Chapter 22
One week later
My phone starts ringing on the nightstand, but I ignore it and put a pillow over my head. The ringing stops, just to start again a minute later. I groan, reach for the damn thing, and answer without looking who’s calling.
“Did I wake you up, child?”
I sit up in the bed, instantly awake. “Varya?”
“I need to talk to you. Can I drop by?”
“Sure, I’ll text you the address.”
“I’ll be there in an hour then.”
“Varya, what’s happening? Is... is he okay?”
“Yes. For now, at least. We’ll talk when I get there.”
A bad feeling forms in my chest while I stare at my phone. Something is wrong, I know it. I rush into the bathroom to shower and change. I’m collecting the brushes and discarded sketches that litter the floor in my living room when I hear the doorbell.
“What the fuck has he done now?” I ask the moment Varya comes inside.
“I like the hair,kukolka. Green looks good on you.” She kisses me and smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Let’s sit.”
I lead her into the kitchen, pour us two cups of coffee I made earlier, and sit down in the chair opposite Varya. She slides the cup toward herself and holds it in her hands, looking at the liquid inside. “Can you please come back?”
Her question stuns me, and for a second, I stare at her speechlessly. “I’m not coming back. We divorced three months ago; you know that.”
“Roman started a war with the Italians. He did it on purpose. They have been playing cat and mouse for months now, attacking each other’s shipments, blowing up warehouses.”
“Dear God. What the hell was he thinking?”
“He wasn’t. I think he wanted a distraction, and the Italians were a convenient choice.”
“A hell of a distraction. Has he gone mad?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. “I was there when he signed the divorce papers, you know. I think that up until that point he believed you’d come back eventually. But after signing those papers... he just snapped. Two weeks later he sent the guys to intercept one of the Italians’ shipments. And he went with them.”
“He did what?”
“He said it was because he needed to keep an eye on Sergei, and I assumed it was a onetime thing. It wasn’t.”
“I thought apakhanis supposed to handle the organization, manage business deals or whatever, not play foot soldier.”
“He doesn’t seem to care, child. Do you know how big a deal it is in our world if a soldier manages to kill apakhan? The one who does that becomes a hero among his peers. When it’s just the soldiers on the field, it’s business as usual, but with apakhanthere, he becomes the primary target.”
“Varya, I... I don’t know what you expect me to do. Call him and ask him to stop acting like an idiot?”
“I need you to come back. With you there, he won’t be so reckless. He wouldn’t want you to worry.”
“He’s a grown man, Varya. He doesn’t need me to act as his off switch.”
“Roman loves you, Nina. I don’t think you know how much.”
“A man died because of me. I told Roman I can’t live with that, and he killed him anyway. If he truly loved me, he would have never done that to me.”
“Do you know how Roman became apakhan, child?” Varya asks, and I shake my head. “Let me tell you that story. It might help you understand things better.”