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My cousin scoffed, going to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. He gulped the liquid down.Good. This is good.I didn’t bring attention to his shaking hands.
Adrian lowered the glass and turned to face me. “How are we going to do that, Con? We’ve been trying for years to end that family.”
He didn’t remember that he’d already asked me this from the depths of his despair on the bathroom floor. But I gave him the same answer. “This time it’ll be different. You and I—we have nothing to lose.”
“Except each other,” he grumbled, drumming his fingers into the countertop. “But it’s not like there’s much of us left to survive.”
Well, shit...now that he’d put it like that, it was pretty fucking bleak. “You realize you almost made sure I was completely alone?” I snapped.
Adrian flinched, and I wanted to kick myself. Just because my strength and determination were bolstering me through this tragedy didn’t mean it was the same for everyone else.
“Look, I get the desire to escape all this. Sometimes I wish I could bow to that. But dammit, Adrian, you’re wrong about there not being enough to survive. We might have holes that will never be filled with what they fucking took from us, but that only means we need to hold tighter to each other. We’re all that’s left. Us.”
“I can’t deal with all of this like you.”
Right there, I saw what I couldn’t see before. Iryna’s death hadbrokenmy fierce, brilliant cousin. “There are resources we can get for you. Whatever you need,” I resolved. I stepped forward, gripping his arm. “I’m not losing you, cuz.”
“I won’t do that to you, Conny.” The ghost of a smile played on his lips. If there was ever going to be a happy ending for him, we would have to work really hard to help him. And for a warrior like Adrian, part of that recovery would be giving him the revenge he desperately needed for closure. That was something I could give us both.
I arched a brow at him. “Can you clean yourself up? You smell like a distillery.”
“I can do that,” he said, and while he didn’t stagger, he didn’t walk with the same spring in his step. Assured he was at least somewhat stable, I went into the guest room to clean up.
~*~
An hour after the sunpeeked over the edge of the world, we were in the backseat of the town car as Philip drove us through the streets of LA. We avoided most of the rush hour traffic thanks to his excellent skills. After following a hunch I’d had in the middle of the night, I called the Bratva prince, who agreed to meet with me.
Now, as we pulled up to his gate, I felt a flutter of surprise. I thought I was serious about security, but this fortress had walls that looked damn near medieval, with guards positioned in lookout boxes up top. The landscaping hid the unpleasant visage, but as this wasn’t the only well-guarded house on this street, the Fort Knox vibes weren’t an eyesore.
Our car passed through the gate without incident, and Philip pulled into the short driveway.
Viktor was waiting just outside the front door of the auspicious mansion. As I opened the car door, the gigantic man began to jog down the steps. I knew this was the biggest branch of the Bratva on the west coast, but the nephew of the boss sure knew how to bring an Old World flare to his castle.
“Constantine.” The Russian held out his hand, pity scrawled all over his face. “My condolences are meaningless at a time like this, but you have them regardless.”
“Thank you,” I said gruffly.
“May I welcome you inside for some coffee or breakfast?” Viktor gestured to his home.
How different things were now. Not twenty-four hours ago he was taking breakfast in my home. I clamped down quickly on that train of thought.
“No, but thank you.” I dug into my breast pocket and pulled out the cellular device Talia had used since we’d been married. “This was a relatively new device when Talia married me. The Beaumont family hide their tracks so well that they don’t leave traces in the digital world. My security firm couldn’t find anything useful on it while we were on our honeymoon, but after listening to your sister and knowing that she was able to discover my identity on the dark web, I’m wondering if she can find anything with this.”
“It is as I explained to you on the phone: Sophia is happy to try. If anyone can find a ghostly paper trail, it is her.”
The pride in Viktor’s voice was painful to hear. It had me fisting my hands at my sides. “This family is damn near impossible to find, and they might have gone to ground after the stunt their heir pulled. But there’s still a chance she could find something.” I held out my hand to shake his.
As his great paw engulfed mine, Viktor asked a question I was not prepared to answer. “How is your bride taking the news of her brother’s actions?”
My grip hardened. “She has plenty of time to think about it...from her jail cell.”
Viktor dropped my hand, his eyes widening. “What did you do?”
“Nothing serious—yet. I am still looking for answers. She was sent into my life to kill me, and I am yet to confirm if she really is a victim in all this or a perpetrator.”
“Did she confess to knowing her brother would do this?”
I shook my head. “Gustave claims he didn’t know what his son was doing, and all Talia thinks is that she’s been set up. She knows no details as to what has happened, and I didn’t volunteer anything as I’m trying to work out where she stands in all this.”
