Page 77 of Villainous Kingpin

“You know, your girl squad is blowing up my phone,” Sasha said as he sat down next to me. “Driving me nuts, in fact.”

I closed my eyes. “I miss them,” I whispered. “I just don’t want to upset them. And Juliette would go on a rampage if she knew-”

Sasha chuckled. “I’ll help her and ensure she comes out of it alive.”

I turned my head to the side to find an unapologetic look on his face. This man would gladly go on a killing spree.

“If we knew you when we were growing up,” I told him, “-maybe we’d all know how to handle ourselves and take care of our own problems.”

But then I probably wouldn’t have asked Bas for help. I missed him so much. On one hand, I hoped he’d find me. On the other hand, I had to keep reminding myself that it was all a lie. He didn’t love me. Except, I couldn’t help but ache for him. I promised him I’d stay, but all along he lied to me. Played me for a fool. There was no future for us.

Did he know what his father had done to mine? Did he know his father destroyed my mother?

“Do you have a sister?” I asked him curiously. I didn’t know much about the Nikolaev family other than there were three brothers.

“I do. Tatiana is the youngest of the siblings. She and her friend, who is now married to my oldest brother, were fucking nuts during their college years.” His sister and sister-in-law were lucky to have him. The way he talked about them, I knew he cared about them a lot. “Though those two can’t quite compete with you and your friends' crime spree.”

I scoffed. “We’re the worst criminals on this planet.”

It didn’t escape me that he didn’t contradict me. We robbed my uncle and failed. We barely escaped Chicago unscathed. We got caught stealing from Priest, though thankfully not by him. He’d probably recite us our last rites and then kill us all. Obviously, Bas lied when he said he’d protect me.

Goddamn it! I couldn’t forget about Bas. I kept going over every single minute of our encounter from the moment I met him, trying to spot the signs I might have missed. I couldn’t find any. Maybe he was just exceptionally good at deceit.

“You’ll have to talk to someone eventually,” Sasha interrupted my thinking. “Àine, Cassio’s wife, has seen some shit. Maybe it would help to talk to her?”

I returned my gaze to stare at the skylight and clear blue skies. What could I possibly say to make sense of it all? It was quite simple. I fell in love with the enemy. I could have overlooked that. His father shooting my mother and Bas using me to gain more power for himself, I could not.

Gio DiLustro’s words still rang in my ears. How could my mother ever accept Bas when he resembled his father so much? And then there was the matter of Bas using me to strengthen their position with the Russians.

“You promise not to go after them?” I asked quietly.

Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.

“I promise.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then exhaled and opened my eyelids.

“I ran into Basilio as I was sneaking out of my uncle's house several months ago,” I started softly, keeping my gaze on the clear blue skies. “I jumped off the balcony and he caught me.” I snickered softly, “Romantic, I thought.”

“More like Romeo and Juliet,” he snorted. “Tragic.”

“Anyhow, I didn’t know who he was until I overheard Uncle and Quinn, his go-to-guy, talking. Yes, I knew the DiLustros and Brennans weren’t on good terms. I still liked him.” I sighed heavily. “And when we burned down Garrett’s house, we were out of sorts. A lucky coincidence, I ran into Bas again.” Now, I wondered if it was by design. I questioned everything. “I asked for his help.”

Sasha listened intently. I kept waiting for him to interrupt but he didn’t.

“He asked for a dinner date with me as his payment for helping us out,” I rasped, thick emotions choking me. “You can laugh all you want, Sasha, but it was the most amazing date ever.” My stupid lip quivered and tears welled in my eyes, while all the feelings I kept hidden squeezed my throat, making it hard to breathe.

“I’m not laughing, Wyn.”

My lungs burned and I bit into my lip to get myself together.Emotions make us weak, my mother would say.And love shatters us.It turned out she was right. Partially anyhow. Losing Bas shattered me. Loving him made me whole.

“I told him I’d stay with him,” I continued, my voice barely above a whisper. “I was going to tell Mom I’d practice for the Olympics here or not at all.” Maybe what happened was karma, because I was being so damn selfish. “Bas said he forgot something in his club, two blocks away. He left. And his father-” My fingers curled into a fist, my fingernails dug into my palms. It was good though. The pain helped me stay focused. “His father showed up and tried to-”

God, I couldn’t even say the words.He tried to rape me, my mind screamed. Even knowing what Bas’ father said, I couldn’t tell Sasha that it was all a set up. I just couldn’t. Maybe saying them out loud would make them too real.

So I said nothing. Too scared to face the truth. Too scared it would cost Bas his life.

Sasha stood up, while I still laid immobile. “Want to train some more?”