Page 55 of Dark Embers

“But maybe not too old to be her grandmother,” I point out.

We sit in silence. The air is thick, every breath heavy with implication.

“My mom said last night that she hasn’t traveled overseas in over twenty-four years,” I whisper. “I always thought she just didn’t like to travel. But what if she hasn’t traveled… because she can’t?”

Oleksi stares at me. “What are you saying?”

“What if… my father isn’t Tara’s real father and her mother didn’t die in childbirth as my parents always claimed? What if she wasn’t orphaned… what if my parents took her?”

His jaw tightens. “You think Carla and Sol abducted Tara?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know what I think. But my mother reacted weirdly when you told her the twins weren’t American-Russian. Like she knew what that meant.”

“We need more information before we jump to conclusions or throw those types of accusations around,” Oleksi says.

“And if Gavriil was helping Tara investigate this, then it’s very possible it’s connected to his death.” My imagination picks up as the thought screams through my mind and my heart races. “What if in their digging for Tara’s birth mother they found something they shouldn’t have?”

“That could explain what the Russian meant when he told Gavriil his time to deliver was up.” Now Oleksi is getting on board with my train of thought, which right now is faster than any bullet train could be.

“Maybe what Gavriil had to deliver was Tara.” My throat goes dry and my voice cracks. “Oh my God, Oleksi—what if my sister is the reason your brother and Irina were killed?”

“Hey!” Oleksi takes my chin and makes me look at him. “No. If my brother was helping Tara, he wanted to do it, so this is as much his fault.”

Oleksi gives me a reassuring smile. “There’s a bigger picture here that we’re not seeing as we don’t have all the pieces yet. But I promise you we’ll find them.”

I nod slowly, my heart still racing. “Where do we start?”

He looks at me. “We start with your mother. She’s the only one we know who might know the truth.”

The thought terrifies me.

But I also know he’s right.

Before I can respond, there’s a knock at the door.

CHAPTER 21

Oleksi

Gunner’s knock is sharp. He enters without waiting, jaw tight and eyes flicking from me to Sabrina.

“We have a problem,” he says. “The twins.”

I watch his posture, the way he turns to look pointedly toward Sabrina. I know what it means—he’s hesitant to speak in front of Sabrina. If this was any other person I’d make her leave but she’s now my partner and she came to me with the box, with the truth about the Russian woman. Sabrina has finally chosen to trust me. And now, I won’t shut her out. It’s time for me to let her in.

“You can speak freely,” I tell him. “After all, it was Sabrina’s apartment they tore apart.”

Gunner nods. “I’m sorry, Miss Craft,” he says to her, voice unusually sincere. “If I could, I’d beat the shit out of them just for scaring a mother and child.”

Sabrina blinks, a little taken aback. “That’s... uh... thank you,” she says, offering him a tight smile.

I frown, eyes narrowing. “What do you mean if you could? You didn’t even lay a finger on them?”

He rolls his eyes. “We don’t do things that way anymore, remember? Radomir would have my balls in a vice if I didn’t at least try to find out who they are first. Not after the Enzo incident when I nearly skinned his kid. So Syd did some investigating.”

“And?”

He shrugs and pulls two new looking Russian passports from his jacket. “Syd found these in the room they were holed up in. Figured you’d want to see them before there’sanotherEnzo’s kid incident.”

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