Page 13

The last phone call of the evening, the one I received just before dinner, is still playing over and over in my mind when I climb into bed. Ruslana asked Rodion and Radmir to attend a meeting with me and to keep it private. She didn’t even want to let my younger brothers know about it. Why would she do that? It’s really unusual for the family to hide things from each other. Sure—sometimes when my younger brothers get into trouble they keep it from Rodion because he tends to take things so seriously but a meeting without the whole family present is just—odd.

And on top of all of that she made it clear that it was extremely urgent and couldn’t wait. She asked us all to shift whatever plans we already had so that we could all be there tomorrow morning first thing.

My stomach twists with worry—but also hope . Is she finally going to ask us for help? Is she finally going to be honest about what Avraam is doing to her so that we can get her out of there? Fuck. That would be amazing. My brothers can wake the hell up and see the truth.

I’m already wanting to shout at my brothers I told you so .

Leaning over, I flick the bedside light off and lay on my back with my arms tucked behind my head as I stare up at the dark ceiling.

If she is going to come out and ask for help, then I can openly begin to discuss the plan I already have in motion to use Alyona as a bargaining chip. In fact, I can insist that Ruslana doesn’t even go back home to her husband and rather let me deal with everything while she hides somewhere safe until it’s all over.

I don’t sleep much at all.

My mind is too busy.

I’m hopeful about Ruslana—but morbid about the thought of sending Alyona back to her brother. I’ve gotten used to having her around. Perhaps too attached in all honestly. I don’t want her to leave yet.

But I’m being stupid. Nothing can work without the exchange taking place. Her freedom for my sister's freedom. That’s what it was always meant to be.

I toss and turn in my bed, getting knotted in the blankets, getting frustrated and over tired until I see the first rays of lighting peeking through the crack in the curtains. Dammit. That’s not good.

I’ve decided not to tell them about Aly just yet. Even if Ruslana is going to open up about her situation with Avraam. I will keep that card to myself.

I’m not ready to let her go yet.

Maybe I can even find another way.

Giving up on the idea of getting any more sleep I climb out of bed and head straight for the coffee machine to make a double espresso.

I don’t turn any of the lights on in the house, walking around in the soft morning light feels comforting. It’s the quietness of this time of day that has a seductive ambiance. Private and safe.

It’s a special time.

Thinking about Alyona while I watch the creamy dark coffee pour into my mug I realize that I have created a problem for myself far greater than I ever could have imagined.

On the one hand, my goal is to free my sister. That is ultimately the only goal that should matter.

But on the other hand, I have an innocent Alyona who I don’t want to release just yet. I want to help her be more prepared for whatever else is going to happen. And then I still have to figure out how to deal with Avraam’s anger when he finds out Alyona knows everything.

And my brothers—well, they are going to be pissed off, but I tried to talk to them, and they didn’t want to hear it so I was forced to take matters into my own hands. They can’t blame me for that.

All in all—it’s a mess of chaos and unknowns.

After my coffee, I shower and get ready for the day.

When I leave the house Aly is still asleep. I prefer the days when I get to see her in the morning, but perhaps it’s better that I don’t see her on this particular day. The day I am going to see my sister for this very urgent and secretive meeting.

When I get there, Rodion is already sitting at the long boardroom table. This is a venue we don’t use often, and I assume she chose it for that reason.

“Morning,” I say, walking in and setting the second, take away coffee down on the table in front of my seat.

“Morning. What have you been up to?” Roda asks.

“Just working, catching up on some filing. And you? Do you have any idea what this is all about?”

Roda shrugs. “No idea. But Ruslana made it sound pretty serious.”

“I’m telling you man, it’s the Avraam thing. She’s going to—”

“Oh, please, don’t start that again,” Roda huffs in annoyance.

I clench my jaw, frustrated that even now he can’t see it.

Well, in a few moments he won’t have a choice. He’ll have to face the truth and accept that I’ve been right all along.

Rodion leans back in his chair and takes his phone out, flicking through it while we wait for the others.

Ruslana arrives, then shortly after her, Radmir walks in, also carrying a take away coffee.

“Alright, what is so urgent that I had to get up at the ass crack of dawn?” he chuckles, slumping down into a chair and taking a big sip of his coffee.

We all turn to Ruslana who sighs and pulls her mouth tight.

“Guys, please, when I say you can’t tell anyone about this I really mean it. I’m trusting you to keep it in this room. I made a promise and I have to keep it.”

I scowl, clenching my jaw and narrowing my eyes.

“Yes, of course. You know you can trust us,” Roda says sincerely.

I nod in agreement.

“It’s Avraam,” she says.

My heart tenses.

“He’s worried sick and really needs help, but it took me two weeks to convince him to let me talk to you guys about this.”

“What’s going on with Avraam?” Radmir asks, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

“His sister is missing,” Ruslana sighs.

“He has a sister?” Rodion says in shock and confusion.

I clench my jaws tighter.

“Yes, he has a sister who he has spent his entire life trying to protect from this world. She doesn’t know anything about his involvement in the Bratva mafia and no one knows that he has a sister. He did it for her protection—to try to keep her safe. But now she’s been missing for a few weeks already and he’s going crazy with worry. We can’t find any leads and we need your help.”

“A sister,” Radmir mutters. “That’s fucking crazy. Who would take her?”

“It could be anyone. It’s not like we don’t all have enemies. Someone must have done some deep digging into his private life to find out she is related to him,” Ruslana says, tapping her fingers over the table. She looks stressed. She looks uncomfortable and like she wants to say more but can’t.

Rodion stands up, pressing his hands against the table as he leans his weight forward. He locks his eyes onto Ruslana. “We will help him. I promise you. We’ll find his sister. What’s her name?”

“Alyona,” Ruslana says with relief.

My heart pulls tight with guilt. I shift in my seat.

“Well, his family is our family. I understand why he kept her a secret. But we’ll need to know everything about her if we are going to find out who took her. Is he happy to share information with us?”

“I’ll tell you whatever you need to know,” Ruslana nods.

“Have you met her?” I blurt out, speaking for the first time since the meeting started.

“Not yet. But I know about her. He’s told me a lot. We were busy planning to have dinner with her so that I could meet her,” Ruslana says.

“What do you think of her? What type of person is she?” I ask.

Everyone stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind.

“She’s lovely. She’s sweet and kind and gentle. But what does it matter?” she tilts her head at me and throws me a serious look.

“I just thought it would help to know everything about her,” I mutter. “Maybe it would help us figure out where to look. That’s all.”

“ Oh , sure, of course. She doesn’t party much, she works as a paralegal in a firm in the city,” Ruslana starts chatting about Alyona and her life and my guilt deepens.

The life I pulled out from beneath her feet only to throw her into the deep end of the underworld.

I think about the video I showed her, and it makes me queasy.

I sit quietly for the rest of the meeting while my brothers and Ruslana talk about options and ways to locate her as quickly as possible. I can’t dare tell them that I have her. Not now.

Do I even want to give her up?

I’ve gotten to know her.

I enjoy having her in my life.

When she leaves me, there is no way I can protect her anymore. I want to keep her safe from the world I’ve exposed her too. But how can I do that and save my sister from her controlling husband?

I watch Ruslana while she talks. She’s so damn good at being strong and keeping things together. She’s good at hiding the way she really feels. But I know her too well.

I see through it.

Especially when she’s with Avraam. He has some weird control over her that is clearly not healthy.

The meeting drags on for half the day and I struggle through it. Silently waiting for it to be over so that I can bolt out of there and hide my guilt.

I need a drink.

I’m hungry and I want to see Alyona.

It’s almost three in the afternoon when I finally walk down to my car and pull the door open. I slump into the driver’s seat and lean forward over the steering wheel.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “That was—something,” I sigh.

Then I press the ignition and the car roars to life.

I’m looking forward to getting home and putting my feet up for a bit. I need to clear my head and start deciding how I want to handle everything.

My brothers are going to start looking for her.

And they are damn good at what they do so it’s only a matter of time before someone mentions that they saw us together at the club the night she went missing.

I pull out into the road and drive through town back towards home.

When I arrive there though confusion sets in.

There is a car parked near the front door. My youngest brother’s car. Ruvim hardly ever visits me and it seems weird that he’s here the day I meet with my other brothers and they insist I keep it a secret from Ruvim, Roman and Renat.

Climbing out of the car, I accept the fact that today is far from over and it’ll be a long time before I can kick my feet up and relax.

When I walk into the house Ruvim, Roman and Alyona are all sitting in the living room.

“To what do I owe this wonderful pleasure?” I say, walking into the room.

Alyona shoots me a wide smile. My heart somersaults as I smile back at her.

“Hey man, we just came by to visit. See how you are? What you’ve been up to and all that—” Ruvim grins at me and I pull my mouth to the side.

“Bullshit. What are you really doing here?” I say, getting to the point because I know these two and if they are here together, then something is going on.

Ruvim chuckles nervously and Roman leans over to punch him in the arm. “I told you—he always knows, man,” Roman sighs.

“It’s not hard to see straight through you two,” I chuckle. “What did you do this time?”

I set my things down on the coffee table and sit down on the sofa near Alyona. I wonder what she told them about who she is. I don’t want to ask in front of them.

I wonder if she told them who her bother is.

Tension knots in my stomach.

“Man, we just need a place to stay tonight. We won’t even be a problem. We’ll even cook dinner,” Roman says, raising his eyebrows.

“You can’t cook for shit. And why would you need a place to stay? Between the two of you, you have two good places to stay—”

“We can’t go back there because it’s the first place they’ll look,” Ruvim sighs.

“Spit it out,” I demand, glaring at both of them. “What did you do?”

“It’s better if you don’t know. I mean—we don’t need any help to solve it, we just need a little time to figure it out for ourselves,” Roman speaks quickly, muttering nervously and shifting in his seat.

I don’t have the patience for their shit today. These two are the worst influence on each other and now they’re bringing their trouble here—although I do always fix it for them. So I guess it’s the norm.

“Stop talking. Go pour me a whisky. Think about your options. But the only way I am letting you two stay the night here is if you tell me what you’ve done,” I say sternly.

I don’t have time for back and forth, but I do need to know what might happen if I let them stay in the house—especially seeing as I have Alyona here and I need to think about her safety as well.

My brothers are good at pissing people off.

I have to make sure they didn’t piss the wrong person off this time.