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“In fact…” There’s even more to this. It’s all coming together now. I need to be sure.
I jog the rest of the way back up to the main building, taking the stairs up to my office two at a time, Michael close behind me. I rush to the filing cabinet, which unlocks viaa biometric scanner. I take out the manila envelope Nikolai gave me and toss it behind me on my desk. I reach behind it for the other file, which I've read so many times that I've practically memorized it. I fling it onto my desk, and the weathered folder opens, revealing a picture on top.
It’s almost too much to process all at once.
This all just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
How could I have missed this? That face that I’ve stared into a hundred times over, the same strong jawline, those storm gray eyes… Helena looks just like Alek Ivankov.
The man who murdered my sister.
“This is the reason Nikolai agreed to the alliance… this is why he knew that I would take the case. He must have been waiting for me to put together all of the pieces and realize that he has given me an even bigger gift than I could have ever asked for,” I say softly, thinking out loud as I sink into my leather chair.
It should make me happy… but it only makes me nauseous.
I’ve spent years looking for a link that will connect me to my sister’s murderer. I’ve searched every database that I can get my hands on, and every road until right this moment has been a dead end. Did Nikolai do this on purpose? Is it a gift? Two birds with one stone?
“Boss?” Michael asks from where he stands across the room, but I can’t tear my eyes from Alek’s face. I tap my fingers angrily on the desk in front of me, attempting to figure out my next move, but I’m coming up blank. I keep overlaying Helena’s face with that of her brother—the brother she implied was very much alive and out there somewhere.
“She said that he’s alive. She said that she doesn’t know where he is or even if he will care thatshe’sstill alive, and I can’t tell if that’s just part of her cover story or if that’s real. She based the lie about Abram in truth. He would have been there to help raise her. He saved her. Based on what we know now, there is a good chance that he was like family to her… which stands to reason that all of the rest of her little cover story is based in truth as well.”
“I’m not following, boss…” Michael came over to glance at the mugshot on my desk, and his eyes widened.
“That’s Alek Ivankov. Nikolai has placed the key to my vengeance in my lap. He’s practically gift-wrapped her for me. Alek was supposed to be dead, but now….”
He tasked me with killing Helena.
It would be payback for the death of my beloved sister, for Henry’s mother.
Henry.
I place my head in my hands. He’s going to miss Helena when she’s gone too. He’s going to wonder where his favorite new teacher has run off to, and I’m not going to have anything to tell him. I can never tell him who she really is or about the connection that I’ve uncovered.
It should make my choice easier. I should walk right back over to that room where she’s likely still laying on that bed and torture her for answers just like I would with anybody else in this situation. I’ve gotten too close to her already. The idea of causing her pain churns my stomach until I taste bile.
How did I allow this to happen?
“Get me everything on Murat Ivankov’s aliases. His CIA files. Everything that our Bratva connections have had on him from his years undercover. I want absolutelyeverything.”
Michael knows me better than anyone, and won’t question how difficult this is for me. If I choose not to kill her, he wouldn’t bat an eye… but talking this out isn’t going to help me decide.
I’m going to need to get the truth out of her.
One way or another.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Helena
Daniel didn’t come back.
I hate that I’m disappointed by that.
I expected to wake up the next morning to him sitting on the edge of my bed ready for another round ofwhateverit was that he was going to do. I expected him to show up and attempt to punish me for escaping. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have one or two dreams about him spanking me until my ass was bright red in penance for what I did.
But he didn’t come.
Not on the first day, and not on the second. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume something bad had happened to him. One of his men comes in three times a day to bring me food. Trying to get information from any of them is pointless. They don't even look me in the eyes. When they replace my empty food tray with a new one, I'm lucky if they give me a grunt. Another smaller man was brought in twice on the first day to check my ankle. He stated that he was asked to ensure that things did not worsen, but Daniel still did not appear. When I woke up the next day, there was a cello on the ground beside the bed.
