Chapter 21

"Iguess that was his secret plan, then," I say, tugging at the corner of the table mat. "To make my dad mad. Dimitri told you to keep it secret, right?" I look at Lia, forcing her to meet my gaze. Does she know the rest of it? Does she know my dad might already be dead?

"I'm sorry," Lia says.

"I stood between you and a gun," I tell Lia. "I made a mistake. I was scared. I felt lost. I made a mistake."

Ania touches my hand under the table, giving it a gentle squeeze. Across from us, four women sit. One is my dad's date, but I don't recognize them. He's never had a long-term girlfriend. Maybe some of them are even victims of his business. Perhaps he's done far worse to them than he's ever done to me.

"It's all going to be okay," Ania says quietly.

I'm not sure if she knows what's going on tonight. Maybe she's just being nice. Whichever it is, I'm grateful, and I hold her hand just that bit firmer to let her know. Mikhail could end the man who's brought me so much misery any second now. Even so, there's a twisted part of me that wonders if this makes me a terrible daughter, but then I remember the pain of his fist and my brother's tears. I can't be weak now.

"I know," I say, meeting her eye. "Whatever happens, we're strong enough. We can face it. We can fight it. We can beat it. I know we can."

Ania tilts her head, and then a small smile touches her lips.

An awkward silence comes over the table, and everybody turns and faces the door. Dimitri strides across the restaurant right at Lia as if his life depended on it. My heart pounds hard as I search for Mikhail, but there's no sight of him. Instead, Oleg approaches me. I've met him many times, but he's never been an Uncle Oleg-type person to me, probably because my father's men always seem like they're trying to keep their distance.

One of Dimitri's men approaches Ania. Another one—Denis, I think his name is—approaches me. "Miss, would you come with me?"

He speaks far more respectfully than the soldiers usually do to me. I follow him out of the room, and then Oleg approaches me purposefully. There's activity all around us, and people are leaving the party. Oleg lowers his voice so only I can hear. "Miss, I am to take you to your brother."

"Says who?" I ask, dreading the word dad.

"Mikhail …" He nods to the side, and we walk out of everybody's path. "He told me to give you this."

It's a few lines of code that match his tattoo—Hello World, with a note underneath it. This is a new world for us, my motherboard muse. I know that one was crap. Trust Oleg. He's on our team.Suddenly, I'm smiling like a dork with an ear-to-ear grin. People are walking from the party, and the music stops. Lia and Ania are already gone.

"I'm going to see Drake?"

Oleg winces slightly, probably because of the name, then says, "You're going to see the Pakhan of the Petrov family."

"But Dad's …" Dead, isn't he? Or maybe Mikhail hasn't got to that part yet.

"Not Nikolai," Oleg says. "Anatoly. He is going to be the Pakhan now."

"In name," I mutter, "but you'll really be in charge."

"We have an agreement with the Sokolovs, miss. This will be better for everyone. Shall we?"

It's not as if I'm going to tell him no. My smile gets even wider as Oleg leads me to the door. Several Sokolov men follow us, perhaps to ensure Oleg doesn't try anything. I think he's going to take me out of the building, but he turns away from the exit and down a long corridor.

When he pushes the door open, I see Drake sitting in an oversized chair, kicking his legs as he holds his portable game console. Tears spring to my eyes. He looks up, his eyebrows shoot up, then he leaps to his feet and runs over to me.

"Mila!" he yells, throwing his arms around me. He doesn't even react when he accidentally drops his console, which hits the floor.

I kneel down and cling to him tightly, trying to fight the tears at first, but then I just let them come. I throw myself into them. I let them take me over completely. Holding my brother tightly, I don't think about what Nikolai did or is still doing. I don't let myself dwell on how messed up this is, the man of my dreams killing my father to save me. The world isn't fair. I need to get over that fact and start being realistic.

Suddenly, it all becomes clear. Right now, it's like I'm a programmer who gets to decide just what function my future will have. I can choose to continue being miserable, resenting the fact I was born a Petrov, or I can do my best to make the future as bright as possible.

"I missed you, sis!" Drake says, clutching me with so much love.

"I missed you too."