Anger rises to the surface, snuffing out the fear momentarily.
“I’m no one’s prize, and the joke’s on you. I have no idea where Roman hid his money. What no one seems to understand is that we weren’t close. I froze him out years ago after the millionth time of him coming to me for drug money.”
Dima laughs. “Roman was one of my best customers. Once I figured out who he was and that he was trying to steal from me, it wasn’t hard.”
“What wasn’t hard?”
“Making him an addict. It was so easy. Everything was. Especially making him a traitor to Gideon. All I had to do was make him feel likefamily, lean into the fact. Make him see that we had to stick together. Roman thought he was so smart, though. He knew the truth and blamed me.”
“Knew what?” I spit.
“That you are myplemyannitsa.”
“I don’t understand Russian.”
“And that, dear plemyannitsa, is the reason mybrother, your father, had to die.”
His words knock the wind out of me.
“Oh, you didn’t know who your parents were? I am not surprised.”
My back straightens, and my fists clench. “My father was not mafia.”
“No, he wasn’t. But he should have been.”
“Stop speaking in riddles and get to the goddamn point,” I seethe.
“Your father was supposed to join, but then he met your mother and dreamed of a different life, and when she became pregnant with Roman, he left. He abandoned us, his family…and for that, he had to die.”
My eyes narrow in on this evil man. Familiarity bleeds into recognition.He looks like my father.Different but similar.
“I remember you. You know, I saw you once.”
“I didn’t see you. Had I, I would have caught onto Roman before it was too late.” His eyes trace my body, and I shiver under the weight of it. “You look so much like your mother. The whore my brother abandoned us for. I never would have been fooled by Roman if I saw you with him, but by the time I realized that he was the child of my brother, the money was gone.”
I take a deep breath, steeling myself for what I’m about to do. My body springs into motion, lunging toward the man I now know is my uncle. But he must anticipate my move because he easily sidesteps me, laughing.
“You’re a feisty one. It’s too bad I will have to kill you. Without the money, there is no need to keep you alive. I’ll enjoy it. I was robbed of the kill shot on Roman, after all. Do you want to see? Want to watch your brother’s last breath?”
I shake my head.
He laughs again. “I’ll show you.” He turns to speak over his shoulder, but I can’t understand him. “They will get the footage,” he tells me as if he just remembered I can’t speak Russian.
Not even a minute later, an iPad is thrust in front of me. I try to close my eyes, but I feel the barrel of a gun on my head.
“Watch.”
And I do.I can’t look away.
What I see shocks me.
My brother is stabbed, kicked, and punched. Blood seeps from every wound on his body.
He’s being tortured.
And I realize one important fact. It’s not Gideon.
The Russians do things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.