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I held on, frowning. What was Vasily up to? Why had his sons abandoned him? And why was he calling Sergei on what was clearly a night off?
Things were changing within the organization, and with Vasily, and aside from Sergei and I, nobody seemed to have noticed. It was subtle, this shift, and the truth behind it was hidden from me. It bothered the shit out of me. And bothered me more,
When Sergei came back on the line, he sounded like he had sobered a little, and I wondered what Vasily had told him. “I’m sorry. I have to get some coffee into me and get over to the mansion. He won’t wait.” He sounded tense. Where had coolly cheerful, detached Sergei gone?
“I understand. Afterward?”
“I don’t know how long he’ll want me for.” A pause. “Gregor…call him tonight.”
“I will,” I promised, and he hung up before I could say anything further.
I gave it twenty minutes. When I called Vasily, I got his voicemail. I left a message. “It’s Gregor. I have more information on the Ivanov matter and need to speak to you in person. Just let me know when.”
I hung up, hoping that would be enough. I knew better than to ignore Sergei’s warnings, especially when Vasily had suddenly started changing from the man I had known and served for so long.
Chapter 15
Alissa
In the morning I cooked us spinach and cheese omelets and hash browns, along with a packet of small, spicy sausages that Michelle didn’t like. Then Gregor drove us to the child psychologist I had found.
I held Michelle’s hand the whole way, nervous about the appointment, nervous about this new thing with Gregor, and struggling with what I would have to do after Michelle’s appointments. Phone calls, texts, and emails that had to get done. Announcements that needed to be made.
It was time for me to face the world again and update everyone on the fact that after all this time, Michelle had finally been found. I wasn’t ready for it. I wished I could just stay hidden in the safety and warmth of Gregor’s apartment and not face the world, or the endless questions from others, or the risk of being somewhere my maniac of an ex could find me.
I was still relying on Gregor, and he was stepping up in every way he possibly could. When he disappointed me, it was minor. When he said the wrong thing, it was a small accident—like when he talked about my ‘cute little butt’ in front of Michelle. Being around him made me feel safe and made me feel like Michelle was safer as well.
It was too soon to see if things would really work, but I was starting to pray that it would. I couldn’t deal with having another man in my life make it worse instead of better. Especially if hedid the same to Michelle. But for now, he was as good as gold, and it gave me hope.
“So this doctor…” Gregor started.
“Amanda Mason. She’s a therapist with a specialty in childhood trauma. She’s probably going to refer us to a speech therapist as well.” I tried to keep my voice calm and not let my worries show. Michelle leaned on my shoulder, drowsy from her full tummy.
“I hope they can do something for her.”
“Me too,” he said gently, though he kept his focus on the road. It was a mess out there. The roads were icy and slushy, early morning sunlight glaring off the puddles, and wind pushed at the car like a gigantic hand, making it rock and skid slightly despite it being built like a tank. The feeling did nothing good for my nerves.
I was scared. Scared for my baby, scared of what I would learn, scared of what would happen when news of Michelle’s return broke. Both Michelle and Gregor could tell. Michelle kept looking up at me and silently patting my hand. Gregor glanced back at me every time traffic stopped, concern in his eyes.
“I should be ecstatic right now,” I murmured as Gregor fought traffic and the wind. “Michelle’s back. But all I keep thinking about is how the cops are going to respond when I embarrass them.”
Gregor was silent for a bit. He took the highway for a few miles to get above the gridlock. “Don’t you worry about the police, sweetheart. Yes, they’re corrupt and your ex is crazy. But they fucked up big time when it came to finding Michelle. That’sobjectively true. You don’t even have to say anything about it for it to be true. You won’t embarrass them. They’re embarrassing themselves.”
I glanced at my daughter who was sleeping peacefully now, her head resting against my shoulder as if she couldn’t bear to break contact. “Do you think that they were prevented from making the arrest?” I asked tentatively. “You said the Ivanovs are protected by someone powerful.”
“Wereprotected,” he corrected gently. “It doesn’t so much work like that, from what my contacts have told me. It’s more like the police get paid off, agree to look the other way.”
“Oh God, that’s even worse. I might have forgiven their fuckups if their families were being threatened or something.”
“No, you don’t threaten the police like that. If you threaten a cop’s family, you end up with angry badges from all over the state showing up. You threaten them with their own dirty secrets, or you bribe them and then blackmail them for taking a bribe. It always has to involve their doing something wrong for it to stick.”
“I see.” How did he know all of this? Who did he used to be a bodyguard for?I was reminded again of just how little I knew about him. We had shared a lot of stories, his childhood in Yekaterinburg emigrating from Russia to the States to stay with distant family, his military training, working his way up from poverty. He wasn’t being secretive or anything like that, but there were still big gaps in what I knew about him. And apparently some of that had involved hanging out with criminals enough to learn some of their ways.
As we parked in the psych clinic’s lot, I wondered if I should be worried. My gut told me not to be, but maybe I was too biased to judge correctly. Would a shady background be a dealbreaker for me?
My heart said no. Because despite that, Gregor had gone out of his way to be good as gold to us. How could a man who treated us that well be a bad person? He was like the anti-Alan. He had shady connections but was a good man. Alan had a squeaky-clean reputation and a hero-cop image, but he was a horrifying piece of shit.
“I’m not worried about embarrassing the police because I don’t think they deserve it. They do. In fact, a little public humiliation might motivate them to clean house.” I shivered slightly as he slid into a parking place and stopped. Michelle shifted against me and woke with a start, her blue eyes momentarily filled with panic then she seemed to relax again.What had my poor, innocent daughter been through?I only hoped that the therapist would be able to undo the damage, and it wasn’t too late.
