Page 23

23

VADIM

The color drains from Megan's face as she puts her phone down. My mind races through the implications. This isn't a coincidence. Kirsan is moving to silence any opposition before we can expose more of his operation.

"He's tying up loose ends," I say. "Before they become liabilities."

"The bastard's getting desperate," Demyon adds, his hand unconsciously moving closer to Megan.

"Do you still have access to the Seattle Voice's social media accounts?" I ask Megan.

She nods, pulling out her phone. "Yeah, they haven't locked me out yet."

"Good. Start redirecting all their followers to follow Svoboda." I lean forward, resting my elbows on the desk. "It's time we show the world what we really do."

"You want to go public?" Lacey asks, her hand finding mine under the table.

"We have to. Kirsan thinks he can silence us by taking away our platform?" I squeeze her hand. "Let him try. We'll give these stories an even bigger stage."

"I'll keep Megan safe," Demyon says before I can give the order. There's something in his voice that makes me look at him sharply.

The way he's positioned himself between Megan and the door, the slight tension in his shoulders—he's more invested in her safety than he's letting on.

I nod, and then say to Lacey. "We'll need to talk to your brother."

I accompany Lacey to Freddy's room, my hand resting protectively on her lower back. Even through her clothes, I can feel the slight warmth radiating from her body. The sensation grounds me, keeps me from doing what I want to do to this pathetic excuse of a man who dares call himself her brother.

Lacey knocks on the door. No answer. She tries the handle and finds it unlocked.

Inside, Freddy jumps back from the dresser drawer he was rifling through. My jaw clenches at the sight. Some things never change.

"I-I wasn't..." Freddy stammers, pressing himself against the wall. "I swear I wasn't looking for anything to steal."

"Today is your lucky day, Freddy," I say. The fear in his eyes intensifies. Good. "You get to clear your debt with Kirsan."

His eyes narrow with suspicion, darting between me and Lacey. "What's the catch?"

"The catch," Lacey explains, her voice carrying an authority I've never heard before. "Is that you need to identify any police officer there who is either working security or gambling."

"Are you insane?" Freddy's voice cracks.

"No, I'm giving you a chance to do the right thing for once." Lacey's eyes flash with determination. "To actually help instead of just taking."

Freddy throws his hands up. "With what money? In case you haven't noticed, I'm broke. That's kind of the whole fucking problem!"

"Wait here." Lacey touches my arm briefly before walking out, leaving me alone with her brother.

I wait until Lacey's footsteps fade before turning to Freddy. "She didn't have to bring you here. Could've left you for Kirsan's collectors." My voice drops lower. "Would've been easier."

Freddy's shoulders slump.

"No matter how poorly you treated her, she still cares about you." The words taste bitter in my mouth. "You've never been the brother she needed. Never been the son your father deserved."

"You don't think I know that?"

Freddy's admission catches me off guard. He runs a trembling hand through his hair before he continues.

"You want to know something else? I'm glad she found you."

I arch an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"She's...different now. Stronger." A ghost of a smile crosses his face. "Finally stopped letting people walk all over her. Even if I was one of those people for most of her life."

His words stir something dangerous inside me. "If you felt this way about her, why treat her like garbage her entire life?"

The question hangs heavy in the air between us. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears as I wait for his answer.

Freddy's eyes take on a distant look. "I still remember the day Mom brought Lacey home. This tiny little thing with golden hair and big brown eyes, clutching Mom's hand like it was her lifeline." His voice grows soft. "I was so excited to have not one but two little sisters to protect."

My hands clench at my sides. "What changed?"

"At first, nothing. But then..." He swallows hard. "Mom and Dad started putting all this pressure on me. 'You're the son, Freddy. The family name rests on your shoulders, Freddy. You need to take care of everyone, Freddy.' Meanwhile, Lacey..."

He shakes his head, bitterness seeping into his voice.

"They doted on her. Let her have all these dreams that I never got to have. Let her believe that she can do whatever she wanted. She was allowed to fail. But me? I had to get a real job. Had to think about the family . Had to make them proud, no matter how hard it got."

"So you took it out on her."

"I did." His shoulders slump. "Watching them encourage her while I was crushed under expectations. It wore me down. Made me resent her." He lets out a hollow laugh. "And when Mom got sick, Lacey's the one who stepped up. Dropped everything to help. While I..."

He trails off, unable to finish. I don't need him to. His gambling debts tell that story clearly enough.

"Hated the sister you once wanted to protect," I say.

Not excusing him, just stating fact.

"Yeah." He nods.

"It still doesn't make it right," I say, watching him carefully. "Stealing from your own family."

"You think I wanted to?" Freddy's voice sharpens. "When Mom got diagnosed, the bills started piling up. I worked three fucking jobs to help pay for her treatment when insurance denied every fucking claim." He stands a little straighter now, and the same fire I've seen in Megan and Lacey now burns in his eyes. "I thought if I could just win enough money, then things could get better. And at first, I fucking did."

I know this story. I've heard it all before. Every descent into gambling addiction always starts with good intentions. With a glimmer of hope.

From desperation.

"But then you started losing."

"Yeah." He shakes his head and laughs bitterly. "Lost fucking everything and then some. And I had to sit there with Mom night after night, holding her hand while she told me about all the things Lacey and Megan were doing, about how she didn't want them to worry." He sighs. "And it just ate me up inside."

He slams his fist against the wall.

"I thought if I could just win one more fucking time, I could be the son she needed. That I wasn't this worthless failure. Do you have any idea what that's fucking like?"

"I know exactly what that feels like," I say quietly.

Freddy's bitter laugh cuts through the air. "Yeah? You expect me to believe that you know what it's like to feel useless? Worthless?"

I say nothing, letting the silence stretch between us.

"Look at this place." Freddy gestures at our surroundings. "Look at what you've built. You're a fucking king."

Still, I remain quiet. I don't correct him that I had no hand in building this place. That I've spent my entire life trying to prove to my own mother that I was something more than the monster who made me.

"You have everything," he says, his voice growing hoarse. "Power. Money. Respect. Hell, you even got both my sisters to actually care about you. And now you're standing here telling me you know what it's like to feel worthless?"

He runs his hands down his face, sighing.

"You know what the worst part is? Mom never stopped believing in me, even when everyone else did. She'd just look at me with those eyes full of hope and say 'I know you'll figure it out, Freddy. You always have.'"

His voice cracks on the last words. "But I never did, did I? I just kept failing her. Over and over and over. And then she died, and I still owed so much money."

He lets out a hollow laugh that sounds more like a sob.

"You know what I did after I pawned Mom's necklace? I tried to drink myself to death." His voice drops to barely a whisper. "But I couldn't even do that. I kept thinking that if I did, then I'd see her again, you know? And that she'd be fucking heartbroken."

I watch him crumble and blink back his tears. I no longer see the man who tormented Lacey but a broken soul crushed under the weight of his own failures and guilt.

For a moment, I'm reminded of myself—of all those nights I spent staring at my reflection, wondering if Polina would ever look at me without seeing Pyotr's shadow.

But above all else, I'm reminded that it took Lacey to help her finally see that I am different.

Before I can respond, I hear footsteps approaching. Lacey appears in the doorway, holding something that catches the light—the ostentatious necklace I bought her at the jeweler's.

The one with the massive center diamond.

"This will more than cover your debt to Kirsan," Lacey says, her voice steady.

Freddy's eyes widen at the sight of the necklace. I can practically see the gears turning in his head as he calculates its worth.

"And what happens when they ask how I got my hands on something like that?" The edge he usually uses towards Lacey returns.

"You tell them exactly what they expect to hear," I say, the plan forming in my mind. "That your soft-hearted sister brought you to Pankration, and you stole it from her."

Freddy's head snaps toward me. "You want me to lie ? To them? "

"They'll believe you," I continue. "It's not the first time you stole from family to pay your debts. But something like this? They'll probably have those cops follow you, and that's when we'll ambush them."

"Vadim." Lacey's hand finds my arm. "That's too dangerous."

"I'll do it." Freddy says.

Lacey looks at him with surprise in her eyes. I do the same and see something unexpected there.

Determination?

"I know I've been shit to everyone." He looks at Lacey. "Especially you. I wasn't the brother you deserved. Or the son Mom and Dad hoped I'd be."

Lacey's grip tightens on my arm. I can feel her trembling slightly.

"I see what's going on here," Freddy says. "Those stories on the Seattle Voice? The ones about the trafficked women?" He gestures vaguely. "That big blond asshole following Megan around like some lovesick puppy? The four of you locked up in that office for hours? I'm not an idiot."

"This thing you want me to do. It's connected to all that trafficking stuff, isn't it?" Freddy asks.

"It is," I confirm, watching him carefully.

He straightens up, and for the first time since I've known him, I see a flash of the man his parents must have hoped he'd become. "Then I'll do it."

"Freddy, I—" Lacey opens her mouth to speak, but Freddy cuts her off.

"I just got finished telling your husband about Mom and Dad. How they always wanted me to do something they could be proud of." His eyes shine with unshed tears. "This is it, right? This is my chance to do exactly that."

I watch the siblings carefully, seeing decades of hurt and resentment starting to crack.

"I wasn't the son I was supposed to be when Mom was alive, and when Dad could still speak to me. But if I can help stop these bastards from hurting more people..." Freddy's voice cracks. "Then it'll be worth it. And if something happens to me?" He lets out a shaky breath. "At least when I see Mom again, I can tell her that I did something good. "

"Freddy..." Lacey's voice trembles. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, sis. I am."

The word hangs in the air between them. Sis .

Lacey moves first, wrapping her arms around him. For a moment, Freddy stands frozen, as if he's forgotten how to receive affection. Then slowly, his arms come up to return her embrace.

I watch them hold each other, seeing the last walls between them finally crumble.

Whatever happens next, this moment feels like a different victory—not one against Kirsan, but one against something so much more.