Page 169 of Ivory Ashes

His jaw flexes and his eyes narrow and when his voice emerges, it’s a feral growl like nothing else I’ve ever heard from him before. “I remember everything.”

I nod solemnly. “Good. The more detail you can give me, the sooner we can find them.” I lay a hand on his shoulder. “I know you care about Viviana, but she isn’t going to get away with this.”

“She?” Anatoly frowns. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you getting shot in the chest, brother.”

“Did you check the cameras? Did you watch any of the footage of what happened?”

“They were all offline. I don’t know how she did it, but she must have?—”

“She didn’t do anything,” he interrupts, explaining it to me the way he explained electricity to Dante last week. “Viviana had nothing to do with this.”

I shake my head. “But if she didn’t, who?—”

“Pyotr.” The heart rate monitor behind Anatoly’s bed spikes. If he doesn’t calm down, the nurse will be back in here with a stern warning for him, I’m sure. Though one look at the murderous grimace on Anatoly’s face might be enough to scare even her off. “I don’t know who he’s working for or why he did it, but… it was Pyotr.”

I drop down into the chair next to Anatoly’s bed, physically unable to stand.

Viviana didn’t do this.

Viviana didn’t do this.

It’s the only theory I’ve had for hours and this new information doesn’t compute.

“Tell me everything,” I rasp. “Every single detail. I need it all.”

So Anatoly does.

“An hour after you and Raoul left, I went to Viviana’s room like we planned. She asked about Dante, like we both knew she would, and I told her he was waiting for us in the garage. I knew once she saw Dante wasn’t down there that she’d throw a fit, but I figured I’d rather explain it to her there than in the hallway outside of his bedroom. I was gonna give her the old, ‘It’s either leave without Dante or die at the hands of Iakov’ ultimatum. I figured that would knock some sense into her.”

“Un-fucking-likely,” I mutter.

“But we never got that far, because as soon as we got into the garage, Viviana saw something in the backseat. She thought it was Dante. Hell, for a second, so did I. I thought maybe he was hiding under a blanket or something. It was small enough that it could have been—” He squeezes his eyes closed, blowing out a tight breath. “It was Stella. She was already—I don’t know when he did it, but Pyotr shot her, too.”

A tear rolls down his cheek. I reach out and squeeze his shoulder.

Love is a parasite, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad that my brother got bit by it, too.

He thought he was being covert, but I’ve known about him and Stella sneaking around for months. Now, she’s gone. I know how deeply that pain hurts.

“I’m sorry,” Anatoly croaks out. “I was so focused on Stella that I didn’t even see Pyotr coming. I looked up and h-he shot me.” He shakes his head like he still can’t believe it. “I didn’t even hear the door open. I was fucking lost. Then, suddenly, I was down and… I don’t know what happened after that.”

He took my family. That lying fucking mudak stole my wife and child, that’s what happened.

“Pyotr took Viviana and Dante,” I tell him icily.

“Dante is gone?” Anatoly slams his fist into the thin mattress. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Mikhail. I should have?—”

“Should have what? Been faster than a bullet and taken Pyotr out before he could get away?” I finish for him. “Yeah, that would’ve been nice. But since we’re all human here, let’s just focus on what comes next.”

Anatoly sighs. “Yeah. Okay.”

“He didn’t count on you surviving and was probably hoping he’d have a few more hours before we figured it out. That’s why he took your car instead of his.”

Anatoly gasps. “He took my car?!”

“I’ll get you another one,” I snap. “Help me find Viviana and Dante and I’ll get you whatever lime-green monstrosity you want.”

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