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“I have to clean you up,” I said and picked her up in my arms. When I turned to go to my bedroom, my mother was standing in front of me.
“Enzo, what’s going on?”
“Mother, not now. I have to take care of Ludmila.”
“Why, Enzo?” she insisted. “Why is she here to tell you she murdered her husband?”
All I could do was look at her.
“Mom, I need to take care of Ludmila.”
In my arms, Ludmila whimpered.
“Muse is right. I shouldn’t have come here, but I didn’t know what else to do. Alexei…he’s still there, on the kitchen floor. I…what do I do now? Sh…should I call the police and turn myself in?”
I’ve heard Hugo laughing.
“No, baby doll. I’ll take care of it.” I kissed her on the forehead, not caring that she was covered in blood. “I promised you I’d take care of everything, and I will.” I looked up to find my mother’s eyes. “Mom, can you please help Ludmila get clean and put her clothes in a bag.”
“Enzo…”
“Mother, please.” She’d done that a hundred times for my father, and now I need her – I needed them all – to do it for me.
“Of course. You can go and clean up the mess, and we’ll wait for you here.”
“Thank you.” I let Ludmila down to her feet and stroked her cheek. “Doll, stay here, ok? I have to go and take care of Alexei.”
“Ok.” Her voice was so weak, I didn’t recognize it.
“Dad, Hugo, will you come with me?”
My father nodded, and Hugo was already at the door.
“Hey,” Uncle Roman stopped me, “aren’t I invited?”
“Uncle, I thought you could make some phone calls. Call Babarin and tell him we’re doing the deal without Popov and check with our guys in the NYPD.”
Roman Stefani was well known in New York, and he had contacts everywhere. He would make sure that if Popov was reported missing, no one would look for him.
“Sure thing. Go.”
Ludmila’s voice stopped me when I was ready to get out of the house.
“Oh, God! Katja! She’s not home, but what if she…”
“I’ll call her and send her here. Don’t worry.”
~~~
Katja didn’t ask questions when I told her to go to my house because something had happened to her father. She didn’t sound sad, shocked, or moved in any way which was perfect. Luckily, the one friend she had at boarding school was in the States and they were somewhere upstate for a few days, so she wouldn’t have to see the scene we discovered in Popov’s house.
The fucker bled out like pig and the whole kitchen was trashed, but I wasn’t fazed by that. What got to me was imagining my beautiful girl struggling to get away from him. Ludmila didn’t give me any details, there was no time, but I knew he attacked her. He smiled to my face and went home to take his frustration out on a woman, only this time he got a surprise. This time she struck back.
My father mopped the place while Hugo soaked it in bleach and industrial polisher. There was no fucking K-9 in the world that could smell blood under that shit. This wasn’t our first rodeo.
“Enzo,” Dad spoke. “We need to put him in the bag. Hugo and I will take care of it, and you can go back home.”
“One more thing.” I got out my gun and shot a few bullets in Popov’s back.
