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“Don’t move,” I warn. “Hera is especially ruthless, and right now, she wants you to move, so she has an excuse to rip your throat out.”
“Fucking hell hounds,” Pavel hisses. Zeus’s growls grow more threatening. “Jesus, sorry, Zeus.”
Hazel-eyes sighs deeply. “If you’d stuck around, I was about to introduce myself, but I hadn’t up to then as I was hoping you’d remember.”
“We’ve met before?” I ask. “I mean before the other night at the Velvet Lounge.”
“Yes, but I guess you were too young to remember me.” His voice is low. “I’m Konstantin.”
As he says the name, fragments of faded memories hit me between the eyes. My breath catches in my throat—no, it can’t be! Confusion swirls away the memories, and I feel strangely light-headed, but the memories are coming fast and furious now.
A young boy with dark hair and eyes that mirrored mine pushing me on a swing—standing up for me and taking the blame when I did something wrong. Hunting beneath my bed and in a closet for monsters each night before I went to sleep.
His name slices through my brain and stabs at my heart. My eyes open wide, and I look at him.
“Tanti?” I whisper. I hear him suck in a quick breath. “No, it can’t be.”
“It is,” he says softly. “I’m not going to hurt you, and if you want to go, I won’t stop you, but can you please call your pets off?”
I hesitate, not sure whether to believe him or not, but in my heart, I feel it’s the truth. But I’ve been lied to and manipulated by everyone who I thought loved me.
“Prove it!” I look at Hazel-eyes.
“When you were a kid you were afraid of the dark,” Hazel-eyes tells me. “Each night before you went to sleep I’d check your room for monsters and then tell you stories until you fell asleep.”
My heart jolts and I feel the sting of tears burning behind my eyes as those memories come back to me once again but I swallow the emotion and keep my hands steady. He still could be lying but I have the guns and my dogs.
“Hera, Zeus, release,” I command. “Guard!”
My dogs instantly obey, releasing the men’s necks, stepping off them, and sitting in front of each of them, watching them warily.
Konstantin sits and rubs his neck before pushing himself into a standing position. A smile lifts his mouth, and I see haunting emotions flicker in his cold eyes. “Hello, little sister.”
I feel the tears well up as I suck in a breath. I remember those words and the way he said it so well. All doubt about who he is leaves me, and before I can stop myself, I launch into his arms.
“Tanti.”
My mind is admittedly still skeptical, but my heart, it’s like it knew the moment he walked up to me and handed me his jacket in the Velvet Lounge three nights ago. His powerful arms wrap around me and grip me to him. His one hand wraps around my head, and he buries his face in my hair.
“It’s so good to finally get you out of there,” Konstantin whispers. “I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you.”
“I thought you were dead.” I sob into his solid chest. “All I had left of you and Mom was a photo in my locket.” My hand reaches for my locket, but it’s not there. I step out of his arms. “Shit!”
“What is it?” Konstantin is immediately alert.
“My locket,” I tell him. “I’m sure I had it on earlier.” My eyes widen. “Oh no. I think I lost Mom’s locket.”
“Mom didn’t have a locket,” Konstantin tells me, frowning.
“No, she did,” I tell him. “I got it when I was sixteen. Genevra brought it to me as per Mom’s instructions.” I feel Konstantin stiffen.
“What did it look like?” Konstantin asks me.
“It was gold.” I instantly reach for my phone. “Fuck!” I hiss. “Andrey has my phone. I’m sure there’s a picture of it on there, as I never take it off.”
“Maybe you dropped it when you jumped out of the moving car,” Pavel says. “I’ll backtrack your steps and look.” He looks at Konstantin. “We need to go.” He points to his gun. “May I?”
“Oh, shit!” I didn’t even realize I was still holding them. As I hand the weapons back to them, I realize that the safety was on, but they don’t say anything.
