Page 63 of Sins He Taught Me (Bratva Crime Syndicate 3)

Only, Matvei isn’t staring at me with murder in his eyes like I thought he would be.

“I’m going to take him upstairs,” Matvei says simply. Nikolas follows his uncle upstairs, quietly talking about how his doctor told him he should treat his burn.

None of this makes sense. Dad would never show up to this nightmare mansion, and Matvei would never let him come by without a reason.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, throwing myself into his arms. He looks good, like he’s recovered from his wounds.

“I wanted to see you, Vic,” he says, cupping my face in his hands. Almost immediately, it’s like I’m Nikolas’s age again, about to cry because I’ve missed my dad so much.

I can’t break down, though. I don’t know how much time we’ll be allowed to spend together, and I don’t want to waste it by sobbing in his arms.

“How did you—”

“I called one of Morozov’s men. They got me in touch with him, and he said I could stop by.”

“He did?” That doesn’t sound like Matvei at all. Two weeks ago, he would’ve laughed at Dad’s request and probably sent someone over to his house to break his kneecaps or something.

“Listen, can we talk somewhere a little more private?” Dad’s eyes roam around the room, landing at the top of the stairs. “It’s important.”

Clearly, he doesn’t want Matvei to overhear what we’re saying. I nod, and together, we head deeper into the house.

In the library, I turn around and say, “What’s going on? Why do we have to do this in private?”

“Vic, you won’t believe it!” Dad has a wide, toothy grin on his face. “I decided to talk to some people about Morozov, and the guy that contacted me thinks we can stop him and put him behind bars.”

“What?”

“He’s with the FBI. He showed up at the house a few nights ago and wanted to talk. When he found out that you were staying here in the mansion, he said it was the perfect situation. You can get information on Morozov from the inside while we get it on the outside.”

Immediately, I look behind me, paranoid that Matvei might be listening in. This is insane. My dad, the one who couldn’t stay off the booze for even a day when I was a kid, is now working with an FBI agent?

“Are you sure that he isn’t just testing you, Dad? What if he’s in Matvei’s pocket and the second you give him information, he turns you in? They’d kill you for even thinking about going through with this,” I say in a hushed whisper.

He shakes his head. “No, this man is legit. Knew his stuff backwards and forwards. He even gave me this.” Dad digs around in his pocket and produces a small flip phone.

“What is that?”

“It’s a burner phone he wanted me to give you. It has our numbers on it, so you can reach us at any time. Morozov has probably bugged your phone, so it’s better to use this one.”

I feel panic rising in my chest. “Dad, I don’t think you’ve thought this through! This could be suicide.”

He runs a hand through his thinning hair, agitated. “Dammit, Vic, I’m tired of feeling like a prisoner to this bastard, and I’m sure you are, too. He has you cooped up in this house all day. He’s a dangerous criminal and he needs to be locked up for good.”

He’s right. I know he is. No matter how gentle Matvei has been to me lately, that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s the boss of one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the city. He’s done horrible things to people, and he should be locked up.

Still, it doesn’t seem safe to talk about this right now. I just don’t know what to think.

“We have to do this, Victoria. Please. The man I spoke with says that once we have all the evidence we need, he’ll have us in witness protection before they even go after Morozov. We’ll be in the clear. We can start again.”

I hate how passionately he believes this. It truly breaks my heart. “Dad, you have a problem with drinking and gambling. Who’s to say we won’t move halfway across the country and you’ll end up getting in debt with another dangerous man?”

The look on his face shatters me. He can’t deny what I said because he knows it’s true. As long as he has these problems, I’ll always be dragged into his messes.

“I’ll try, baby, I promise. When this is all over, I’ll try to get better for you. But I need you to promise me that if you get any kind of incriminating evidence, you’ll call me or the other number on the phone.”

I nod slowly, trying to decide how to react to all of this. Matvei isn’t a good guy, but these past few weeks together have been amazing compared to when I was first hired. He’s finally treating me like a person and not something he can kill off whenever he wants.

But I also know that the danger hasn’t gone away. It’s just hiding. And this could be exactly the kind of terrible idea that provokes Matvei’s dark side to return.

I decide to change the subject and just enjoy having Dad around. When we return to the living room, we talk about everything that’s been happening since we last saw each other. He’s been regularly paying Matvei, and he’s working off his debt more and more as he goes. He hasn’t even been drinking.

It’s nice to see him take this all seriously. It makes me think that maybe he’s right—maybe there is a future for us, together, away from all of this.

When an hour passes, Dad hugs me and heads out. I watch him disappear around the corner before I can finally breathe again. Having him around Matvei lights my nerves on fire. I hope Dad is serious, but with him, I never know.

I just pray he doesn’t get me into any more trouble.

Because that would be trouble for us both.

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