Page 43 of Bound By Them
“What? No.”
He holds out his phone so I can see a group text from Caleb. Our friend at the station told me one of the Aseyevs got taken out. Bullet to the back of the head.
Arky whines as blind panic douses my earlier anger. The hallway and its tastefully boring decor disappear from around me. All I can see is Danica’s body crumpled face-down on the ground outside her house, her white-blond hair stained with blood.
“It isn’t Dani,” Troy whispers.
“How do you fucking know? He doesn’t say who it is.”
Troy switches to another conversation—one that doesn’t include my father and grandfather. One of the grandsons. Will share more info when I have it.
Thank fuck. But whether it was Patrick or Dmitri, they were part of Danica’s family. She’ll be devastated. And I can’t fucking be here.
“I have to go to Mirarosa.” I walk away from my father’s office. “I can’t get out of it.”
Troy is silent. He wants to go to Danica, just like I do.
“I can’t get out of it,” I repeat. “But you don’t have to go to Mirarosa.”
He raises his dark eyebrows in surprise.
“Yeah.” I nod. “You know what to do.”
Danica
Everyone is at Granddad’s. Mom and Dad drove me here, straight from my house. “Give your aunts extra space,” Dad cautioned on the way, while Mom continued to sob in the passenger seat.
We haven’t had a death in the family since Grandma passed away. I was a baby then, so I don’t remember. But is it normal to have all of Granddad’s friends here, as well as all of our family? Lots of people are crying, but others just look mad as they stalk around the living room.
I don’t know what I’m feeling. Confused, I guess. What was Patrick even doing back in San Esteban? He’s supposed to be in Vegas. And he was texting me, wanting forgiveness.
Then someone killed him. That’s all I know.
Shit. A sob breaks loose and I’m crying again. I wipe the tears as soon as they fill my eyes. But they’re nonstop. I fit right in with Mom and my aunts. And Rachel—my God, my poor cousin. She’s going to spend the rest of her life without a brother.
I think about going to her, but she’s sitting with my dad and Granddad, wordlessly sipping from a coffee mug. I’ll talk to her later.
Some of Granddad’s friends are having a serious discussion off to the side. I get closer, partly for a distraction from Aunt Milana’s heartwrenching sobs. Every time I walk past, though, the men clam up.
“…to kill him in the dark like that. He couldn’t have seen it…”
I pause and try to listen for more. My brain is buzzing with muted static. There was the alley, outside the movie theater. Someone was killed tonight. Was that—was that Patrick? Was I sitting in a movie theater less than a hundred yards from where my cousin was being murdered?
My legs go weak. I fall to the sofa.
“Dani.” Dmitri rushes over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Hey. What are you thinking?”
“I was by the movie theater. Someone died there. What if that was Patrick? Was I that close?”
“The theater near The Corbin?”
I nod, wiping my eyes.
Dmitri puts his hand on my arm. “He was in the Bellefleur. Nowhere near that theater.”
I exhale. It’s a small comfort. “What was he even doing back in the city? He was supposed to be in Las Vegas.”
“No idea. Aleksandr sent some guys here to help Granddad figure it out, because Patrick was supposed to be Aleksandr’s responsibility.”
