Chapter 25

Emma

My uncle is in Haiti, and we are going to kill him.

If someone had told me this just six weeks ago, I would have referred them for mental health treatment. But here I was, in the arms of my mobster lover, who was also uncle to my nephew.

Even if we weren’t falling for each other, Nick would have bound us together. It would have only been a matter of time until it would have been discovered—if not by Viktor, then by one of his enemies. I had already seen how far he would go for the sake of his brother, and everything associated with him.

His brother. My sister’s lover. We never knew, but we found each other anyway. This is crazy. And it felt like destiny.

I rolled over in bed and Viktor reached for me with a soft grunt, still asleep. His big, warm arm went around me, and I nestled back against him, wishing I could just stay here forever. But now that I knew what was really going on—now that it was war, and our lives were being threatened by my uncle and his people—I had become restless.

Viktor helped—in and out of bed. In bed, he exhausted me, left me sated and sleepy, wore down my anxieties and my anger until they collapsed, and I could sleep. But then, hours later, I would wake up like this, and work on case notes or other patient files as I transitioned into working again.

And then Viktor would wake up, find me like that, bring me back to bed, and rock me to sleep all over again. I’d been back in touch with the clinic and told them that I needed to take a bit more time off. I’d still been as vague as possible regarding the family emergency, but they knew about the drive by shooting—and even if they were angry about me taking time off, they knew from an indemnity point of view, it was better to have no doctor, than a psychiatrist who was dealing with her own trauma, and possibly putting patients’ lives at risk.

I’d had two identities before now, the single mom, and the successful therapist. Now, I had at least two more, heir to my uncle’s business dealings, and lover of the local Pakhan.

And none of it was going smoothly. Except for falling in love with Viktor.

I couldn’t change that my uncle was evil, and had cost us both so much, and that he had to be dealt with. I couldn’t change that I probably had a legal fight and maybe even another assassination attempt ahead of me when it came to keeping my uncle’s assets under my control, even if he was in hiding. I knew that Nick was in danger now. And I knew that Viktor was dealing with even more enemies and problems than I was.

Yet his primary concern now was keeping us safe. And I felt completely, pathetically grateful for that. And for the happiness that I was finding with him, against all expectations.

I rolled over again and looked into his sleeping face, thinking how much I had hated him when I had first laid eyes on him. How much I had distrusted him. Even feared him. I still knew what he could do if he chose to, but I trusted him never to turn that side of himself against us.

Uncle Charles, though, was absolutely in for it.

I slipped out of bed and checked the time, it was almost dawn. I had tons of emails, phone messages and texts to return this morning, as I spread my cover story to friends and colleagues. I hated having to do it, and I hated that I was getting good at it.

I had watched Nick carefully for any signs of trauma from what had happened over the past month and a half, but except for being clingier than usual, he seemed to be adjusting. I didn’t know how he would react when he was older, and I explained to him what had actually gone on during these crazy days. But hopefully, by then we would have made enough good new memories to keep him healthy and resilient. Finding out about his dad, and learning Viktor was his uncle—as far as Nick was concerned, was pretty damn awesome. So I had no doubt that the few days we were held prisoner in the fancy cell were becoming a distant and vague memory.

I hated keeping him in the dark now, even more than I hated keeping my friend, Darcy in the dark. Lying to my colleagues. Lying to Uncle Charles’s employees, who thought he was in hospital.

Viktor’s legal team was meeting with me on Friday to advise me on keeping my hands on my uncle’s assets. The legal backdoor he’d granted me back when I’d been his sole heir and not his nemesis could still be closed, if of course Uncle Charles hadn’t completely gone over to trying to have me killed instead.

In the meantime, his bills were paid. His people were paid. Maintenance on his properties. Insurance. Every bit of it done like a responsible proxy would. According to the letter of the law, I was very likely completely within my rights and responsibilities.

But I wasn’t doing it for Uncle Charles anymore. I wasn’t holding the fort for his return. I was simply maintaining the empire that Nick and I would inherit as soon as my uncle’s shriveled little heart stopped beating.

***

I had coffee made and was a quarter of the way through my emails when Viktor and Nick came shuffling out, one after the other. Viktor was dressed, his hair damp, and Nick was in his pajamas and looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. I smiled a little as I watched them wander over.

“Morning!” Viktor got a kiss on the lips and a mug of black coffee, Nick got a hug and a kiss on the top of his tousled head. “I’m making French toast. I could use some help.”

“Coffee first,” Viktor mumbled, and I nodded and stifled a laugh as he flopped into his chair at the breakfast table.

Nick peered at me sleepily. “Juice first?”

“Sure, what kind do you want?”

“Apple, the cloudy kind.”

I poured him a glass and brought it to him before I started gathering ingredients for the French toast together. My first mug of coffee was already in my stomach.

“So what’s happening at school today?” I asked Nick as he worked his way through the glass.

“Lots of dumb math stuff. And Billy’s coming back from his surgery.” He looked up at me and said plaintively, “I don’t like not telling them what really happened, I sometimes I feel like I’m gonna burst from keeping it inside. It’s bad to lie to your friends.”

“It usually is,” Viktor spoke up as I struggled to figure out what to say. “But sometimes you have to lie, to protect them, or yourself, or someone’s secrets.”

“I just don’t like lying.” He frowned around the rim of his glass.

“Of course not. You’re a good, honest boy, just like your daddy was. But let me ask you something. If you were to tell them the truth, what would you say?”

“That my great uncle’s a bad man,” he said quietly. “He pretended to be good so people would think he was good, but he was bad all the time.”

My throat tightened. I kept fixing breakfast while I listened, but part of me was simply amazed by how good Viktor was with him. And how Nick responded.

“What else?” Viktor asked him gently.

“I thought you were bad for a while,” he said with a directness that surprised me again. “You scared my mom. You made us stay in that place. But then you started protecting us.” He thinned his little lips, then asked sternly. “It was because of Uncle Charles, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. He is the reason why I had to take you away from your home. And I wish now I hadn’t done it. Any of it. I should have found another way.” Viktor exchanged glances with me over the top of Nick’s head. “But now, we have to go deal with your Great Uncle soon, and after that he won’t be able to try and hurt you or Emma anymore.”

“That man that came here. Great Uncle Charlie sent him.” It was barely a question.

“Yes.”

“He wanted to hurt us.”

“Yes.” Viktor sounded a little tense now. I felt the same. I knew Nick suspected that those noises and the smokey smell hadn’t been from an exploding toaster. But he was so young. He needed to believe, for a little while, that a shootout hadn’t happened only feet from his bedroom door.

Nick sighed, and then nodded. “Do we have to go hide again? I want to stay in school.”

“You can stay in school.”

Nick smiled just a little. “That’s good. I missed my friends.”

“Nick, I need you to not talk about the problems with your Uncle Charles. Not with your friends, your teachers, or anyone but us. I know you don’t like hiding the truth. But bad people are looking for you and your mom now. If you talk about it, they’ll have an easier time finding you.”

I hated that Viktor had to scare him. I’d been trying to keep our reality from Nick as far as possible. He was a smart kid and knew something was up. But in this case, maybe a bit of fear would keep him safe.

It was only a piece of the truth. Talking about where we’d been, what happened and who was involved would cause all kinds of complications for both of us. Especially Viktor.

But apparently even a piece of the reasons why was enough to satisfy Nick. He gave us each a thoughtful look, and then nodded. “Okay. I won’t tell.”

This time the glance that Viktor and I exchanged was full of relief.

“Thank you, Nick. One day, I’ll explain everything to you. But you need to be a lot older before you’ll understand it all.”

And, hopefully, not be traumatized by what he learned.