“Bye, Lev!” Talia shouts from the passenger seat. “Take care.”
I bid them both goodbye and disconnect the call without any sense of relief. This is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated, but as I glance at the few bits of information Alexei was able to source, I find that I can’t let it go.
From what I’ve gathered so far, I’ve learned that Katerina’s mother was killed when she was three. There is some mystery regarding her death, but foul play was never confirmed. From that point on, she was placed into the foster care system, jumping around from house to house. There were only brief notes in her files up until the age of fifteen, when abruptly, everything else was wiped clean.
I can’t shake the feeling that something horrible happened to her. Whatever those scars are, they were no accident. I can’t rewrite her history, but I tell myself that I need to ensure she’s safe before I truly let her go. It’s the only way I can move forward and leave her behind.
Andrei slams the door upstairs, interrupting my thoughts and reminding me there is still work to be done. He seems to have difficulty with the concept of staying quiet, and I’m tempted to slip enough Valium into his drink to knock out a horse. At least it would make my night easier.
I return upstairs with some sanitizing wipes from the kitchen and wipe down every surface near the window he may have touched before I retrieve the binoculars. Nina von Brandt has returned to the sanctuary of her home, and there is nothing of importance happening at the residence when Andrei finally exits the bathroom.
The next five hours pass with much of the same. Andrei continues to grumble about every minor inconvenience, and I focus on the von Brandt home while considering my options. A small part of me had hoped I might see Kat come to visit her friend while I was here. But a part of me is also relieved she hasn’t. I don’t need her getting caught up in this scandal, and I definitely don’t need Andrei seeing her again.
By the time night falls, Andrei is wound tighter than a jack-in-the-box, and I’m ready to get the fuck out of here. But first, there is something else I need to do.
“Looks like they’ve all turned in,” I tell him. “You can head back to the club.”
“What about you?” he asks.
“I’ll catch up with you later. I have a phone call to make.”
Andrei arches his brow in question, as if I have to explain what I do on my own time to him. “You still hooking up with that drunk chick from the club?”
“No,” I bite out, and his smile only grows.
“No shame in that game. She was a hot piece of ass.”
Before I can grasp onto logical thought, I’m at his throat, squeezing my fingers around his thick neck.
“What the fuck, man?” he sputters and shoves me off him. “What’s your fucking problem?”
“You are my goddamn problem,” I snarl. “Why don’t you try using your fucking brain for once before you spew every thought that comes to your mind?”
“I think you forget who you’re talking to.” He brushes out the wrinkles in his shirt and snarls in my direction.
“How could I forget?” I narrow my eyes at him. “You never let anyone forget that you are Vasily’s fuckup of a son who can’t keep his dick in his pants or the snow out of his nose.”
“Fuck you,” he spits, practically foaming at the mouth. “Maybe next time I see that pretty little piece at the club, I will take her for a ride myself.”
“You even try it, and you won’t live to see the next day,” I tell him. “Vasily’s son or not.”
He considers my words and then laughs like it’s all a joke. I think he’s fried every fucking brain cell he had left.
“Fuck this place. It’s making us both crazy,” he says. “I’m going to go get my dick sucked.”
I glare at his retreating form and wait until the GPS tracker I have attached to his car actually disappears down the street. It will be a miracle if I survive the week without murdering him, but for now, I have other things to worry about.
When the coast is clear, I head downstairs and bail over the back fence into the von Brandt’s yard. The lights in the house are off, and I know from watching them that William and his wife tend to go to sleep at the same time every night. Nina is a different matter. She could still be up, which might be a problem if she sees me before I can get to her. But either way, I’m about to find out.
It takes me all of five minutes to pick the lock on the patio door. William von Brandt is too cheap to install a security system, another sign that the guy is not as intelligent as I’d hoped. The layout of the house is almost identical to the house next door, so it isn’t difficult to navigate in the dark. I take my time on the stairs, trying to remain noiseless as I traverse my way to the upper bedrooms.
The master bed is at the end of the hall, which is where William sleeps peacefully, blissfully unaware that I could smother him with a pillow right now if I really felt like it. That’s just how easy it would be, yet he thinks he’s untouchable, ratting us out to the feds.
Nina’s door is on the opposite side of the house, and when I stand outside of it, I can’t hear anything to indicate she might be awake. Vasily will want a report from me within the hour, so I don’t have time to fuck around. It’s now or never.
I wrap my fingers around the doorknob and turn, relieved to find that she’s in her bed. But she isn’t asleep. She has her back turned to the door and her headphones in as she bobs her head and taps out messages on her phone. Briefly, I consider that she might be texting Kat, and I wonder what else she had to say about me.
I tug the pistol from the back of my jeans and creep around her bed, waiting for the moment to strike. Before I can get as close as I wanted, she notices my shadow, and she peers up at me in horror. She opens her mouth to scream, and I lunge at her, slapping my palm over her lips and locking her into my grasp.
“Don’t make a fucking noise,” I warn her.
Her chest heaves as she tries to drag in a breath, and she nods in understanding. Nina knows what sort of business ventures her father’s involved in. I doubt this is even the first time someone has threatened her this way.
“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth,” I tell her. “But understand this. If you even attempt to scream, I will put a fucking bullet in your head so fast you won’t have time to think twice about it. And then I will walk down the hall and do the same to your parents. Got it?”
“Mm-hmm.” She nods against my palm.
I release her and allow her a second to catch her breath before I dive into my reason for being here.
“I need some information, Nina. And you happen to be in the unfortunate position of being the only person who can help me with this task right now.”
“Information about what?” Her brows pinch together in concern.
“Your friend Kat.”
Her eyes narrow, and she shakes her head. “I’m not telling you anything about Kat—”
“Let’s dispose of the precious sentimentalities.” I tap my pistol against her cheek. “This isn’t optional, in case I didn’t make that clear. So, you either give me the information, or I walk down the hall and finish what I started with your father.”