Page 2 of The Enemy's Defector
“I…” I shook my head, saddened all over again about my father’s death to tell her what I’d discovered. It didn’t matter how much time passed. The hole in my heart that he’d left behind would forever pain me. “I…”
“Where have you been all month?” she insisted, almost maternal about it. She was the only motherly figure I’d had my whole life. As she asked it, she scanned me critically, inventorying me to see if I was hurt. “I’ve been worried sick about you!”
“I’ve been checking all the properties for evidence of what happened the day my father was killed. Since Anton’s in Greece and he couldn’t supervise me closely, I had to take this chance to find the truth once and for all.”
She nodded, her brow furrowed. “But he’s coming back soon, if he’s not here already.”
“I know?—”
“And Lucy has gone missing!”
I shook my head. “No. She’s not. Anton wanted me to fulfill a marriage arrangement made between Father and Grigory Ivanov. I was supposed to go there a month ago and marry one of the brothers, but since this would be my only chance to look for the evidence, I sent Lucy there in my place.”
She gaped at me, shocked. “Katerina! You didn’t.”
I nodded again. “I did. I asked her to take my place and dupe them while I hunted for answers.” I licked my lips, rushed and getting antsy about standing around like a sitting duck here. She had a good point. Anton had to be coming back soon, and I didn’t want to be caught here when he returned. He’d be furious that I thwarted his plans. While I didn’t give a damn how mad he was with me, I had to have some resources to avenge my father and kill my uncle.
“I told her I’d pay for her mother’s care if she did that for me. And I will.” I still didn’t understand why the payment I’d put in didn’t go through. I’d try again, but it didn’t bode well for me. When that payment was canceled, I had to worry that it meant Anton or Dmitri, his loyal assistant, had noticed the payment and stopped it.
“I need to go.”
“Now,” Joann insisted. “If Anton comes back and sees that you didn’t follow his orders…”
I went to grab my bag, shoving clothes in it at random. “I know. I know.”
She came with me, hurrying to hand me things to stash in the bag. “He’ll be so furious that you’ve defied him. And he’s going to know. I heard Dmitri wondering where Lucy was.”
I narrowed my eyes, hating that overzealous guard. I’d stopped him from trying to grope that sweet little maid before.
“I told him that she must have quit,” Joann said, still furrowing her brow.
“I’m sure she’s safe with the Ivanovs,” I said, still keeping my voice low. “She had to have married Damon or Saul.”
“Not Nikolai?” She raised her brows at me, well aware of how close I was with Nikolai Ivanov. Or how close I triednotto be with that man who’d always tempted me.
“No.” I shook my head. “Because he’s not at home.” I scowled and glanced at her. “Nik was captured.” I roughly straightened the bag to zip it closed. “And now that I’m done looking for evidence about my father’s death, I can dedicate all my efforts toward tracking him down.”
Since I first heard the guards in the house talking about Nik being captured, I instinctively knew Anton had to have played a hand in it. In my downtime, I hacked and searched for clues to where Nik could be held, but I hadn’t been able to find him at any of the Kozlov properties. I’d snuck out at night to check outer buildings on this estate, to no avail.
“You’ll go after him?”
I nodded, looking Joann in the eye. “I have to.”
Joann winced. “But Katerina…”
“Ihave to,” I repeated. Nikolai Ivanov was supposed to be my enemy. Since Father’s death and Anton’s rule, the long-standing friendship between the families disintegrated. Father and Grigory Ivanov were once friends. Allies. I used to get along with the Ivanov brothers when we were all children. Under Anton’s rule, though, he clearly set them apart as the enemy, too envious to want all they had.
I’d never been able to fall in line. My uncle could never convince me that I could loathe and scorn the Ivanovs. Nik wasn’t my enemy. And he was still the one man I could never betray. Not with my heart, mind, or soul.
Even if it meant defecting from the Kozlov Family, I was ready to take that final step.
“I have to find Nik,” I told Joann.
“You’ll get yourself killed,” she insisted sternly, still not raising her voice in case anyone was listening. “I’m surprised you haven’t been killed yet, snooping around for evidence all this last month!”
I shook my head, stuck in my ways and disregarding her worries.
“Is that why you sent Lucy in your place?” she asked. “Because you knew Nik wasn’t home and you couldn’t marry one of his brothers?”
