“In the kitchen.”
“Start folding her clothes,” I order. “Don’t try anything stupid.”
She sits down on the bed with an exasperated sigh and starts folding. I retrieve the garbage bags from the kitchen and return to help her. Kat doesn’t have a lot, but what she does have is in this room. And if I find her, I want to make sure she has the rest of her belongings. But more importantly, I need to know that nobody else will come looking for them here.
“Do you have somewhere else to go?” I ask Rachel as we stuff two bags full of everything Kat left behind.
“What do you mean?” She blinks. “I live here.”
“Not anymore.” I grab a wad of cash from my wallet and toss it onto the bed beside her. “It isn’t safe here for you either. You need to leave. Tonight. Do you understand?”
“What the hell is going on?” She swallows. “What did Kat get herself into?”
“She didn’t do anything wrong,” I answer roughly. “The only mistake she made was meeting me.”
“I knew you were fucking trouble.” Rachel glances around the apartment with a sentimentality I haven’t felt in years. Not since I had a home with my mother.
“Look, I’m going to lay it all out for you.” I tug the handles of the garbage bag shut and tie them together. “You pack your shit and leave. Find another place to live. Stay in a hotel. Do whatever you gotta do. But don’t come back here. Don’t call the cops. Forget you ever knew Kat, and as far as you’re concerned, you never met me. If you follow those simple rules, you get to live. It really is that fucking simple.”
“Who are you?” she whispers.
“I think you know who I am.” I offer her a dark look. “So don’t make me say it.”
* * *
“Where the fuck have you been?” Vasily snarls.
“I thought I had a tail.” My jaw flexes as I glance at Andrei, cowering in the corner while he nurses a whiskey. “I drove around the city for a bit to make sure everything was clear.”
Vasily seems to consider my words, nodding when he’s satisfied that I’m telling the truth. “What the fuck happened, Levka?”
“Ask your son.” I glare at Andrei. “He can’t keep his dick in his pants, and he was high as a goddamn kite. He lost his shit, and everything went sideways. There was nothing I could do.”
Vasily growls and begins to pace the length of the room. “And the drive?”
“We couldn’t find it.”
“I don’t like loose ends.” He stares at me with a stony expression. “You know that.”
“Then next time, send me and leave Andrei here to do what he does best.”
Vasily shakes his head. “Enough. I will deal with Andrei. For now, I want you scouring the city. Check everywhere that William von Brandt ever set foot in the door. We need to find that drive.”
I nod my assurances and turn to go, but he stops me. “There is something Andrei said. It concerns me.”
“What is it?” I turn to meet his gaze.
“He mentioned a girl who was at the club. Someone you took home. Andrei seems convinced that she was at the von Brandt’s house. She may have seen something.”
Tension bleeds into my muscles, and I can only hope Vasily hasn’t noticed. “I will take care of her.”
“No more loose ends,” he grunts. “Do you understand, Lev?”
“No loose ends,” I repeat.
“I want proof when it’s done. Something tangible. Don’t forget where your loyalties lie.”
Again, I force myself to nod.
“Nothing comes before blood, Uncle,” I answer solemnly. “I give you my word.”
Four Years Later
10
Kat
Today is the anniversary.
“Mommy?”
I blink, glancing in the rearview mirror, and try to smile. “Yes, baby?”
“Your eyes are shiny.” Josh scrunches up his face. “Are you sad?”
“Oh sweetheart, I’m not sad. See.” I stretch that smile wide.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, the word coming out more like booful, which makes that smile on my face authentic.
“And so are you.”
“Mommy! Boys aren’t beautiful.”
“No, you’re right. You’re handsome.” I turn into the parking lot of the school and drive around the circle of moms dropping off kids for the day. It’s a primary school where I work as a teacher’s aide in the kindergarten class while Josh is looked after in the preschool.
There aren’t many options for single moms, and I feel pretty lucky to have found the school. Josh and I rent a small cabin nearby, and the school is the only one for the three tiny towns that surround ours, so although it’s not big by Philadelphia standards, it’s big enough. Estes Park, which is about an hour away, is the biggest town nearest ours.
Even though the job isn’t the best paying job in the world, there’s no way I’d be able to afford daycare any other way, so for now, this is what works. And it’s on track for what I want to eventually do, which is teach. I’ve already registered to start online classes to continue toward my degree next semester.