Where to start.
He looks from me to the dogs and back. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I am.”
“Do they need to potty?”
It’s so damn cute that he thinks of them so much. I take his hand and put it in my lap. “Can we go somewhere before we go back to the house?”
“Sure. Do you have somewhere in mind?”
“Somewhere calm.”
Konstantin takes me to a scenic park. We walk for a while until we come to a bridge over a creek. I stop there and watch the water. Charlie and Nolan trot at my side and pace, eager to keep up the walk.
“Valerie says you’d be able to prevent any additional hits from being placed on me,” I whisper.
He wraps himself around me, has me repeat myself, then finally nods. “Yes. I can do that.”
His deep voice rumbles through me like an earthquake. Instead of making me feel fragile though, it’s like his assurance makes me stronger. It puts my pieces a little closer to where they should be.
“How?”
“The opposite of a hit, really. I put out a notice that if anyone gets notice of a hit, I’ll pay them. I’ll offer two million or more. Five if they see to the person in question.” He answers. “Is that what you wanted to talk about?”
I shrug.
He tightens his hold around my waist and kisses my neck. “Whatever you want to ask me, I’m listening.”
“You don’t talk about your family and I’m ... curious.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long while. We just watch the stream. Konstantin lets out a slow breath. “My older brother worked for Mr. Volkov Senior. He was doing some ... work and died in the process.”
“Oh,” I whisper. Why did I think he had a happy home life?
“I was sixteen. At eighteen, my options were limited. I didn’t get the grades to be able to afford college. My mom’s on disability and we needed money. Mr. Volkov Senior offered to pay me more and help with medical costs for my mom if I’d start training under Lief.”
I rub his arms.
“My parents told me that if I took the offer, I’d be dead to them. They’d rather mourn me now than wait until I died like my brother.”
“Oh, Kon.” I kiss the inside of his shoulder.
“They refuse to see me, talk to me. Even if we come across each other, they treat me like a stranger. My sister only talks to me on my birthday every year. She has to make up an excuse to talk to me.”
I turn in his arms to look up at his face. The icy mask is back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He looks lost. I hug him tightly. “Konstantin, I had no idea.”
“I don’t like talking about it. There’s no reversing it. I’ve tried. Even with the changes Hunter and Chase are making, my parents say they have no sons. I’ve been trying to figure out who killed my brother, to get him the retribution he deserves, but ...”
I wait for him to finish. Charlie whimpers and Kon sighs. “It won’t bring him back. It won’t change anything. It will just destroy another family.”
“I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.”
Sniffing, I squeeze him harder. Konstantin lets me cry for a while, then lifts my chin. I see how eager he is to help. I wipe at my eyes and rub his shoulders. “You have to deal with all my family bullshit, with me talking bout my family and the whole time, you just were keeping this to yourself. I feel like I’ve been insensitive.”
“No, angel. I made peace with things a long time ago. It hurts occasionally, but ... but my life could be much worse than it is.”