Page 76 of Vitaly

Vitaly is the best fit for Pakhan. Even if he didn’t want me, even if he looked at me with the same disgust as he did all those years ago, it would be true. My father can’t see it because he hasn’t seen Vitaly, but he will in time. Everyone will.

“You shame me, Mila,” he says in a low voice, his eyes on his lap. When he looks at me, it’s like he’s the one with the broken heart. “You’ve shamed me all your life, but never as much as in this moment.”

My father signals to the soldiers who guard the door while I stare at his cold, unloving face. I don’t open my mouth as the soldiers come, and I certainly don’t shed any tears. This, unlike Vitaly’s words, don’t bring forth emotion that startles me. There’s been a dull ache beneath my sternum my entire life. He’s merely pouring salt on the wound.

I know, I want to say but don’t.I know I’ve failed. You remind me all the time.

And I wish, with every fiber of my being, that I could hate you. That I could walk away from you and make a place in this world for myself apart from you and the name you’ve given me. I wish walking away with Vitaly and pretending we’re everything we’re not was an option, just so I could be with a man for love instead of everything you taught me.

I wish I wasn’t born your kin. I wish I didn’t suffer the pain of your disapproval. I wish I didn’t share so many of your traits.

A guard takes my arm and hauls me up, but he lets go when I jerk from his hold. With one last look at my father, I raise my chin, turn, then walk from the bar.

I plan on being by myself for a while, taking a walk before I head for the bus stop, but when I make it outside, Alik is waiting for me.

His eyes snap to me, and he grabs my arm, dragging me to his car without saying a word.

I try to ask where we’re going several times during the drive, but he stares at the road in stone-cold silence all the way to an apartment building.

Does he somehow know what I said to my father?

Was he somehow listening?

Why was he waiting for me outside the bar?

He lets on to none of this as he stews. He’s pissed about something. That much is clear.

He parks the car in a garage on the tenth level of the building then wrenches me out of the car, roughly dragging me to the door as he pulls out a key card.

“Alik, seriously, can you please just tell me what’s going on? Are you taking me to meet Nikita?”

Still nothing.

He leads me down a long hall then into an apartment that has a black rug covering its hardwood living room floor and black and white paintings along its walls to match. My head swivels, searching for another person, but Alik doesn’t stop until we’re in a room with a computer setup that must belong to some sort of hacker. Or NASA.

He gives me a shove toward the computer desk—the only furniture in the room—then walks around me to start furiously typing while I hover over his shoulder. All four screens show stars forming a line in the password field, and when he hits enter, I see my bedroom.

Leaning closer, I squint at the screen. There’s a flashing red dot in the lower right corner with the word ‘live’ next to it. No sound comes through the speaker, but then again, no one is inthe room. The bed is neatly made, and I can see the shorts Vitaly was wearing last night in the hamper.

My eyes drift to the other screens. Four images play on each, some with people in them. I recognize parts of the manor as the images switch to another feed, but when I check out another screen, I don’t recognize anything. It looks like the porches of four different houses, all showing their front doors. One has a welcome mat with a bear on it that oddly sticks out to me, but I know I’ve never seen it before.

“What the fuck?” I whisper, my eyes dancing around the changing images, all except my bedroom.

How many people has he been watching?

“Youof all peopleshould know better,” Alik says, his tone just as admonishing as my father’s. “Did you honestly believe Nikita wasn’t monitoring Vitaly’s room?”

My chest tightens as his meaning—his entire purpose for showing me this—registers.

Last night.

He saw last night.

I turn to face him, my lips parted, my eyes wide with the question that shouldn’t need an answer.

“I know everything,” he says, his jaw sharp as it clenches. “Nikita doesn’t, but he will.Soon. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go to himnowand tell him everything that he can see in the video. Say that you were manipulating Vitaly into learning his plan. And that you didn’t know how to respond when he asked if you wanted him to become Pakhan. Say that you’ve successfully earned Vitaly’s trust and figured out his next move. Make it up if you have to, but give Nikita something before I do.”

“Before you do…” My shoulders fall as I search his face. “You’re going to tell him?”

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