Page 23 of The Fixer
If all I could ever do was to calm her roiling mind, it would be enough for me. Turning back to the wide staircase that led to the door, I pursed my lips thinly to stop them from grimacing. Someone I didn’t know burst through the door, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Beside me, Ophelia tensed before relaxing slightly—so, this wasn’t Aleksander.
“I told you days ago, you were making a fucking mistake and you ignored me like you always do, Aleksander. Jesus— fuck— are youseriousright now?” He sounded angry.
Ophelia nudged my arm gently to whisper his name in my ear. Levrenti ? the kid directly below Aleksander ? was positively fuming, whipping around on the step as his elder brother came sauntering out of the house. Even subconsciously, these people were hierarchal and Levrenti raked both his hands through his hair roughly. “You never let anyone have a say in anything, but you expect me to clean up after you because you don’t want to feel like you were wrong!”
“Levrenti—“ Aleksander might’ve been on top, but Levrenti wasupset.
The younger of the two shook his head roughly, continuing to take the stairs backwards. “No, Aleksander. Kill me if you don’t like it. You can replace me in a heartbeat, right? Well, good luck getting someone to replace me. You said that you had this under control, but you don’t. Shoot me right on these steps if you don’t like it.” Levrenti glared up at his brother so fiercely that his shoulders shook. The tension in the air snapped after a hot second before he turned to me. True darkness and stress showed from his eyes and around his mouth. Stalking down the last few steps, Levrenti walked briskly past Ophelia and I without so much as I grunt in acknowledgment.
This could be good.Ophelia had such a lofty, almost godlike view of Aleksander so maybe, knowing he could be in over his head was a good thing. Glancing over as she inhaled deeply, I squeezed her hand again, and this time, she flexed her fingers back.It could be good unless this is a ploy to get Ophelia roped in worse somehow.
“Is that the real reason you called me here? You need a fixer?” All that crackling and uncertainty on the plane was gone, leaving her voice hollow. Ophelia took her hand from mine to take each step in two strides.
Following a few feet behind, I had to force myself not to stop her. This was her territory, her field of expertise. I wouldn’t let her come into my lecture hall and try to teach my students.
“I may have underestimated Erik Avernisk and Aleksi Suvensk.”
Grating my ears, Aleksander’s grumble sent dark shivers into the air that rattled my teeth. He clearly hated admitting he was in trouble; I guess, it should be expected.
“I would still like you to sit in on Erik’s interrogation, but yes, I need a fixer.”
“If you don’t give me accurate information,” Ophelia replied. “The only thing I’m going to do is make the situation worse. I can’t fix something if I don’t attack it right.”
Aleksander jerked his head in a curt nod, his soured expression darkening.
“What’s going on with Aleksi?”
“Come in.” Turning on his heel, Aleksander strode inside with a hard set to his shoulders.
Finally, Ophelia glanced back at me with relief flooding her eyes.
I pressed my palm to her lower back. For once since this began, things didn’t seem so dire. Here we were, in the snake pit, but they weren’t going to strike.
Aleksander’s foyer was the size of my whole apartment in Moscow. I glanced around in awe. Everything looked perfectly buffed and glistening, even the fresco on the ceiling seemed clean and didn’t appear faded in any way. Reaching to scratch the back of my neck in discomfort, I rolled my shoulders.
He spoke up to steal my attention, “I think we got off on the wrong foot, here.” He led us into a small sitting room.
I sat next to Ophelia on a lounge. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, but no maid came rushing over with coffee. In fact, there wasn’t a single sound to be heard beyond my own heartbeat. I grabbed Ophelia’s hand to tangle our fingers absently.
Aleksander perched on the sofa across from us to cross his knees. “I apologize for being an asshole, for lack of a better term, to you the last time we spoke. As you’ve probably already gleaned… I don’t have as good a handle on the situation as I would like. I want to put that to the side for now and focus on the issues concerning the families.”
“Fine. Where’s Rucca Roknevi?”
I think this might be the first time, ever, I actually saw Ophelia in her natural habitat. Honestly, the prospect exciting because I always heard about these clashes after the fact.
“Dead. She killed herself within an hour of the assassination attempt. According to what information you’ve provided me—“
Ophelia held up her handgently, not wanting to cut Aleksander off harshly but also realizing that whatever he intended to say wasn’t important anymore. “Forget her. If she killed herself, she had something to do with it. Rucca not being mentioned in the plan I found on my dad’s PC, just means they weren’t real. What about Aleksi?”
Aleksander might be all knowing, but it was clear even to me that setbacks weren’t something he was accustomed to dealing with. His organizational skills might be topnotch, but even he overreached sometimes. With all the pieces involved, it wasn’t surprising to me how this situation had gotten out of control.
Even though it was very muchinfuriating,Ophelia had to go through all this stress for nothing.
“In the basement. I haven’t gotten to him, yet. Demitr is still working on Erik.”
I raised a brow…Increase the haunted house factor.Why was I even listening to any of this, anyway? Surely, Aleksander didn’t want me to be privy to knowledge I wasn’t supposed to know? Wasn’t that the whole point of all this drama?Does this mean Vyachaslav sending Malda after me is something Aleksander doesn’t know?
“Did you look through everyone else’s files?”