Page 151 of Ivory Ashes

He hurt her. He was going to make her miserable for the rest of her life. So, fuck him.

The only reason I cared in the first place is because I thought the same person might come after Viviana or Dante next. There’s a good reason why he died six years ago and I’m just finding out now.

“I’ve been looking into it. Raoul says there’s reason to believe Trofim hired a prostitute. Or he brought some random woman home and she killed him. Either he owed her money or he pissed her off. Maybe both.”

His smirk spreads. “The prostitute theory might not be so far off.”

“Careful,” I warn. “That’s twice you’ve gone too far. I won’t allow you a third.”

“Or maybe my theory holds some water,” he retorts. “My thought is that Viviana knew she was pregnant and wanted to make sure that her child’s father was guaranteed to be pakhan. The easiest way to do that would be to kill Trofim.”

“I was going to be pakhan whether Trofim lived or not. I won it from him. It was over.” I wave him off. “Get out of here with your bullshit theories against my wife.”

“Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have evidence against her all the same.” He points to the flash drive. “If you do watch that, you’ll see your wife walking into the house where Trofim was staying and then walking out half an hour later covered in blood. The next time anyone sees him, he’s dead.”

“There were no cameras. Raoul checked.”

“Trofim didn’t even know they existed. I had them installed without his knowledge.” He lifts his chin. “You may have tossed your brother to the wolves, but I wanted to keep an eye on him.”

“Then where were you six fucking years ago? If you had these tapes, then you knew Trofim was dead. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know he was dead,” he argues. “I thought he fell off the map, which was understandable after you embarrassed him so publicly. I didn’t remember the cameras and dig up the tapes until I heard he was gone.”

“Who told you?” I ask.

“Not you,” he says through gritted teeth. “I may not be pakhan, but I’m still your father. I’m Trofim’s father. I deserved to know he died, and you kept it from me.”

I roll my eyes. I don’t have time for his sob story. Especially when I’m still trying to process the fact that Viviana might have something to do with all of this.

“Why didn’t you tell me you thought Viviana was his killer when you saw her at dinner the other night? You recognized her.”

“I don’t think anything; I know she killed him,” he corrects acidly. “And when I was last here, I didn’t know Trofim was dead. It wasn’t until I recognized Trofim’s ex-fiancée sitting next to you that I decided to call him. When he didn’t answer, I did a little digging. It was easy enough to piece it all together.”

I run a hand through my hair, trying desperately to clear my head and think.

What does this mean?

Why would she do it?

Why wouldn’t she tell me?

“You’re sure it’s her on the tapes?” I ask.

“Positive. She’s very… identifiable.” There’s a suggestion in his tone that I should kill him for. Maybe I would have five minutes ago.

But now…

My wife killed my brother.

The woman has been a distraction since the moment I first saw her. She’s thrown my life into chaos and consumed way too many of my thoughts. I made excuses for her before. I told myself it wasn’t a problem.

But now? This is different… isn’t it?

“Well?” my father charges. “What are you going to do?”

“I know what you’re going to do.” I stand up and wave him away. “Leave. Now. If you tell anyone what we talked about here, I’ll kill you.”

“You’d kill your father over the woman who murdered your brother?” he spits.

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