Viktoria’s jaw hardened. “Who was in the cell?”
“Boris Antipov.”
All that shaking stopped.
Like her breaths.
And maybe her heartbeat, too.
Pav swore he couldn’t feel Viktoria’s heartbeat for a split second as his fingers tightened around her wrist. “Hey—”
“He’s supposed to be dead,” she mumbled. “Daddy said … you said … Kolya said it. You all said it, Konstantin. He was dead.”
“Vik—”
“He’s supposed to be dead!”
Konstantin’s gaze flicked to Pav, but quickly went back to his sister. He wasn’t the same calm, cool man that handled any oncoming storm like it was nothing more than a breeze. He was hurting, he felt guilt, and he was showing it.
“The decision to tell you he was dead was made because he would be dead eventually. After we were all satisfied that he’d been punished for what he’d done. Death was too quick—it would have been a gift for him.”
“You said he was dead.”
Her voice ached.
The pain coloring her words hurt him.
Pav had never experienced that before.
It was shocking.
“Why would you tell me he was dead when he wasn’t? Why would you lie to me, Konstantin?”
Konstantin shook his head. “The sins of the father … the guilt of a man,” her brother replied, sighing. “Vadim made the choice, and you act like the rest of us ever had any kind of say when he made a decision, Viktoria. You’re asking the wrong man if you want answers. I know why, but it’s not my place to say. Ask Vadim.”
Viktoria went silent again.
Seconds ticked by.
Then, she exploded.
The rage was back.
The soft beauty was gone.
The tears started to fall, too.
“Get the fuck out of my house!” She stood fast from the table, toppling over the chair at the same time. “Every single one of you—get the fuck out of here!”
“Vik,” Kolya started to say, “you have to understand—”
“Get out! All of you! Get the hell away from me!”
Pav was the first to move.
He was also the first to leave.
• • •
Pav followed behind Konstantin and Kolya as they entered the front of the Compound. As they turned to go right, quietly discussing their plans in Russian, Pav turned to the left. That would lead him to a hallway, and then another, before taking him to a set of doors that would lead him to stairs for the downstairs.
Konstantin’s voice stopped him as he turned. “What are you doing?”
Pav’s brow dipped. “Going downstairs where I do my job.”
“Your job is upstairs now.”
He glanced between the two men, but they only stared at him, waiting. He wasn’t sure what to say or do but he figured it wasn’t the time or place to argue. Konstantin seemed to understand his inner struggle, though.
“I made it clear to you that your job here for us would be changing, no? Did you think I was speaking just to hear myself talk?”
“No,” Pav replied, positive that was the correct response. “But—”
“The chambers will be handled. Your job is upstairs.”
All right.
Without a word, he spun on his heel, waved a hand for them to continue, and then he followed behind the brothers as they headed down the main hallway of the Compound. Kolya and Konstantin continued their conversation like it hadn’t been interrupted in the first place. All the while, Pav stayed tucked away in his mind, trying to figure out what exactly was happening here, and how he wanted to deal with it.
He’d never really been free before.
Sure, he’d heard Konstantin explain to him that it was going to happen. He would no longer be a Boykov dog on a leash, but he hadn’t actually been listening. That had never been his reality, after all, and it didn’t seem real.
Apparently, it was.
“And will you do that, then?” Konstantin asked.
Pav blinked out of his thoughts. “Do what?”
Konstantin arched a brow, annoyed. “Were you not listening to me?”
“Was I supposed to be?”
Kolya chuckled. “Da, Pav.”
Oh.
Konstantin sighed. “We have a team ready to look for Boris. Viktoria, however, needs to be safe. I figure … sending her away for a time might be better than keeping her here. She’s angry, and she won’t want anyone too close. I suspect she’ll be going through some things, too. Better for her to deal with it all where people aren’t watching.”
“She needs space,” Pav replied. “From everyone.”
He’d heard her shout that at Konstantin as he’d left her house.
“Maybe,” Konstantin agreed, “but I thought she would also need someone to go with her. Someone she likes well enough, and perhaps even trusts.”
Pav blinked, understanding. “You mean me.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. She didn’t want me there this morning, either.”
Konstantin nodded. “Smart, hmm? Except I didn’t ask what you thought—I asked if you would do it.”
“You say that like I get a choice.”
“You do.”
Ah, yeah.
Freedom.
“Who else would keep an eye on her if I refused?” Pav asked.
“Any number of men—”
“Then, no, I will go,” Pav interjected fast.
Fast like the heat in his gut, the swell of anger in his heart, and the burning jealousy on the back of his tongue.
It was stupid. Foolish, even.
There was no way Viktoria would even look at another man being the way she was, but that mattered very little to Pav. He didn’t even want to consider it. And it wasn’t her that he had to concern himself with, it was the man who watched her. Men could not be trusted, but especially not their kind of man.
Simple as that.
He would do the job.
Konstantin pressed his lips together like he was hiding a smirk. “All right. I will get you the information for where the two of you will be going.”
“Fine by me,”
