Page 43 of Vengeful Embers

“Already on it,” Konstantin assures me, and again, there’s that edge to his voice.

Something sharp lodges in my throat as I wonder if it’s guilt. “How’d you get this information?”

There’s a pause. Just a beat too long.

“Are you still there?” My voice drops. My gut clenches. “Konstantin?”

“I followed them to Moscow,” he says finally.

My heart slams in my chest. “Tara’s in Moscow?”

“She came with Gavriil.” His voice is low and in the tone you deliver news like a loved one has died or your best friend was fucking your partner… I grit my teeth.

“Where is Irina?”

“Back in Vegas.”

His words explode through my system. I don’t hear the rest. Not over the roar in my ears. My hand grips the edge of a marble column so hard I think I might crack it. I can picture them—together—in my city. My territory.

“Why?” I clear my throat. “Why are they in Moscow?”

“They were digging into the birth certificate.” Another pause. “Tara thinks the birth certificate may be hers.”

“Has she cause to believe that?” I ask, my breath shallow.

“The birthdate is the same as hers, and they are here trying to find out who the parents on the certificate are,” Konstantin informs me.

“Does she think that Carla and Sol Craft are not who she’s grown up to believe they are?”

“I think she knows that her father isn’t really Sol Craft,” Konstantin tells me. “But Tara’s hoping that if she is Lidiya Zorin that the full birth certificate will tell her who her real mother is.”

“Carla Craft isn’t her biological mother?” That’s another bit of information the general left out. I’m getting a bit pissed off with the general, especially when I thought we had joined forces.

“No.” Konstantin tells me the story that Tara’s parents told her about her mother. “Her real mother’s name is Lena, but her parents never mentioned a last name.”

“You got all this information by following them?”

Quiet again. “No.” The catch in his voice again.

I nod and close my eyes, breathing through the need to smash something.You were with this woman for one fucking night!I remind myself.

“There’s something else you should know.”

Just by that lilt in his voice, I can tell he’s kept the worst news for last, and I brace myself.

“When Iraninto Tara and Gavriil in Moscow to find out what they were up to, they were at the hospital.”

“Is Tara hurt?” My mind immediately jumps to the worst case—Gavriil abusing her.

“No.” Konstantin’s tone is clipped. “Tara’s two weeks pregnant!”

It’s like the floor shifts beneath me.

My voice comes out lower. “His?”

“Yes.”

“The fucking bastard.” I can barely contain my rage now. “Gavriil can’t get his wife pregnant, so he goes and knocks up his mistress?” I run my hand through my hair. “Perfect,” I mutter.“Just fucking perfect. Irina’s trying to worm her way out of her mission, and this will be her golden fucking ticket.”

---