From Russia With Claws (23 page)

“Everyone help yourselves.” She leaned in close to her sister. “How are you doing?”

“Besides being humiliated and confused, and mourning the one man I’ve ever loved? Motherfucking peachy, darling, thanks.” Irina gave her a bitter smile.

“Drink up, Rina,” Galina warned, giving her hand a squeeze. “The evening is just getting started.”

“There’s more?” Irina asked. “You know, you don’t have to sugar-coat things for me, Galina. I can handle it. Just tell me. You didn’t find a dead hooker in Alexei’s Dumpster or anything, did you?”

“Actually, this is the one instance where a dead hooker might have been preferable,” she said. Galina waited until everyone who wanted a drink had one, then began. “It’s worse than we thought.” She gave Nikolai a pointed look. “We’ve always known that Alexei is…unhealthily interested in Irina.”

“We did not always know this,” Irina said, shaking her head.

“Those of us who are not Irina have always known this,” Galina amended. “But now, his obsession is to the point that he’s turned the guest house at the back of Papa’s property into stalker central.”

“What are you talking about?” Irina looked at Galina, trying to understand.

“Alexei has a wall of you, Rina. Pictures—some old, some as recent as Sergei’s funeral—all over the place. And he’s got quite the little, ah, collection.” Galina met Nik’s gaze, holding it with her own. “He had Irina’s old teddy bear—the one that Papa won her at the carnival. You know, the one you slept with until you left for college. And the garter you wore on your wedding day.”

“Oh God,” Irina gasped, going white. She tipped the glass back and drained it.

“You’re going to want another.” Galina gestured for Nik to refill her sister’s glass, then continued. “Andrey saw it too.”

Andrey nodded. “I think it’s safe to say that Alexei is not just a passenger on the crazy train, he’s the conductor.”

Galina grinned at him. “So we have to figure out what to do next. While I’m sure we all appreciate the fact that Irina is once again a free agent, it does present us with the problem of what to do about Alexei.”

“It’s only a matter of time before he makes a move on Irina,” Andrey said, dropping a hand to Galina’s shoulder. “Had I known that he was this obsessed, I would not have called off the engagement.”

“I don’t think any of us knew he was this bad,” Irina said, polishing off another glass. “A lot of what he said in my house that day he destroyed all of my clothes makes sense now.” She waved the empty at Nik. “Another.”

“I think you’ve had enough,” Nik said, looking at Galina.

“Nope, I still have functioning brain cells, so I haven’t had nearly enough.” Irina waved the glass at him again.

Galina snorted indelicately. “Go ahead. She’s staying with me tonight anyway. She can get as drunk as she likes.”

“Yay for me.” Irina looked at Kon.

“What’s the next move?” Konstantin asked, taking the bottle and refilling both Nik and Irina’s glasses. “After we have a lengthy discussion of Irina’s interview with the FBI this morning, while you morons were ‘too busy’ to answer your phones.”

“Oh, you…
козел ебарь
,” Irina snapped at him.

“Did she just call you a ‘goat fucker’?” Andrey asked Kon, a huge grin on his face.

Kon scratched the back of his head, looking offended. “Yes, she did.”

“I am starting to like her more and more,” Andrey told Galina.

Smacking Andrey’s chest, she rounded on her sister. “We are talking about this, in detail. We need to know what was asked, what was said, and how much you cried.”

“Fine.” Irina grunted. “And for the record, I didn’t cry. Jerk.”

“Now that that’s settled, we get Irina as far away from Alexei as we can, at least for the moment.” Nik nodded a thank you to Konstantin for refilling his glass. “Give us time to plan, time to look for some evidence that he was involved in the bombing.”

“Wait, what?” Irina sat up, nearly dropping her glass. “You think Alexei had Papa and Viktor killed?”

Nik threaded his fingers through hers. “Think about it, Irina. Papa doesn’t have any active feuds going. He was on the cusp of making a strong connection with Andrey’s operation, which would make him someone to do business with, not murder. Who had the most to gain from getting Papa out of the way? Alexei. He’s been itching to take over the family for years and it was pretty clear how he felt about Papa’s plans to marry you to Andrey. I think he got tired of waiting.”

“So, you’re sending me away?”

“We need to get Irina as far away from Alexei as we can, at least for the moment.” Nik nodded a thank you to Konstantin. “And in that, I think I can help. I’ve got a cabin a few hours from here. Irina and I can go there for a little while—I can say we’re taking some time to grieve away from the constant reminders of Pop. No one will think to question that, not even Alexei.”

Galina nodded slowly, already thinking. “That will give me time to figure out a way to counter him.” She sighed. “I may as well tell you this, Nik,” she said, staring at her brother. “I want more than just a seat at the table.”

“Let me guess, you want to
be
the table.” Nick gave her a tired smile.

Andrey let out a wild laugh. “Close!”

“I want to run the table.” Galina gave her brother a small smile. “But I need to prove that I’d be better at it than Alexei.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult,” Konstantin offered, coming to sit on the arm of Nikolai’s chair. Unconsciously, Nik leaned into him.

Galina smiled over at Andrey, feeling a thrill run through her. It was wonderful to see Nik happy and truly himself. She felt it was a gift she was being given, a special glimpse into her brother that she rarely got to see. She wished he could be this comfortable and open everywhere he went.

Konstantin continued, wrapping an arm absently around Nik’s shoulders. “I listened to the others at the challenge. The old guard wasn’t impressed with Alexei’s decision to break the engagement. And they were less impressed with his performance in the challenge itself. They may not be ready for a woman at the head of the table, but they’re unlikely to support Alexei for much longer.”

Irina raised her glass and said, “Then we need to make them ready because nothing is going to stop Galina.” She drained the vodka in one swallow. “She’s like the unholy child of ambition and a steamroller.”

“That I can drink to,” Andrey said, also raising his glass to Galina.

“It’s not my line,” Irina said, shaking her head. “Vitya said it once.”

Galina felt like she’d been punched in the gut. The desolation in her sister’s eyes made her want to howl in sympathy. When the tears started the slow slide down Irina’s face, Galina had to swallow against a choking lump in her own throat.

Nik plucked the glass from Irina’s hand. “And you, my dear Rina, are officially cut off.”

Irina glared at him, making a wild grab for the glass. “Konstantin, how do you stand this utter stick in the mud?”

“He’s got a big dick.”

Nik spit out his vodka.

Irina shook her head. “I’m suddenly so glad I wasn’t drinking just now.”

“Waste of good vodka,” Andrey noted with a smirk.

Galina had never seen her brother turn quite that shade of red before.

Spying Is Such a Dirty Word

I
RINA
H
AD
B
EEN
G
ONE
for a few days and Konstantin along with her. Galina had been fine with that arrangement until she realized that Andrey had not assigned himself another bodyguard and was wandering around relatively unprotected with her psycho brother still at large and probably nursing a massive vendetta. She was a firm believer in what was good for the goose most definitely being good for the gander; if he was going to preach at her about the importance of personal safety, then he had no right to object to her doing the same.

Which was how she found herself watching Andrey pull his car into the parking lot of the run-down motel that advertised rates by the hour, the night, or the week. She felt like she had contracted chlamydia just by setting eyes on the place. What the hell was Andrey doing here? And why had he stopped for food?

He’d been disappearing quite a bit over the last week and a half. Galina knew he liked to ditch his security detail, so she had assigned herself as Andrey’s own personal protection detail. Just because Alexei was a coward and unlikely to attack Andrey openly, didn’t mean that he was safe. She’d dismissed her own detail since she knew it would be made up of men loyal to her brother.

The man in question stepped out of the car, a bag of fast food in his hand. He stopped at the door of 121 and knocked twice, paused, and then knocked twice again. A few moments later, the door swung open and Andrey disappeared inside.

Galina pulled her car into a spot half the parking lot away from Andrey’s and pulled out her phone. She might as well be useful while she waited. She dialed Irina’s cell number.

“How’s my favorite sister?” Galina asked brightly when her sister answered.

“Fine, I guess. Other than feeling utterly and completely useless.” Irina sighed. “I think I need to come back, Galina. I shouldn’t be up here hiding—I should be there helping you.”

“Rina, I understand you’re frustrated. I get it. But short of finding a handily written confession that Alexei decided to blow up his father because it was a day that ended in Y, I don’t think there’s much you can do here. If Alexei knows you’re back in town, he’s going to try to see you. And we’ve seen how well that ends.”

“I take it your search efforts have not been successful?” Irina asked.

“No,” Galina bit out. She was getting tired of spinning her wheels searching for anything that might make it possible to move on her brother. “He’s moved into Papa’s house, along with his whole operation—computers, goons, any records that he keeps. It’s like the Waco compound now. I bribed his building’s maintenance guy to let me into his condo, but I got nothing. He took everything with him to Papa’s.”

“What about Nik? Can he get anywhere with him?”

“No. He barely lets Nik onto the property. I can’t get near him unless I do some serious Black Ops shit.” Galina had been sorely tempted to do just that but decided against it.

“He would let me in,” Irina said.

“No, absolutely not!” Galina’s voice dropped to Alpha command level, the gravelly tone she used to compel a Beta to do her bidding.

“Do not pull your Alpha crap on me, missy. You know that doesn’t work on me.”

“Then stop suggesting highly dangerous things!” Galina snarled. “We’ll get him, Irina. I just need a little more time.”

“Meanwhile, you’re in danger and Kon and Nik are stuck babysitting me.”

“And you’re healing, which is what you need to be doing right now,” Galina told her. “Just relax, Irina. Let us take care of it.”

She thought she saw movement against the curtain. “Look, Rina, I need to go. I’ve got something I need to take care of. We’ll talk again soon, okay?” She didn’t wait to hear her sister’s response; she just hung up and scooted out of the car. She walked to the door.

And she waited.

It was perhaps ten minutes later when she heard the rattle of the doorknob. In that time, Galina had concocted and discarded about fifty reasons why Andrey would be at this hotel with cheap, greasy food.
Closet fast food addict
was quickly thrown out as a possibility, as was
kept woman with a penchant for curly fries
. She knew that certain deals required less than ideal spots but that spot was usually not a no-tell motel. Nor did those negotiations involve Chubby Burger.

The door opened. Andrey’s tall frame filled the entrance. He turned back and said, “Soon, I promise.”

A voice Galina never expected to hear again said, “Check on Rina for me.”

She wasn’t very often left without words, but this was just such a time. “Viktor?” she whispered, trying to see around Andrey’s back.

“Galya?” Andrey spun around, a horrified look on his face.

She shoved past him into the grotty motel room.

Viktor climbed to his feet.

Viktor.

Was.

Alive.

She looked from her sister’s love to her own and then back again.

Her first thought was that she was going to kill him.

Galina lunged farther into the room, fury boiling up inside her. She swung her arm backward, intending to slap the taste right out of Viktor’s mouth, but Andrey stopped her. She had to satisfy herself with shouting, “What the fucking fuck is going on?”

Andrey released her arm, then turned and locked the door. “Galina, if you will just calm down…”

“Are you kidding me?” Galina didn’t take her eyes off of Viktor. He was dressed in his usual white button down shirt and black slacks. He looked tired, but otherwise unharmed. How had he escaped the explosion? And why hadn’t he let Irina know he’d survived. “You asshole!” she seethed, advancing on him. “My sister’s weeping for you. Weeping!”

Viktor had the grace to look saddened by that. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to make her cry.”

“She’s not crying, you imbecile. Did I say crying? No, I did not!”

Andrey looked confused. “There’s a difference?”

Galina threw him an exasperated glance. “Weeping is tragic. It’s all about heartbreak and shit. Crying is something you do after watching long distance telephone commercials.” She rounded on her fiancé. “How long have you known he’s alive?”

“I asked him not to tell anyone,” Viktor broke in.

Galina ignored him. It was safer for everyone. “How long?”

Andrey’s face was a cool mask. “Perhaps a few days after the explosion.”

On the verge of transforming and letting her inner wolf destroy the world’s grossest motel room, Galina stood very still, letting the anger flow through her. She imagined herself a tree, her legs like a trunk, her feet rooting her to the ground. The rage flowed down her body and into her feet before dissipating out of her. It helped her to calm; she kept up the visualization for a few moments more, then opened her eyes.

She now felt much more equipped to deal with a werewolf back from the dead. “I would greatly appreciate it if you would explain the events of the past few weeks to me, specifically detailing how he is not a charcoal briquette.” Galina was proud that she managed to sound reasonable and logical and not like she wanted to wear Viktor’s ribcage as a jaunty chapeau.

Unfortunately, Andrey still eyed her like she was a dirty bomb in danger of detonating and taking out half of the Pacific Northwest. Damn. She gave him a pleasant smile. His concerned look deepened until it looked like a plow had furrowed lines in his forehead.

Galina walked to the room’s lone chair and perched on it, crossing her legs with a prim flourish. She gestured for one of them to start.

“I’m waiting. And this had better be good.”

“He wasn’t in the car, sweet,” Andrey began, but Viktor shook his head.

“Is Rina okay?” His bullet-blue eyes bored into hers.

Resisting the urge to smack him, she rolled her eyes. “Did you not hear what I just said, Viktor? She loves you and she thinks you’re dead. Pretty sure she’s not dancing in the streets with a martini in her hand!”

He hung his head, wiping his hand across his face.

Galina gave him a moment, then asked, “So you weren’t in the car with Papa? Where were you?”

Viktor looked up, his face dark. “I was worried about Irina. She’d been attacked in front of the jewelry store. I wanted to check things out, make sure she was safe.”

“Irina told me about it. Did you find out anything?”

He shook his head. “It was just a random attack. I put in some cameras watching the parking lot just in case though.” He paused. “When I was finished, I heard about your father and I decided to lay low.”

“Why didn’t you get in touch with one of us immediately?”

Viktor’s blue eyes met hers. “Ilya’s car was gone over with a fine tooth comb every couple of weeks. The family has its own mechanic that worked on it. It had just been inspected a few days before.”

Galina knew all of this. She waved at him to go on.

He glanced over at Andrey, who spoke. “Think about it, Galya. How would a bomb have gotten in the car? Especially when it was parked at your father’s house. In his garage.”

“Someone close to the family had to put it there.” Her eyes narrowed. Nikolai had his own place, but Alexei would occasionally spend nights in the house with Papa. And then he’d gone on a business trip so he had an alibi.

Viktor nodded sadly. Galina looked from him to Andrey.

“So let’s say Alexei planted it.” She frowned. “How was he able to trigger it or set the bomb to go off when he was out of town?”

“Your father always went to play chess with Petyr at the same time every week. That’s where Ilya was going when the car blew up.”

Galina leaned back in her chair. She closed her eyes briefly. “Do you have proof?”

Andrey answered. “That’s what we’re working to find. Alexei has covered his tracks remarkably well.”

She sighed. It figured. The one thing Alexei turned out to be good at was covering up patricide. Turning to Viktor once more, she asked, “When did you get in touch with Andrey? And why didn’t you contact me or Nikolai?”

“A few days after the funeral.” Viktor stood and began to stalk around the room, covering the distance in a few quick strides. “I needed eyes on Alexei and I couldn’t risk being seen. Andrey seemed the likeliest candidate. Everyone knows he and Alexei can’t stand each other.”

Galina quirked her brow at him. He frowned at her. “I couldn’t risk getting in touch with you or Nikolai or Irina. Not if I wanted Alexei to keep thinking I was dead.”

She nodded. This she understood. If Irina had known he was alive, she wouldn’t have been able to contain her joy. She might be a good actress, but no one was
that
good—not with Alexei obsessively watching her.

“So you helped him,” Galina said to Andrey. “You falsified his dental records for identification.”

He nodded. “I didn’t tell you. Viktor was correct in keeping things quiet.”

Galina wanted to be angry, but she knew that Andrey and Viktor were right. She wouldn’t have been able to keep this news from Irina, not if she could have eased her suffering. Still, she was still displeased to have been left out of the search for her father’s killer, even if it led to her brother.

Andrey’s phone beeped. While he stepped out to take the call, Galina tried both Nik and Irina’s cell phones. Both went directly to voice mail. She shook her head at Viktor, who looked like he wanted to punch his fist through the cheaply hung drywall of the motel room. She left a quick message for Nik to call her back, and then hung up. Viktor being alive was news she wanted to deliver herself.

“Did Andrey tell you he called off the engagement to Irina?”

Viktor nodded. His mouth was pressed in a grim line. “He may have said something.”

Galina rolled her eyes. “Then I hope you’ve picked out a ring because if you don’t propose to my sister, you are a deeply, deeply stupid mammal.”

Viktor looked like she’d hit over the head with a piano. “Wh-What?”

“You are planning to marry Irina, right?” She stared at him, waiting for an acceptable answer.

“I…I didn’t, I mean, I hadn’t expected I’d be allowed to.” He didn’t drop his gaze from hers, even though a flush crept up his handsome face.

“Buy the ring.”

Andrey returned before Viktor could say anything else. “I need to go. Sit tight. I’ll be back later. And you, my dear stalker, need to get back to work.” He held the door open for her.

Galina gave Viktor a wry smile before following Andrey out to their cars.