Page 113 of The Payback

Fuck, here we go,I think to myself.The one topic Dimitri and I have avoided for nearly half our lives.

We’ve been living with a tentative truce; both Dimitri and I focused on Ellie. I’m the father of her child, and Dimitri is her husband. The three of us are connected, and I don’t know what that means for the future. But now, with Ellie tossing a truth bomb from the past in the middle of all this, we’re going to implode before we figure out what we’re all doing together.

“She was trying to steal family secrets,” Dimitri says flatly. “My father caught her rifling through things in his office on his security camera. When he got home, he pulled Nik and me aside and ordered me to kill her for trespassing.”

“Why was Nik roped into it?” she asks.

“Because I knew she was at the house with D. She was supposed to stay in his room, but when he fell asleep, she slipped out and went snooping,” I admit with a groan.

“My father said she had violated our sacred and protected space.” Dimitri rubs a hand over his chin, rubbing at the five o’clock shadow on his jaw. “Not only did my father despise me for not being the son he wanted, I think he genuinely hated happiness and the distraction Julia posed. But it was the right thing to do, and I was too young to see that. She was a distant cousin of a rival family in the Italian Mafia, but I was naïve and thought myself in love. I couldn’t do it, but Nik followed the orders.” Dimitri looks past Ellie and into my eyes. “And you did the right thing. She used me and our relationship to gather information for her family.”

A cough gets lodged in my throat. “You hated me for what I did.”

“Yes, but it’s been years. And back then, being seventeen and without the perspective I needed, it seemed like you were putting the Bratva ahead of me. And I considered you my brother in every way that counted.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that when I got back? Or, hell, you could have contacted me when I was with Interpol!”

Anger at the years spent living outside the warmth of Dimitri’s friendship for following orders has chipped away at me—leaving that nerve raw and exposed. I’ve let no one else get close because of it. I ruined my most important relationship, and letting anyone else get that close again was impossible.

“It didn’t feel right to have the conversation over the phone while you were away. And when you got back, honestly, I was trying to find the best way to do it. As if ten years apart hadn’t given me enough time to plan the conversation in my head. But then my father died the same way she did.”

“So, what now?” Ellie asks, looking between us with sympathy in her gaze. “Oksana threatened to use my connection with you, Nik, to rat me out to Dimitri, who already knows what goes on between us.”

“Obviously,” Dimitri answers.

She turns towards D as she continues her explanation, fiddling with her gold wedding band. “And you also know that Sergei propositioned me. That was the other part of her threat. She says she wants me to do something at the gala. If I don’t comply, she’ll out me to you, and you’ll kill me as revenge for Nik killing your old girlfriend.”

“Well, that’s certainly not happening,” Dimitri retorts, resting his hand on Ellie’s thigh. The move doesn’t fill me with jealousy the way it has when I’ve seen their touches around the penthouse in the past few months.

She has someone else in her corner now, which means more to me than anything. This is the mother of my child, and I want her safe.

“We’ll work together,” I say, pushing the words past the lump in my throat and taking Ellie’s hand gently. “We’ve got two days left.”

Ellie turns towards Dimitri. “She spoke like she wanted you gone. With how she pushes Sergei, I think she’s been priming him to take your place, especially since there is no heir.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Dimitri teases. “Wait.”

I close my eyes and let the recent thoughts and actions come to mind, each one pinging around until things start to line up. Not perfectly, but something sticks out.

Snapping my fingers together, I cry an “Aha!” startling Dimitri and Ellie. “That’s why Sergei talked about having a child with you. He and Oksana only have girls, and the way things are structured now, they can’t take over. Ana would be amazing, and even though cousin Natasha is the head honcho, that trickle-down is slow and takes time. What if Sergei propositioned her to have that foothold if Dimitri dies?”

“Dimitri is not dying,” the man himself says. “Not unless I’m buried between Eleanor’s thighs and too stubborn to come up for air.”

She shoves at his shoulder and gives an ick face that morphs into one of curiosity. Ellie shakes it off and rebuttals. “I wouldn’t let that man touch me with a ten-foot pole. His offer was DOA before it left his mouth, but I see merit in your theory. But Oksana... She’s too involved in this not to be—”

Ellie pauses, then says, “Holy fuck. She’ll wait till I’ve delivered Sergei’s child and then she’ll kill us all—her husband included. She’ll be the interim leader until whatever male bun in the oven she’s hoping for comes of age. That’s it. Oksana wants the power.”

It’s a farfetched theory, but the more holes I try to poke in it, the more frustrated I become. It makes sense, and based on the conversation I overheard, Oksana has been lining up pieces for a long time now.

Silence settles over the car as Igor drives us back to the penthouse, each of us thinking through the implications of what we’ve uncovered tonight and how that merges with recent events.

We arrive a few short minutes later and enter the lobby. Dimitri waves his keycard for the lift, but I press the call button on the opposite wall for another lift.

“Where are you going?” Ellie asks. “It’s already eleven.”

“I have something to take care of before the gala. If our lives are hanging in the balance, I want to wrap up unfinished business so I don’t come back and haunt your asses.”

“Don’t even joke like that, Nik.” She swats my shoulder with her small purse, and I take the hit with a laugh.

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