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“I know,” I sighed. “I’m not going to go and forget that because it’s my kid in danger. However, I’m hoping he’ll be understanding when he knows what’s at stake for me.”
“Maybe. The boss has been acting kind of weird lately about things like that, if you hadn’t noticed.”
I looked up from my glass at him, frowning. “What do you mean, weird?”
“I mean he’s going harder on everything that he ever has before. He wants to expand, he wants to put down every enemy, he wants to discipline every bad employee, all at once, all right now. It’s like he thinks he doesn’t have any time left or something.”
“That’s bizarre, man,” I said. “I noticed he’s been more secretive and more demanding, but I didn’t know about the rest.”
“Yeah. Bizarre is the word. I keep hearing bits about it because of my job, but Vasily himself isn’t talking.”
“Huh. I wonder what’s going on,” I muttered before taking another drink.
“Guess we’ll find out eventually. But I kind of wish he would just tell us,” Sergei admitted.
“Probably be a cold day in hell before the boss comes clean about having a problem,” I said. If Vasily had a flaw, it was his pride. He never asked for help, and he absolutely hated being questioned.
Sergei and I drank and chatted for a while, before suddenly his phone pinged with a message. He checked it, and looked up with a grin. “Well, got to go. Looks like my date got off early tonight.”
“You sure you’re all right to drive?” I got up to see him out, not wanting to let him go without at least asking.
He scoffed. “I’m fine. Don’t fuss, Papa.”
I snorted as I walked him to the door. “It would just suck if the smartest guy in the bratva died from something as stupid as drunk driving.”
“No problems there.” He seemed very amused that I gave a shit as he left my apartment. I supposed it ran contrary to my terrifying tough guy reputation, just like the fundraiser. Maybe that was why everyone had donated. They had to figure it was way important if the team hardcase was backing it.
No matter what I did, I would have to tell Vasily what was going on. I was covering our asses the best I could, but at the end of the day, it was better he heard about it all from me instead of through the organization’s grapevine.
I let out a huge sigh and immediately turned to go check on Michelle. When I got into the room, she hadn’t moved yet. “It’s all right, kid, he’s gone. Come on out and I’ll order us some dinner.”
She came scooting out and climbed to her feet, looking as calm as if I had just walked in on her playing. But I knew better now.
“I think I need to ask you some questions. I know you’re not talking right now, so I’ll make them yes or no.”
She nodded and reached for my hand, holding it as we walked back into the living room. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of the pear brandy, but hopped up on the couch gamely enough.
“You like pizza?” I asked, and she nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, me too. Cheese?” Nod. “Anchovies?” She pulled a face and shook her head, and I chuckled.
“You know what anchovies are?” She shook her head and grinned.
“Okay, you like sausages though, pepperoni?” That got another enthusiastic nod.
I ended up ordering us a big pepperoni pizza, knowing I would inhale more than half of it after all the running around I had done today. While we waited, I took a breath, let it out slowly, and asked, “Michelle?”
She looked up at me, that calm expression never leaving her little face. I knew now that it was a mask for all the things she was really feeling. She was too young to truly understand the horrors she had been exposed to, but I was coming to realize that her time with me really was the first time in a long time that she had felt at all safe.
“Who taught you how to hide like that? Putting away your toys and turning off lights and things? Was it one of the other girls?”
Her expression shifted, going from calm to sad and a little scared. She nodded.
“One of the older girls?”
More nodding. She bit her lip, wrapping her arms around herself and peering up at me with that solemn look that hid so much.
I wondered if Michelle had learned to hide like that to keep from being dragged out easily and stuck in front of the cameras. That, plus her being too young to follow directions, was probably what saved her from ending up as porn for the worst degenerates on the damn planet. But just being captive and close to it, with the threat looming closer every day, with it happening to the girls around her… God, this kid was going to need some serious therapy.
It made me furious. I wondered what had happened to that older girl who had taught Michelle and probably tried to protect her.
