring back and bites me in the ass, often when I least expect it.
It’s a funny thing to have in common, that both the Alekseevs and I lost our parents to murder. It’s like we’re in this small, special club, the kind of club no one ever wants to join. The circumstances might be different, but what they have in common is that these people were taken before their time, taken from us by evil people. I might have been a child when it happened to me, and the Alekseevs are adults, but it leaves you bereft, nonetheless. The loss is a huge, gaping maw, threatening to eat you alive unless you find a way to fight it.
To think that when I found those weird photos, where Mrs. Alekseev’s face had been scratched out, the guys actually gave Dominika a pass. They brushed it off as no big deal, just another odd thing about a quirky person.
“Hey, do you think she swiped those photos when the fire was set? The ones where she scratched your mother’s face out?” I ask.
Kir runs his fingers through his hair. “She must have. Shit, that was a big fucking clue we missed. Shows how loyalty to someone can blind you to something right in front of your face. If we’d looked more closely, we might have realized those photos came from the house, not Dominika’s own personal stash.”
Bet they’ll never let that happen again. But on the other hand, is thereanyonethese guys can trust? They’ve been betrayed left and right, and while they’ve avenged the wrongs done against them, the betrayal must still sting.
“You know, you think danger comes from the outside, but that’s such a limited view. I mean, it never even crossed my mind that Dominika did it, killed Mama and Papa. Which I guess is what she wanted. She knew Dimitri would have to take the heat, no matter how much he denied it,” Niko says.
Personally, I think they should have suspected Dominika from the start. I know they didn’t see the side of her that I did, how cruelly she treated other people, but they knew she wasn’t a nice lady. That much was obvious.
I keep that thought to myself, though, and also don’t mention when they didn’t believe me about Dominika setting Stacey up to be hurt by Alexei. The guys are already beating themselves up, anyway.
Kir looks my way. “You know, Charleigh, I’m proud of you. We all are.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve faced some difficult situations, and you handled them. You’re strong. I know your life hasn’t been easy these last weeks,” he says.
Niko smooths his hands over his thighs. “And that’s why we don’t want to let you go.”
“That’s not the only reason,” Kir adds.
“True. But… we wanted to talk about the future,” Niko says.
For once, I feel like I’m ready for this conversation.
Or not.
I look at Vadik, who’s stoic as usual, which I suppose is one of the things that tickles me about him most. He’s like a pineapple on the outside—rough and prickly—but juicy and sweet on the inside. Most people never get past his badass exterior. I am one of the lucky few. And I love it.
I lovehim.
I love all three of these men. We’ve flourished together under the strangest of circumstances and come out on top. We’ve overcome betrayal, threats on our lives, and massive loss. And it has, somehow, brought us closer.
I know that if I stick with these guys, I’ll never really be completely safe, as good as it feels to know Dimitri will not be coming after me again. His death is a massive relief but there’s no guarantee another Dimitri won’t come along at some point. If that happens, we’ll deal with it.
But I’m feeling pretty fucking safe right now. And I’m not going anywhere. Although I would like to get back into my classes.
“What about Evie?” I ask.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell them Evie and I are a two-for-one package deal. They take the two of us, or nothing. It’s that simple.
Vadik leans back in his chair. “How do you think she’d like boarding school? There are excellent places we could send her, and she’d be around other kids, have the chance to start over.”
Boarding school? Evie?
I want to laugh at the idea, but the more I think about it, the more I think she just might go along with it. “We’ll ask her. See what she thinks. But what about security?”
