Page 172 of Golden Atonement

“My brave lion,” he replied, as his eyes stayed glued to Katiya. “And my little lion.”

“Babe, take your sister back to our cabin.”

“I’ll go with,” Illyria offered, walking over to stroke my sister’s hair. “My God, she’s the spitting image of you, Remi. How did I miss it?”

“We all did,” Maxim said, kissing the top of his wife’s head. “Vladmir. You have one hour before I come for answers.”

With that, I watched my father storm back into the cabin he shared with Aksana.

After leaving my sister with Maxim and Illyria, Max ushered me into our bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him. Leaning against the door, he crossed his arms over his chest and fumed.

“No more secrets. That’s what I promised you, but, baby, I can’t do my job if I don’t have all the answers. So spill.”

Pacing the room, I shook my head. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Max. There is a lot that I haven’t told you. Shit I don’t ever want to think about again.”

“How did you know Aksana was Scott’s daughter?”

“Because I overheard Scott threatening Petrovitch once. Something about Baranov returning what belonged to him. The only thing I knew Baranov had of value was his daughter. Everyone knew that. Only no one had ever seen the girl.”

“Where did this conversation take place?” he asked, then quickly added, “No. Let me guess. The Trick Pony.”

I nodded.

“Jesus fucking Christ, I really starting to hate that motherfucking place.”

“I told you that place was evil, Max,” I replied as my hands began to shake.

Pushing off the door, he walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me protectively.

Grabbing him, I held onto him for dear life, closed my eyes and whispered, “The monster is coming, Max. You have to stop him.”

Chapter Thirty

Reaper

Leaving my wife with Illyria, Maxim and I headed back to Vladmir’s cabin. Neither one of us saying a word. There wasn’t anything to say. We were in the dark, just like everyone else until we knew more. The problem I was having was that we were being spoon fed information, and it was starting to piss me off.

Leaning against the cabin wall, I fumed. “Something ain’t right here, Fedorov.”

“I agree,” Maxim replied when we both heard Aksana scream. Hanging his head, Fedorov added, “He’s going to hate himself for what he just did.”

Pushing off the wall of the cabin, I added, “He did what needed to be done.”

Already knowing how Vladmir extracted the information, I refused to comment more. This life wasn’t easy by any means. When it came to those we cared about, any of us would use whatever means we had at our disposal to get what we wanted, even our bodies. While I agreed, Vladmir went straight for the jugular. He did what needed to be done. Now it was time to see if it paid off.

“At what cost?” Fedorov challenged as Vladmir stormed out the back door and into the surrounding forest. Entering the cabin, we had just sat down when the bedroom door opened and out rushed a barely clothed Aksana.

“Get dressed, Aksana.” Maxim glared. “We need to talk.”

I had to give it to the woman. She held her own. She answered every question that Maxim and I threw at her. She never wavered and even gave us a few more missing pieces. The problem was, neither one of us was any closer to the truth than before we questioned the woman.

However, a big piece of the puzzle was the Oracle.

A man named Kyle Krueger.

I fucking knew that name sounded familiar because after we left the cabin, I sent off a quick text to Phantom, asking if she knew this Oracle.

I got an immediate phone call.

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