Page 38 of Savage Boss

“There will never be a time that I won’t want you by my side, malysh.” He tugged her out of the car and helped her straighten. “There is nothing I wish to hide from you.”

Her eyes darkened and she nodded in appreciation, slipping her hand into his while he closed the door. Vlad collected a bright bouquet of flowers from the trunk and together they walked through the graveyard, breathing in the warm summer scented air and pausing to look at particularly lovely monuments. Coming from a background of simplicity, Jane was awed by the stone masonry displayed all around them.

Finally, they reached the section of graveyard containing Victor Sitnikov. The grave was not as opulent as those surrounding it, and in Vlad’s opinion, the old man was lucky he got anything at all. His entire family had been relieved by his death.

When Vlad had gone home, covered in his father’s blood, his mother had taken one look at him and sent a servant to run a bath for him. She’d insisted on looking him over until Vlad was able to reassure her that the blood wasn’t his.

“It belongs to Victor.” He named her husband, his father, with a distinct lack of respect.

His mother had turned sorrowful eyes to Vlad, but the sadness was not for her late husband, it was for her son. For the things he had seen and done, most of it in the name of protecting his mother and sister.

“Will… will he be coming home?” she asked huskily.

“No.” Vlad hadn’t given any more details and she hadn’t asked. She’d simply nodded her head then shoed him off to his room to change for his bath.

After that day, Vlad’s mother had become a new woman. After being freed from the yoke of a tyrant, she blossomed. Sadly, she would only live another four years before succumbing to cancer, but Vlad was able to reflect happily on his time with her. She was currently buried in a cozy cemetery near his American estate. Perhaps he would take Jane one day soon.

“He died when you were sixteen.” Jane’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Da,” he agreed. “Two years after he made me one of his soldiers.”

“Was he killed by a rival?” she asked.

Vlad thought about it, thought about telling her the truth. But what would the truth accomplish? It was dead and buried and Vlad preferred to look to the future. He didn’t want to burden Jane with the knowledge of his past. She knew some things, but she didn’t need to know everything. Not know, maybe never.

“Da, a rival,” he agreed.

She nodded, her gaze still on the weathered gravestone with its sadly shrunken grave.

“Come, let’s go.” Vlad tugged her hand, pulling her away.

“The flowers?” she protested, pointing at the flowers still clutched in his hand.

“They’re not for him.”

Vlad led her a couple of rows over, to a set of gravestones in a tidy well-kept family plot. Vlad paused briefly next to Petrov’s grave, still mounded from his burial a month earlier. The remaining Petrov family had brought their patriarch’s body back from America. Once all the pieces were found.

Jane gasped when she realized what she was looking at, but Vlad pulled her away, toward the back of the family plot where two gravestones stood side by side, like delicate flowers, leaning into each other. Each was carved from white marble with simple inscriptions.

Natalia Petrov, 1953-1991, beloved mother

Svetlana Petrov, 1976-1991, beloved daughter

“Did they die together?” she asked noticing the dates.

“Da.”

Jane sighed sadly, her eyes caressing Svetlana’s grave. “She was so young.”

Vlad nodded and knelt next to the grave, brushing a few dead leaves from the springy grass. This was the first time he had visited Svetlana’s grave. He couldn’t bring himself to come all those years ago. He’d been ashamed of his inability to protect her. Now he understood that there was nothing sixteen-year-old Vlad could’ve done to keep her safe. She was caught in a war between him and his father.

Vlad placed the flowers on the grave and stood. Jane wrapped her arm around his and leaned against his side as though silently giving him strength. After a moment, he placed a hand at her back and led her out of the graveyard. This would be the last time he came. There was nothing left for him here and he was ready to look forward to the future.

Epilogue

4 months later, Halloween

“Are we ready for this, Joey?” Jane whispered to baby in her arms.

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