The TV goes off inside, and we’re both up in an instant. Lev tucks himself back into his jeans and I pull on my underwear and jeans. He sweeps both guns off the table to tuck mine into the duffel and his into the waistband of his jeans.
“Mommy?” comes Josh’s voice as the door opens. He stands there, rubbing his eyes.
“Hey kiddo, look what I got you.” Lev opens one of the bags and pulls out a copy of Good Night, Gorilla.
Josh runs toward him, arms out to take the book. “Mine?”
“Yours.”
He hugs Josh, and Josh lays his head on Lev’s shoulder as he clutches the book and smiles. I smile too, watching our little family.
Lev turns to me then, opening the bag to take out the box of hair dye. Black.
Although reluctant, I take it from him. I know he’s right. I have to do this.
He draws me to him so he’s hugging us both and kisses my forehead. “I’m going to miss the red,” he says.
6
Lev
Katerina flips to the last page of Good night, Gorilla, quieting her voice as she peeks over her shoulder to check on Josh. At the same time, I glance at him in the rearview mirror, and relax a little as she confirms that he’s asleep.
“It’s good for him to keep a consistent naptime,” she says. “If nothing else.”
“It won’t always be this way.” I reach over and tuck a strand of black hair behind her ear. She looks different but still beautiful. Always beautiful.
“I know.” She glances out the window and shrugs. “Inevitably, something will have to change.”
I don’t want to worry her, so I don’t bring up the fact that things have already changed and not for the better. During my call with Alexei this morning, he informed me that Andrei is, by some miracle, still alive.
I guess I shouldn’t have unloaded four of the shots into his dick. Being the fucking oaf that he is, it shouldn’t surprise me. He could be hit by a bus and still probably manage to crawl out from beneath it. But if there’s one small comfort in all of this, it’s that he’ll certainly never fuck anything else again.
In addition to that fucking cockroach, Alexei also informed me that Vasily is losing his shit. He’s already sent out at least a dozen of his soldiers to look for us. Word is he’s been combing every Vory safe house on the East Coast as we speak, and he’s already paid two visits to Alexei’s home.
Alexei was quick to let me know that Vasily was practically foaming at the mouth. He’s never seen him like this. The words homicidal lunatic were uttered more than once during that conversation. He has it out for me, and he especially wants Kat. My cousin didn’t sugarcoat any of the details. Vasily is out for blood, and there is no going back now.
I’ve started a war with one of the most powerful men in Philadelphia. Vasily has many contacts. Government agents in his pockets. Cops. Politicians. The list is endless. They are all fucking terrified of him for this very reason. But when I glance at Kat riding shotgun beside me, I know that whatever comes next will be worth it. I will burn Vasily’s whole fucking world if that’s what it takes to keep my family together. If he wants to come for us, I will be the one to come for him instead. I will not rest until I have destroyed his life and taken as much as he’s taken from me.
As for Andrei, he might be alive for now, but he better enjoying every goddamn breath he’s granted because they are certainly numbered.
“Are we going to another hotel in New York?” Kat asks, breaking through my thoughts.
“Yes. But we’ll have to stop and stay the night somewhere in between.”
She gives me a questioning glance but thinks better of asking me why. The drive from Boston to New York City is only a few hours, but there are three different addresses I need to check out along the way. Alexei could only speculate on Maxim’s location, but he suspects that he’s been hiding out with his ex-girlfriend all these years, and her family has ties to Rhode Island and Connecticut.
When we stop in Providence a little over an hour later, Kat doesn’t think to question it. I drive around for a while before settling on a hotel downtown. It’s only when we’re inside the room that Kat seems to relax.
“Can we afford to keep staying in places like this?” she asks.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.” I kiss her on the forehead and squeeze her ass in my palm. “We can afford it.”
She chews on her lip and gets Josh settled at the coffee table with a coloring book and some crayons. I rifle through the duffel and grab some ammo, and she frowns when I stuff it into my jacket.
“What are you doing?”
“I have to go out for a while. It might be a few hours. Can you hold everything down here?”
She doesn’t seem entirely sure of that, but I give her a long lingering kiss to try to make her forget her nerves. It seems to work, and when she looks up at me with heavy-lidded eyes, she curls her fingers into mine.
“Or you could just stay here for a while.”
A grin tugs at my lips as I cup her face and kiss her one more time. “If I could, I would, but this is important. I’ll be back, but just remember what I said about Alexei. In the meantime, I’ll be texting you often to check in on you.”
“Okay.” She squares her shoulders and nods. “But isn’t there something I could be doing here to help? I’m sick of just laying low and watching TV. If I can help you, Lev, then let me.”
I consider her offer and decide that if nothing else, it can’t hurt. Grabbing the pad and pen from the desk, I hand it to her.
“If you want to help, write down everything you remember about your mother. Her family. Places she may have lived. Anything she may have said to you. I know you were young, but any detail you might remember could be important.”
“But why?” She frowns. “I don’t understand what she has to do with any of this.”
I sigh, really not wanting to get into this with her right now. But I know she’s not going to relent until I throw her a bone. At least a little bit at a time, so she can process everything slowly.
“When I spoke to Alexei this morning, he mentioned that your mother had a connection to Gleb Mikhailov. Have you ever heard that name before?”
“No.” She shrugs. “Who is he?”
“He’s one of the Vory crime bosses. A big one. And he’s a very powerful man.”
Kat swallows, her expression morphing to one of horror. “You think my mother was connected to the mob?”
“It’s looking that way,” I admit. “But I’m trying to figure out how.”
Kat sits down on the sofa and shakes her head. “So, her car accident...”
“It could have been a mob hit,” I finish for her. “But I don’t know yet. That’s why this is important. Anything you can think of might help.”
She leans back into the sofa and blows out a breath. “I’ll see what I can remember.”
“Good girl.” I lean down and kiss her again, my tongue invading her mouth, and for a minute, I’m tempted to stay behind after all. But I know that I can’t. If Maxim gets even a hint that someone is sniffing around for him, he’ll disappear before I even get close.