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“Who would want Davina dead?”
The girl, aside from her estranged family, was a saint. Sure, she had a few moments of anger, but those would go away quicker than they came on. She volunteered in a cancer treatment clinic on her days off from the hospital, leaving her with no real time off.
Her heart was one of a kind. She searched for goodness in everyone, even the monster that was my brother. Yet it was her heart that stopped beating.
“Ivan and Vladimir are looking into it now.” It took me a brief moment to even remember Vladimir’s face. He, alongside Ivan, were the two men Aleksei trusted with his life. Ivan was fine; not a man of many words, yet polite enough. Vladimir, on the other hand, was batshit crazy. Send him to the wolves, and he would become one of them in a day.
“She barely had enough time to eat, let alone get on someone's bad side. It’s weird.”
“My best guess is her father. As of last night, all contact and money he’s been getting from Aleksei has been cut off.”
“Wait, what?” I turned to look at him, surprised. “Aleksei’s been giving that bastard money?”
The expression on Dominik’s face was anything but pleasant. “It was part of the deal. Samuel Michaelis didn’t love his daughter, but he didn’t willingly give her up to Aleksei either. Of course, with money in front of him, he made a deal with Aleksei. Support the Michaelis family until they marry and then never seek them out again.”
I snorted. “What an idiot.”
“Where were you yesterday, Ekaterina? You reek of alcohol.”
I couldn’t tell him that I was celebrating finding a lead in my search for who framed my future husband, but I couldn’t lie either. Instead, I kept my mouth shut.
“I don’t want to know what you’re up to, but—” He paused, making sure all of my attention was on him. “I’d suggest lying low until the funeral is done, and even afterward. Aleksei will only look for someone to blame, and I don’t want it to be you.”
I laughed. “Yes, Ekaterina being the sacrificial lamb is not anything new.”
Dominik’s gaze softened. “I won’t let him hurt you, but don’t provoke him further.”
I threw a wide smile on my face. “Don’t worry, brother. I’ll behave.”
And that was one of the biggest lies I’ve ever told.
NINETEEN
EKATERINA
The funeral, for lack of a better word, dragged on.
Her father had the audacity to look sad. He even shed a tear. No one missed how his sadness managed to switch to a grin when he thought no one was looking. He was lucky because Aleksei paid no attention to him. He was way too into his own mind to notice anything.
He’d gotten stitches—a lot of them. His eye was completely covered in gauze, and there was a possibility of his sight never being restored in left eye. There was a surgery that could help a little, though, for now, he refused to undergo it.
Rhea and Helios Karalis were in the front row, alongside some other criminal family members. We didn’t get the chance to talk but when my gaze met Rhea's, she burst into tears.
Davina and Rhea weren’t that close, but her heart ached for the young girl whose life was taken away from her, and it was a tough pill for Rhea to swallow. She was aware that someday, sooner or later, that could be her, and she hated it.
I hadn’t made another appearance in Aleksei’s presence since that day when he held a gun to my temple. I avoided him at all costs, and he was too consumed by his grief and rage to notice it. It was one of the benefits, and it gave me time to work with the newly discovered information.
However, all of that was put aside for today.
I didn’t like it, but my family needed me there. Despite my better judgment, I decided to go after Viktor showed up at my apartment, shouting and threatening to break the door if I didn’t come out. There was always a good reason why I hated that bastard.
After the burial, Aleksei and I were the only ones left at the cemetery.
Viktor was long gone, doing God knows what, whilst Dominik was busy greeting everyone who came and then escorting them out.
I placed a red rose on the ground and stood next to my oldest brother.
He was… numb.
