Page 71 of Corrupted Guilt

I felt sleepy and depressed, which was perfectly fine. It’s natural to be depressed at the end of things like I was and I decided I’d allow myself the car ride to wallow in it, then turn the page on it.

Hopefully.

Pretty soon we arrived at Viktor’s house, and it looked much smaller than I remembered. I went up to my room and sat on the windowsill, looking over the back yard. The trellis Iescaped from was just below me and the willow tree Yuri fucked me under still sat in the same space.

Nothing has changed, yet everything has changed.

I expected Nikita with my bags but instead it was Viktor setting them down near my bed. “Are you back for good?” He asked.

“I’m not sure. I was thinking you and I might do some traveling. You could step back from the Bratva, be a grandfather,” I tell him smiling. The easiest way possible to break the news and I hope he goes for it.

“Truly? We should celebrate, champagne!”

“Just water for me. And if we could celebrate later, after a nap? That’d be great for me. We’ll talk about traveling somewhere before I get too fat.”

“Yes, no champagne for you. Sure, sleep. There’s time, plenty of time,” he said, leaving me alone, closing the door behind him.

Everything would work out.

Not the way I wanted it to but that’s life.

34. Yuri

I knew she would leave but that didn’t make things any easier. I knew Nikita would watch over her, protect her at Viktor’s house and that he would tell Anton about any plans her father might cook up to sell her again.

I knew I couldn’t stop her— not this time. Not without breaking that delicate thing growing between us— Love.

We both knew. And now, after everything I went through with Petya— hell everything she went through with Petya— I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.

I love her.

Simple as that.

I love her and that means I had to let her go, see if she would come back to me. Let her figure out she belongs by my side in the Bratva.

Anton came to see me, still destroyed by Maxim’s death and unable to focus his rage and unleash it on some target. “She left this,” he said, handing me a folded paper. My heart leapt at the thought she shared her personal thoughts with me.

“Nik will watch her closely,” Anton assured me. “I’d trust him with my life.”

“I know,” I told him, taking the note she left for me. It was too flimsy was my first reaction, my heart falling. I must get control of these silly emotions, there’s still work to do.

Still, I allowed myself this last piece of emotion, but it was all business:

Y-

Petya told me a story about a guy named Danilo Kis. A terrible, twisted story that I won’t repeat but it was important to him. He said he thought about that guy a lot. Maybe that’s his password. Just a thought.

-K

“Come with me Anton. Katya might have solved our problems with the password. Worth a shot.”

We walked into my office and I get out Tasha’s laptop and the encrypted disk she had recovered. This would tie up a lot of loose ends and find out where all the Kolesova Bratva money was going. My guess was outright theft by Viktor and poor investments, swindles he was caught up in.

I typed DANILO KIS as the password and after the briefest stutter, the computer unlocked.

Just like that.

Thanks Kiska.

---