Page 62 of Devil's Retribution

“It’s in the Caribbean We have to go handle some things in Haiti because that’s where Uncle Charles is, you’ve already missed enough school.”

“But until I handle certain matters,” Viktor insisted, “We can’t have him here, alone.”

Nick looked between us, then said, “Why?”

“Well…” Viktor quieted down as the server arrived. We gave our orders. He didn’t so much as lift an eyebrow at mine even though I was getting as much food as him. Definitely distracted by something important.

Viktor thought for a few moments, taking a swallow of his ice water before speaking. Then he reached under his jacket and produced a folded set of papers. He opened them and handed them over.

Nicholas Martinez’s ethnic mix was half my family’s smorgasbord of British, and Spanish and Native American, from the Mexican side, plus Eastern European, Slavic, Central Asian, and West Asian on his father’s side. I glanced at the population matches, it mentioned Kartvelian, which I assumed was his Georgian heritage. I took a closer look, I’d given a sample too and closest relatives were listed as me, and—

I looked again, father, Leon Kozlov.

And uncle, Viktor Kozlov.

I looked up at him slowly, wondering if he was playing games with me. My adrenaline was up, my brain was making bad associations. Yes, I had seen him back up lies with false documents before. But was that what was happening now? He had no reason to lie.

“I- the doctor verified this? All of it?” I read it again, needing to verify the same thing myself for my stunned brain.

“Yes.” Viktor actually sounded a little breathless. “I had trouble believing it myself at first. When I first saw Nick, I thought he looked familiar, but I had told myself that it was my mind playing tricks on me. After getting the results, I even went back and checked some of my old photographs with Leon when we were young boys. The quality is not good, and some are faded, but…” he brought out an envelope of old photographs.

I pulled them out with shaking hands.

Two boys were in all of them, one beefy and thick-haired and obviously Viktor, the other younger, slimmer, with finer features.

He was the very image of Nick, from over twenty years ago.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, astonished.

“What’s in it? Come on guys, I want to see!” Nick got out of his chair and stuck his head under my arm to look at the pictures. “Who’s that? He looks like me!”

“That’s your father as a kid,” I murmured, still feeling it sink in.

So that was it. Who Lucia’s mystery lover had been—not Levan, obviously a fake name, but Leon. Viktor’s younger brother.

“That’s my dad? What happened, where did he go?”

“He died, honey,” I said softly. “That’s why he disappeared.”

He looked back at me sadly. He didn’t even really remember his real mom, from the way he acted and talked, but he’d always been curious about them. And I knew I must have a sad look on my face now too, which he hated seeing.

Then, though, he looked back down at the photo. “Who’s the other boy?”

“That’s me as a kid!” Viktor kept his tone light. “Your dad was my little brother.”

“You’re my uncle?” Nick’s eyes widened. “You didn’t know?”

“No, none of us knew, honey,” I said. “We’re all surprised.”

This was why my sister never talked about her lover. She must have known what kind of business he was in and didn’t want people freaking out. Like I was worried about now that I was with Viktor.

How ironic. But it certainly explained Viktor’s behavior since he’d come home.

Nick perked up. “Hey, if I’m half Russian, does that mean I can have beer now?”

“Oh my God.” I rolled my eyes and Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose, shoulders shaking as he chuckled silently. “No, honey, you wouldn’t even like it right now.”

“Aww.”

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