Page 21 of Vitaly

Still facing away from her, I work my jaw. It feels impossible to trust Nikita right now withanything, considering he’ll kill me the second he gets the chance, but I believe Sophie.

She’s Nikita’s twin. The person who’s always been closest to him. It ripped him to shreds when she was disowned by the Petrovs. If there’s one person in the world he trusts, it’s her. If there’s one person he wouldn’t lie to, it’s her.

“Well, as you could probably guess,” Sophie starts. “Nina wasn’t happy when you got arrested for drug possession. Vovachka swore he had nothing to do with it, but everyone close knew it was bullshit and that the Bratva set you up.” She pauses a moment while wringing her hands.

“Nina begged him for years to get you out, and he baited her along, telling her he was working on it. They kicked her out of the house after your father died, but she was still welcomed at family dinners. So one night, she brings a spiked bottle of wine to dinner, and um…” Her hands still, but her nervousnessremains. “Vovachka was the first to die. Then his underboss, a few lieutenants…”

“But not Nikita.”

“No.”

My breath shakes with anger as it stirs in my chest.

He killed her. As punishment for his father’s death, he killed my mother.

He’s right to be afraid that I’m coming for him.

“She sat next to him. Your mama always sat next to Nikita at those dinners, and that night, she spilled his glass. Nikita’s certain she did it on purpose.”

My throat rumbles with a scoff.

“You’re forgetting the age gap between your father and Nikita. Our mother was shit. Nina practically raised him. He was a son to her.”

One side of my lips pulls as I laugh at Sophie’s sad attempt at tempering me. I turn to her, my head shaking as her presence here begins to make sense. “Are you trying to use my dead mother to make me spare your twin, Auntie?”

Her lips purse as she glares and stabs her finger at the headstone. “Nikita paid for Nina’s funeral. He didn’t tell a soul other than me about what she’d done because he knew what it would do to her name.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s a great guy.”

“He’s…” Sophie’s mouth shuts, and she closes her eyes as she takes in a long breath, her shoulders pulling back.

When her hands tremble, I think it’s out of anger, but her eyes glisten with tears as they open.

“He’s my brother.” Her voice is so full of emotion, it makes me wonder how she could have ever grown up in the Petrov house. How she could ever be Nikita’s twin. “AndVladwas my brother. If I could convince Nikita not to kill you, believe me, I’d be there right now instead of here. But he blames you for Vlad’sdeath, and he isn’t open to reason. You aren’t safe, and we both know you and him in the same city ends with one of you dead…Please, Vitaly… Just go.”

Just go.

Run like the coward people claim I am.

When I turn away from Sophie, she lets out a defeated whine, like she really thought she could change my mind. Little does she know, I never intended to stay.

Sophie turns to leave, but I speak before she can walk away.

“Did Nikita get married?”

She huffs. “Nikita?”

She offers nothing else, which is fair because the idea of Nikita committing to a woman truly is absurd. Many things have changed since I’ve been away, but some things never will.

“Never mind.”

She creeps up to me, laying a hand on my shoulder while staring at the stone with me. “She was a brave woman, Vitaly… I’m sorry you didn’t get to say goodbye.”

When I don’t respond, Sophie takes that as her cue to leave. She gives my shoulder a light pat before walking away.

Once she’s gone, I take a step closer and lower to my knees, my nose inches from my mother’s name. I close my eyes and swear I can smell her perfume. Hear her voice.

She was a good woman. I have many,manyfond memories of her.

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