Page 42 of Wicked Arrangement

He starts drawing, falling silent and his jitteriness eases as he calms down. After a while, he starts to talk.

“Do you miss your home?”

“In Charleston? Yes, sometimes,” I reply truthfully.

“What do you miss most about it?” he asks, still not looking at me and focusing on his work, mirroring me.

I ponder the question, I sense that David will know and be upset if I’m dishonest, and I have nothing to hide.

“The peace, it’s a calmer pace there. But in truth, it’s more how my life used to be that I miss. I miss my gran and my brother.”

“Are they dead?” he asks casually.

“No, sorry I should have been clearer. My grandmother is sick. She has Alzheimer’s so she’s still alive, but it’s like she’s gone at the same time.”

“I feel like that sometimes too. Like I’m here but not at the same time. I know I need the meds, but some of them shut me down and it feels like I’m a stranger watching my life,” David says quietly, his voice forlorn. Before I can respond he asks, “And your brother is he dead?”

“No. But we don’t talk anymore… it’s complicated.”

I sneak a glance at David, he’s still zoned in on his drawing. “Like my sister and brother, they don’t talk,” he says.

“What about you? Do you talk to Marta?” I ask curiously.

“I try to. Yaroslav and my uncle don’t like it if I do too much though. She moved to England when I was three, so I don’t remember her in person. I’ve only ever spoken to her on the phone or received letters, and even then, not much. Did you know she’s in town? I want to meet up with her, but Yaroslav says no,” he says grumpily, again sounding more like a child than a fully grown man.

“Yes, I met her briefly the other night. I could speak to Yaroslav, try to convince him to let you speak to her if you like?” I offer. Yaroslav may well want nothing to do with his sister, but it seems cruel to deprive his brother of contact when he so clearly wants to see her.

“You’d do that for me?” he asks, looking up at me with surprise and hope in his eyes.

“Of course.”

“What’s she like?” he asks curiously.

“We didn’t speak for long, but she seems nice. Very beautiful and has a kind smile, although she seems a little sad. I think she misses you and your brother.”

He nods thoughtfully, “I bet she looks like my mother. I don’t remember her either, or my dad,” he says sadly.

“My parents died when I was young too, I don’t remember them much either,” I confide.

“Are you a mafia princess? Is that how you really know Yaroslav? Are you going to get married? He needs to find a wife and have kids soon to secure an heir. If he died, then that would only leave Uncle Innokentiy and me. Once we die, there’d be no family left to run the Volkov Bratva,” David rambles, not makingany sense. I’ve no idea how my being an orphan too has sent him off on this strange tangent.

“I’m not sure I understand…” I say, confused.

“Yes, you must be a mafia princess, that’s why my brother loves you. And why there’s a fire inside of you. Who is the boss of your mafia? Yaroslav is the boss of ours. Which family is yours? Are you a part of the Gillihan Mob?” he says, talking animatedly and standing up to pace the room again.

Nothing he’s saying makes sense. I shake my head, confused.

“David, I don’t understand what you’re telling me…”

Before he can answer, the door opens, and a frazzled-looking man walks in. Like most of the staff around here, he’s dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. “David, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You know not to disappear like that,” he chides. “Sorry for disturbing you, Miss. I hope he hasn’t been boring you with his wild stories,” he adds, glancing at me before directing his attention back onto David, clearly not expecting a reply from me. In a stern, no-nonsense voice he says to David, “Come on, let’s leave the nice lady in peace. Your brother wouldn’t want you bothering her now, would he?”

“Bye Kimmy,” David says, seeming unsurprised by the situation and allowing himself to be escorted out.

“Bye David, it was nice talking to you!” I call as they disappear down the corridor.

I’m left reeling by the conversation. I know that Yaroslav says that most of what David says is fantasy, or at least fantasymixed with reality. But I can’t stop myself from thinking about what he said. It seems too crazy to be true, and yet I can’t get the words ‘mafia boss’ out of my head.

Could what David said be true? Could Yaroslav be involved in a criminal operation as the head of the mob?

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