Page 53 of The Pakhan’s Heir

Is she the rat? Is this the face of a woman who would stab me in the back and through my heart?

My phone buzzes, breaking the standoff. I pull it out of my pocket and answer it. “Hello,” I say angrily.

“Alex… Alex.”

Everything drains out of me as the raspy tone of my brother comes over the line. “Rikki?”

He takes a breath and it sounds labored. I can hear the rattle in his chest from here. “Got jumped. I’m headed your way. Just got… just got back from the Upper West Side.”

“What’s your ETA?”

“Five minutes.”

I turn around and unlock the door. “Door’ll be open. I’m calling Marius.” I hang up.

“What’s happened?” Nona asks.

“Rikki’s been hurt. He’s on his way here.”

19

NONA

“Smert Rodu Rostovykh,” Alex repeats a little softer as if trying to interpret them, even though everyone in this room knows what he means. “Those were their exact words?”

Rikki is sitting on one of the chairs in the forbidden living room while Marius leans over him, dabbing the cut over his eye. In spite of the beating he took, he doesn’t look all that bad. Besides the cut, he’s got a couple of bruises on his face, ribcage, and knuckles. He’s shirtless, wearing a large bandage over his ribs that we watched Marius painstakingly put on him.

Alex is sitting on the arm of the couch in front of him, his arms crossed as they talk. And me, I’m just standing in the corner of the room, watching it all, my feet frozen to the floor.

“Yeah,” Rikki answers. “I’d say there were about five of them. All sporting Irkutsk ink, all waiting for me the minute I got out of the car.” He winced as Marius pressed a cloth into the cut. “Managed to fuck four of them up before the fifth one got the drop on me with a metal baseball bat.”

“You’re very lucky,” Marius says. “They could have broken your ribs. I told you the last time to watch your flank when you get into scraps.”

Rikki snorts and says, “Kind of hard to do when you’re not expecting the bat.”

Alex is nodding sharply as he starts to pace, his mouth pursed. Whatever state of anger he was in before this, it’s increasing to rage.

“So, they’re escalating,” he says. “Well, if it’s war they want, then that’s what they’ll get.”

Marius, who’s blind in one eye and half deaf in the ear facing away from Alex, looks over at him. “And so the beat goes on,” he says. “And just when I was getting my supply of antibiotics and bandages back up again. That certainly was a short truce.”

“Turns out the Irkutsks were never interested in peace,” Alex responds, glancing over at me. His eyes feel about as glacier-like as their light blue color.

“We should check on Yeva,” Rikki says. “Maybe send someone over to keep an eye on things.”

I’m stepping back, out of the way and well out of the conversation. The chill that surrounds me is almost more than I can take. I need some air.

I want to go out to the front stoop, but… but I’m just too afraid to. Someone’s probably watching this brownstone. In fact, having heard what those men said to Rikki, I’m willing to bet that my father has been watching us for a while now.

I go to the kitchen and sit down at the table, my hands shaking. ‘Smert Rodu Rostovykh’ or ‘Death to the Rostov Bloodline’. It echoes in my mind like an alarm. I wrap my arms around my stomach and it flips. I guess all the plans that my father had have changed, and all because of me.

I think back to the moment I saw the word ‘Pregnant’ in the little window of the test and how it felt like the floor had dropped out from under me. This should be a happy occasion. I should be celebrating this new life with my husband.

But my first thought was to my father. What is he going to do if he finds out? He’d been clear on what my position in all this is supposed to be. This marriage isn’t supposed to be about love or even peace between our families. I am still supposed to be serving him.

The problem is that…

Tears start burning my eyes and I have to stifle a sob. Dammit. I wasn’t expecting to feel this way about Alex. Every smile he gives me, every little fucking thing he does to care for me and protect me…