Page 56 of Villainous Kingpin

Alexei and Sasha Nikolaev caught us red-handed, pushing the armored vehicle into the river. We almost shit our pants being cornered by Alexei and Sasha Nikolaev. Yeah, that was unexpected.

In retrospect, it was better that we were caught by the two of them and Davina’s sister rather than Priest. After all, he didn’t strike me as a forgiving man, especially considering we robbed him of forty million. Priest would have definitely read us our last rites.

A shudder rolled down my spine.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure who was scarier. Priest. Alexei Nikolaev. Or a slightly unhinged looking Sasha Nikolaev. Jesus, we dug ourselves deeper and deeper into the underworld. Uncle and Mom kept us out of it for twenty-one years and we managed to jump right in. Into the deep end.

But we handled it admirably. I think.Maybe?

Well, considering we never dealt with mobsters, I’d say we deserved a fucking medal. Though not sure if I’d earn a medal for dating the hottest kingpin. Yeah, I wouldn’t share that quite yet.

Uncle Liam was furious enough without divulging that little extra detail. But at least he came clean with Jules. She deserved to know the truth about her real parents. The fact that we weren’t blood related didn’t diminish the fact she was my cousin. Nothing could take that away. Though it made me wonder - how much did they actually withhold from us?

Maybe it was all the stress from the last night that made my skating lousy. I’d been on the ice for the past two and a half hours and I only became worse at my jumps by the minute.

Usually when I hit the ice, I’d stop thinking. For me, it was all about instinct and feelings as I jumped and glided around the ice. It was such an exhilarating feeling of freedom that it was addictive.

Until recently. But today was especially bad.

With each heartbeat, my heart tugged at me, pushing me towards Bas and away from my mother and the ice.

I didn’t want to leave New York. All I could feel was anguish because my days at Yale were approaching the end. I knew the only way to stay with Bas was to hurt Mom.

I wanted to stay with him. I felt alive and happy around him. I knew after my conversation with her while I was in Philly, she’d never consider moving here. And I still sent her a text last night asking if we could continue our practices here in New York. I couldn’t stop hoping. I didn’t want to disappoint her, and I didn’t want to leave Bas.

Her answer was immediate. My hope crushed.

So I’d poured all my frustration into skating. I worked on my technical elements - jumps, triple Salchows, spins, more jumps. I pumped my heart, hoping I’d burn this brimming feeling inside me that I hated.

Helplessness.

I turned my body around to skate backwards as fast as possible so I could go into a triple Lutz. That particular jump always made me feel better. Yet, as I flew through the air, I knew I fucked it up. Yet again. My weight was off; my speed was off; my fucking mind was off.

I landed. Barely. My leg gave out the moment my skates hit the ice. My body tried to compensate and bear the weight. It felt like falling on fucking concrete. In all my years of skating, I had never fallen as many times as I had today.

Blaming exhaustion was pointless. I’d skated with less sleep before. It was my mind that was fucking me all up. Well, my mind and heart.

Sprawled over the ice, I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. It was pointless to keep going. My head was elsewhere. So was my heart. But how do I explain that to my mother? Basilio DiLustro was known to be part of the Syndicate and my mother hated anything to do with that kind of life.

She wouldn’t cave in for her brother; she certainly wouldn’t for a mere stranger. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to have her run away from the underworld. Now that Uncle Liam confirmed Jules and Killian weren’t his biological children, I couldn’t help but wonder what other secrets lurked in our pasts. Somehow, I didn’t think the story ended there. My gut feeling warned there were big things Uncle Liam and Mom had kept us in the dark about.

Davina showed up next to me and lowered to her knees. Sometimes I’d use her to record me so I could spot my mistakes when I went through the videos. I wouldn’t have to watch this one because every single move I’ve done for the past two hours was a major fuck up.

“Wynter, how about you take a break?” she suggested. “No sense in bruising your entire body. We had a long night yesterday. You just need a good day of rest.”

I stared up at the ceiling. It was so much more than a good day of rest that I needed, but I didn’t want to divulge that to Davina. She kept enough secrets on our behalf from her husband.Davina and Uncle Liam. Who would have thought it? I was thrilled for them but I was still coming to terms with it.

“Yeah,” I agreed. There was no solution to my predicament. At least not one that wouldn’t upset someone. Either I break my mother’s heart, or I break my own and Bas’.

Davina took my face between her palms, her gray eyes locking on me. “What’s the matter?” she asked softly. “Is it the money we stole?”

A heavy sigh slipped through my lips and a cloud of hot breath dusted through the cold air. You’d think our heists would be my problem and dealing with the mobsters. The Nikolaev mobsters.

But no, something as simple as continuing my career on the East Coast versus the West Coast was my problem.

“Is it about your guy?” Davina whispered, glancing around as if to ensure nobody could hear us. When I didn’t answer, she continued, “School? About what happened yesterday?”

I just nodded. “I’m glad it all worked out yesterday. And we met your sister.”