Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Niko

I don’t love, or even like, that my girl is unburdened by killing someone. It’s not a good thing to get used to, this thirst for revenge. I’ve seen it rot many a man from the inside out, and it would slay me for the same to happen to Charleigh.

The four of us head for the door, when the Pakhan stops us. “Before you go, a minute more of your time please.”

I want to get Charleigh out of there as quickly as possible, considering there are two dead bodies in the room. I position her where she can’t see them and am tempted to tell the Pakhan to make it quick.

But I am more polite than that. “Sure, Pakhan, what’s on your mind?” I ask.

He turns to Charleigh. “Remember, Miss Gates, when I said things are not always as they seem?”

Charleigh nods. “I do remember that.”

Typical Pakhan, talking in riddles.

“I’ve known for some time about what Dimitri shared tonight,” he says.

“What do you mean?” Charleigh asks.

He sits on the corner of his desk, the most casual thing I think I’ve ever seen him do. His generation of men are big on decorum. Papa never sat on his desk, either, only behind it in his chair.

He continues. “I’ve been doing some investigating of my own, or rather, my men have. We put a trail on Dimitri. One morning, several weeks ago, he went to the bank. Your club manager, Dominika, went in right after him. I thought this was very interesting,” he says, holding up a finger.

He picks up the heavy crystal glass on his desk and takes a swig, of what, I have no idea. He offered us nothing when we arrived. This was not a social call. “I later confronted him, Dimitri. True to form, he spilled his story like a scared little girl. He was blackmailing Dominika and they were carrying out their transaction at the bank. She is the one who killed your parents. The second helped her for his own reasons.”

“But—” Kir starts to say.

The Pakhan stops him by holding up his hand. “Wait. There’s more.”

Holy fucking shit.

“She did it in a jealous rage because your father rejected her appeals, one too many times, to become Mrs. Grigory Alekseev. It was her life goal to replace your mother, which comes as no surprise. She wanted to be part of a family. She was tired of the sidelines, watching, being left out. So, she killed them both, knowing Dimitri would be blamed, and when he figured out it was her, he made her pay him for his trouble. Then, she shot Miss Gates’s father, knowing everyone would think Dimitri did it again. If you guys went after him and got rid of him, he couldn’t bribe her anymore. Problem solved.”

Dominika, my God. She killed the man she supposedly loved? A scorned woman… and all that.

Vadik rubs his head. “She must have stolen the money from the club to pay him. That’s why we were short.”

The Pakhan turns to Charleigh again. “So you see, Miss Gates, you thought I was doing nothing, when in fact, I was doing everything. But, no need to thank me. Watching the Alekseev boys try to handle you will be payment enough.” He shakes with laughter at his joke.

Charleigh laughs along with him although I’m not sure she thinks he’s as funny as he does. “Is Dominika at the club right now?” she asks.

“Oh, that,” the Pakhan says with a smile, “I almost forgot. No, she’s not at the club. She won’t be coming to work today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after.”

**********

Charleigh

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 there anyone these 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 love him.

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?”

“Some of these schools, the children of royalty attend. Their security has to be top notch,” Vadik says.

Wow. Just wow. For one of the first times in my life, I am breathing easily. Not to say life will never throw me another curve ball—I’m not that lucky—but I feel like I can handle what comes my way with the support of the guys.

My phone vibrates with a call from an unknown number. I usually ignore those, but something is telling me to answer this one.

“Hello?”

There’s a gasp on the other end of the line. “Oh thank God you answered, Charleigh. I wasn’t sure you would.”

“Victoria?”

“Yes, honey, it’s me,” she says, her voice cracking. “How are you?”

Good question, I’m just trying to figure out that myself.

“Things are good, Vic. Better than they’ve been in a long time. Pops is gone, but I think you know that.”

She sniffles. “I do. And I’m so sorry. I wanted to be in touch sooner, but I wasn’t sure it was safe.”

“You’re safe, Vic. You have nothing to worry about. In fact, why don’t you come over to the Alekseev’s house? It would be great to see you.”

“No. No, I can’t do that, Charleigh. I’m not safe. I never will be.”

“Why? What kind of danger are you in?” I ask.

The guys look up from their conversation and start to listen.

“I’ve never been safe, and I never will be, Charleigh. Please understand, I have something to tell you I’ve been hiding for years. Now that your father and the shop are gone, I feel like you should know.”

I give a little laugh at her dramatics. “What, Vic? What could be so bad?”

“Charleigh. I was there when your mother was murdered.”