Despite their career choice as mobsters, the Popovs were all decent human beings. While strict, they were honest men and fair bosses. They treated their employees well and rewarded those who went above and beyond. I had learned from Sacha that my father had been a brigadier for the Bratva. His job had been to collect money and hand it over to Alexei Popov, theDerzhatel obschaka, or bookkeeper. But Alexei had uncovered discrepancies in Papa’s money handling and discovered my father had been stealing from them. Papa likely deserved far worse than the punishment they’d doled out. They could have easily killed him, but they hadn’t. In my eyes, they were fair and decent men.
My loyalty was to the brotherhood now. And it was there that it would remain. They already treated me better than Papa ever had.
Just minutes ago, I had signed a one-year lease on my first apartment, and tomorrow I would be moving in. Buzzing with excitement, I could barely contain myself as I exited the property management company’s office with a copy of my signed lease agreement and the keys to my new apartment. I planned to get Damien this weekend. I couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw my new car and the nice apartment I’d secured for us.
Taking in a fifteen-year-old boy was a huge responsibility. But I was finally ready. Would he forgive me for taking so long? I vowed I would make it up to him somehow.
Damien had been a scrawny eleven-year-old when I’d left. What was he like now? I imagined he was much like I’d been at fifteen, gangly and headstrong, probably a bit rowdy. My lips twitched. I couldn’t wait to see him.
My phone buzzed in my pocket just as I reached my car. Waiting for a break in traffic along the street, I quickly opened my door and slid behind the wheel, yanking my door closed before I got clipped by a passing vehicle.
A horn blared as I fished my phone out.
Yeah, fuck off.
I swiped the screen.
The boss. Sacha Plotnikov.
He’d given me the afternoon off so I could sign the lease on my new apartment.
My heart skittered. Something was up.
“Yes, boss,” I answered.
“Adrik, where are you?”
I gulped. “I’m just leaving the property management company’s office.”
A pause. “Come to the family mansion as soon as you can.”
“Yes, boss.”
My pulse racing, I sped to the Popov estate in Beverly Hills, a sense of doom settling over me. Had I done something wrong? Was I being fired?
When I arrived thirty minutes later, the guards didn’t even allow me inside the gates, instead forcing me to wait outside under the glare of the hot afternoon sun for Sacha to come and get me. Even though I was now a member of the brotherhood, I hadn’t earned the Popovs’ complete trust yet. That would probably take years.
After about fifteen minutes where I twitched nervously and shifted on my feet, sweat trickling over my brow and pooling under my arms, Sacha finally emerged from the gate. He paused before me, his gaze full of sadness. Or was it pity?
I gulped. What was going on?
He cleared his throat. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but…” he trailed off, heaving out a sigh.
My heart slammed into my ribs, dread sinking in deep. “Tell mewhat?”
“There was a fire,” he said quietly. “At your parents’ house three nights ago.”
My throat shriveled up, my breath hitching. “F-fire?How?”
Compassion filled his gaze. “I wanted to wait until I got the details before I told you. The authorities found…human remains. The Fire Marshall determined it was arson.”
Bile threatened.Arson.I swallowed hard, forcing it back down.Human remains.
Was Papa somehow responsible? Who else would want to harm my mother and brother?
Tears stung my eyes. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep them at bay. Inhaling sharply, I bowed my head. “Was my father charged with the crime?”
Sacha gave a negative shake of his head. “He had a solid alibi.”