Page 20 of Lethal Alliance

His switch fromLuciatoDaryaisn’t lost on me. Mickey is done with the lies. “I know you want to believe that, Mickey, but—”

“But nothing.” Mickey glares at me. “Darya ran because she found out who you are—and why you wanted her here.”

I’m so taken aback that I’m momentarily silenced.

“And the Orlovs took Ofelia and Masha because they found out whotheyare.”

“What?” Now I’m genuinely confused. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Mickey puts his laptop on the table and twists the screen toward me in a curt, angry gesture. “I told you I was helping Ofelia with a school project.”

I stare at the tree graphic on the screen, my tired mind trying to make sense of it. I vaguely recall him mentioning something about helping Ofelia. I can’t for the life of me imagine what on earth it has to do with getting his sisters back.

“Mickey—”

“It’s a family tree.” Mickey’s tone is impatient. “Ofelia wanted to get extra points by including a section on DNA, tracing back our ancestry as far as she could. She asked if I could help her, and so I used the upstairs facility at the lab to run our DNA. Ofelia’s, Masha’s, and mine.” He meets my eyes with a rather defiant look. “I took yours as well. And Darya’s.”

Oh, shit.

I’m starting to understand Mickey’s dark looks lately. And DNA testing?

Khuy.

I’m starting to get a very fucking bad feeling about this.

“Mickey. Tell me you hacked the online records anonymously to get the results. Tell me you did it discreetly.”

“Yeah—no.” Mickey folds his arms. “I didn’t realize there would be a reason to do that, you see. Maybe if someone had actuallytoldme why it might be dangerous, I would have handled it differently.”

Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck.

“But you haven’t asked why it’s important.” Mickey’s eyes gleam with anger. “You’re just worried because now you’re on the radar, aren’t you? Don’t you even want to know why I got curious enough to test your DNA?”

“Why?” My voice is hoarse, the room swirling around me discomfortingly.

“Because when I first ran tests for the three of us, they came back inconsistent. As in, we aren’t full siblings. None of us. We share the same mother—but we all have different fathers.”

The room snaps back into focus. “What the hell, Mickey?”

“Look.” He nods at the screen. I look at the tree again, but I can’t make any sense of what I’m seeing. “Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Mickey points impatiently. “Ofelia’s DNA came back as a perfect match for Inger on the maternal side. I took Inger’s DNA when we were out the other day,” he adds with a sidelong glance. “I didn’t... mention it to her.”

“Seems to be your modus operandi lately.” I don’t attempt to hide my irritation.

“Yeah, well, I learned from the best.” His glare matches my own. “Anyway. I don’t have Papa’s DNA, so I used myself as a comparison. If we have the same father, we should have been a one-hundred-percent match. We weren’t. Not even close.” He glances sideways at me. “So then I took Masha’s. Same thing. She’s Inger’s daughter, but no match to either Ofelia or me on the paternal side. However, when I ran her through the database, a match did come up.” He meets my eyes. “Vilnus Orlov,” he says quietly. “He was required to give DNA for a criminal trial ten years ago. It’s on the public record. Masha is his direct descendant. Here, you can see for yourself.” He points at a string of numbers and graphs on the screen, but they swim in front of my eyes.

“How the fuck,” I say blankly, “can Masha be Orlov’s daughter?”

“Well, that isn’t all.” Mickey is very pale, but his voice is strong enough. “I took Uncle Nicky’s DNA too, after that. It wasn’t hard. I just stopped by Pillars briefly the other day.”

I shake my head, wondering how the fuck I missed all of this. Luis, the kids’ driver, is going to have some damn hard questions to answer.

“I thought maybe I was—that maybe Nikolai was—” Mickey takes a sharp breath. “Anyway. He isn’t my father.” The relief in his voice is palpable. “But he is my uncle. So it’s safe to assume that Papa really was my... papa.”

Despite everything that is happening, all the hell that has been unleashed in our world, I can’t help but realize the gravity of the moment, how much this has mattered to Mickey.

I grip his shoulder. “Of course you’re Mikhail’s son, Mickey.” I meet the deep blue eyes, so like his father’s. “I’d have to be blind not to see him in your face, particularly when you smile. You’re so like him. Not just in the way you look.” I put my hand on his chest. “Here as well. You’ve got your father’s kindness, and his strength. Mikhail would be so proud of you.”

Mickey swallows hard, furiously blinking away the sheen of tears. “Anyway.” His voice is hoarse. “Ofelia wasn’t a match to anyone in the database. Not Vilnus, not Papa, not Nikolai. Not anyone.

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