Page 58 of The Enemy's Defector
Maxim asked many questions. Damon and Saul listened attentively, and I didn’t hold back anything.
After I relayed all that I could about my days in captivity and how I was moved around constantly, beaten but never injured so badly that I’d die, I came to Katerina.
“While Anton was in Greece for business, she took that time as her last opportunity to search for old surveillance footage that could show her who killed her father. That was why she didn’t want to fulfill that marriage arrangement. Anton argued with her, trying to force her into marrying into our family so she could be a spy.”
“Ironically,” Maxim drawled, “here she is, as your wife.”
I glowered at him. “As my wife and the mother of my child. Nothing more. She’s not a spy, Maxim.”
“I believe it,” Saul said without looking up from his food, nonplussed. “She never seemed to get along with Anton. I can’t see her wanting to do anything to help him out.”
“She can’t stand him,” I replied. “She never has, and she’d always suspected that he killed Thomas.”
“Did he?” Damon asked.
I nodded, grave and solemn about this news. “She copied the footage that shows Anton killing him. Once she saw that, she was done. She was leaving, hoping to just run away, but first, she wanted to find me and get me free.”
“Hold on.” Maxim narrowed his eyes. “She didn’t want to fulfill the arrangement because she wanted proof about Thomas’s death? Not because she was looking for you?”
“Both. But she focused on going to all the Kozlov properties to search for the hidden footage about Thomas’s death. And while she went to all those places, she was also looking for me.”
Maxim leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms to peer at me. He was pensive and contemplative, but not judging me. “Every time I asked you what was going on between you and Katerina, you’d hedge and never really reply.”
I didn’t say anything. Damon sighed and came to my defense. “Of course, he did. He couldn’t admit his feelings for her, but it was obvious they had a special connection.”
“They were always close when we were kids, too,” Saul said. “You know that.”
Maxim nodded. “Yes. When we were kids. When Thomas was alive and he was friends with Father.”
I shook my head. “Oh, so what, Anton shoots her father and that will suddenly make her an instant enemy of ours?” He couldn’t be that narrow-minded and quick to assume.
“She’s always been defiant to him,” Damon said. “I remember after Thomas’s funeral how she distanced herself from Anton.”
“I agree. But”—Maxim pinned me with a hard stare—“as adults…”
“As adults, we fucking fell in love,” I said plainly. “Or we always had been but once we were adults, we couldn’t resist it anymore. I don’t know how to explain it.” I stood, needing to move and pace. “I never pursued her. Yes, I consulted with her because she is a damned good hacker and she often gave me intel about third parties.”
“Wait.” Maxim sat up straighter. “Is she the hacker who helped you look into Father’s poisoning?”
“Yes.”
“How could you askherto investigate that when she’s Anton’s?—”
“Nothing. She was never Anton’s anything, Brother. She was never loyal to him. Never. She was always loyal to me but was stuck there with him.”
He lowered his gaze, troubled but starting to seem like he was changing his mind about all of this. “So you’re trying to tell me that she’s not an enemy of the family.” He stated it instead of asking it like the question it actually was.
“No. I’m not trying to tell you anything. I’m declaring it for the first and last time. She’s never been a fucking enemy of the Ivanov Syndicate. She’s never been an enemy ofmine. Only a friend. A confidante. A lover. Now my wife and the mother of my child.”
Saul raised his hand. “Hold on. Just when did you knock her up? If you were taken and held for over a month and she found you afterward and…” He furrowed his brow. “The math doesn’t add up, right?” He glanced at Damon and Maxim.
“I slept with her before I was taken.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “The night I met with her to ask her to hack into the computer systems and see if she could identify who’d come hereto poison Father. One thing led to another and…” I shrugged. They didn’t need me to fill in the blanks.
“What did she find?” Damon asked.
“Nothing. Just those masked independent contractors. Same as those who took me and moved me around.” I hated that we couldn’t have a target. “I’m convinced Anton is behind it, both Father’s poisonings and my capture. Katerina agrees that he’s got to be involved, since she found me on Kozlov property. But I heard little things here and there that the Romanos are involved too. When I married Katerina and those assassins ambushed us, they were clear to identify. Both Kozlovs and Romanos had come in there to stop her from becoming my wife.”
Damon shook his head. “But why? Anton was forcing her to come here and marry into the family before with that arrangement?—”
