Page 9 of Crowned

“Where is Lilia Aranova?” Kirill demands.

“Aran’s daughter? She hasn’t stepped foot in this house for two…” She cuts herself off, realizing she’s saying too much.

For two years. So, Lilia did come here after Ivan was killed, just as she told Elyah. According to her, she was forced to come here and then she escaped. “Does Lilia have any other family?”

“The Brazhensky family is all over this city. Go talk to them.” The housekeeper grasps the front door and tries to shove it closed, but Kirill keeps his foot stubbornly jammed against it.

“What about her mother’s side?” I ask.

The woman thinks for a moment. “A grandmother. That’s all.”

“Give me her address. Then we will leave.”

The housekeeper is delighted to hand over the old woman’s address and get rid of us.

Elyah stalks down the path toward the car, both of his fists clenched. When he reaches the sidewalk, he rounds on us. “He is in fucking Italy? Why is he in Italy? Lilia would not ask that man for help.”

“Who else is she going to ask? You?” Kirill replies.

Elyah’s response is a murderous glare. I feel my blood pressure rising at the thought of Lilia turning to any other man—even her father—for help. Some son of a bitch who can hide her away and put walls between us.

“I’ll email Khaos and confirm where exactly Aran Brazhensky is,” Kirill says, pulling out his phone. Khaos is a hacker who can slip into all kinds of official databases and find secrets. At a price, of course, but he’s worth his weight in gold.

“Good idea. I’ll drive this time,” I say to Elyah, reaching for the keys. Doing something will keep my mind off the pain boring into my skull. “Did Lilia ever mention herbabushka?”

Elyah gets into the passenger seat and slams the door. “Never. The only family she talked about was her father.”

It doesn’t take long to reach the address we’ve been given, and we pull up on a suburban street outside a small residence. The house is old and worn, white paint peeling around the door and the light above the front step hanging askew. We’re a world away from Aran Brazhensky’s luxurious mansion.

When I ring the doorbell, there’s a moment of silence before we hear footsteps shuffling over carpet.

The door opens, and a tiny woman with white hair and dressed in black peers up at me. We gaze wordlessly back at her as her severe, watery eyes sweep over us. This old woman is not surprised to find three hard men standing on her doorstep.

I don’t bother with English and speak in Russian. “Dobryy vecher,Babushka. May we come in?”

She raps out, “I have nothing to do with Aran Brazhensky or the Brazhensky family. I washed my hands of them long ago. You have wasted your time coming here.”

“We’re not here about Aran. We’re looking for your granddaughter, Lilia Aranova.”

Her face flushes with anger. “Who do you work for? Aran? Or the Kalashniks? I want nothing to do with thoseublyudki.”Bastards.

A smile touches my lips. “I work for my own interests, and my name is not important.”

“Then neither are you.”

My eyebrows creep up my forehead. No one has dared speak to me like this in ten years.

“Like grandmother, like granddaughter,” Kirill mutters.

“Dama, please,” Elyah says, using the respectful term for an older woman. “I just need to find Lilia. It is important and I will not rest until I do.” His expression is filled with heartfelt desperation.

The woman stares at him for a moment, and then she shakes her head and turns away from the open door, muttering, “You’re going to come in whether I invite you or not. Walk all over a poor old woman with your big, dirty feet if you must.”

In the kitchen she starts to make tea, but Kirill brushes her aside and reaches for the samovar. “Sit down,Babushka.”

For a moment she actually fights him for the box of tea leaves. Finally, Lilia’s grandmother throws up her hands, shuffles over to the kitchen table, and takes a seat. She makes a grudging motion, telling us to sit down as well, and Elyah and I do as we’re told.

A few minutes later, she’s regarding three strange men at her kitchen table with steaming glasses of tea sat before each of us.

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