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“While I might be mad, I missed you too much. You made me worried.”
As we pulled apart, I murmured, “It’s good to see you.”
Alisa gave me a pointed look. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“I think you do too.”
When we all settled onto the velvet Victorian couches, I scanned the lavish space, taking in the history. The house had character, its charm visible in the squeaking wooden floorboards and the hand-painted wallpaper adorned with delicate floral patterns.
I might have been born in Russia, but I couldn’t remember anything about the place. Until recently, I wasn’t sure if there was even a part of me that could identify as such. But sitting here, among them, in the very country I still knew so little about, I saw the glimpses. We all shared the same resilience, the same hotheadedness. And while many bowed before the stronger hand, we refused.
Now, we held the power. Not for personal gain, but to prevent all that had happened from repeating.
I called Andrei in advance, and our lengthy conversations led to this moment. Despite his lack of interest in power, the state of the organization convinced him to act.
“Can we address the elephant in the room?” Luka asked as we all settled in.
“Which one? There’s an entire herd,” Maxim grunted.
Luka threw his hands in my direction, gesturing. “That a literal runaway mafia princess is sitting in our living room?”
“Don’t tell mama we have royalty under our roof,” Alisa shushed her brother. “She’ll insist on bringing out the best silverware.”
“I guess now you’ll have to bow every time you see me,” I joked.
Luka glanced at his brother, expecting a reaction. When he got none, he stood up, walked over, kissed the top of my hand, and bowed low, surprisingly elegant. The gesture felt ridiculous.
“Stop it,” I laughed, gently pushing the top of his head away. “I don’t have a drop of royal blood in me.”
“I beg to differ,” Luka teased, still holding my hand.
I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I played princess enough for today.”
Alisa chuckled but leaned in, curious. “I need to know everything.”
I sighed, shifting the mood. “You know how I said I was an orphan?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I wasn’t one for the first thirteen years. My mom and I lived in a house in the suburbs, isolated from the rest of the world,” I recalled my childhood. “I had no idea who any of us really were. She kept both her identity and my father’s a secret. I tried asking her, hoping to make sense of who I was, but she would always shut me down.”
“I get it,” Alisa said softly.
I exhaled, the weight of it all hanging in the air. “It’s hard to believe… that both of my parents lost their lives because of their choices. I don’t think about what it would be like if they were still here. It’s done and dusted,” I sighed before I met their eyes. “But to move forward, we have to stop hiding. We need to let the secrets out in the open.”
I straightened, my voice unwavering. “This is mine. My name is Taya Laurov. To you? I hope to be the same Taya I’ve been since we met. Nothing changed.”
Alisa smiled, her usual unrestricted smile, and despite the world crumbling in the distance, I returned it.
“It’s your turn to tell us the truth,sestra,” Maxim diverted the attention.
Alisa fidgeted with her dress. “I know. I’m just not ready for what it’ll mean.”
I kept a steady hold on her chilly hand. “We’ll get through this.”
In a deep breath, Alisa faced us and began telling the story we had long awaited to hear.
“I met Ilya in the club. It seemed to be the place to go around here,” she revealed. “I went out to celebrate and find some local friends. I felt lonely after saying goodbye to my life at uni.” Her gaze burned a hole in the wooden flooring.