Chapter 20

*“Semion told me you have the girl.”
“Yes, we do. She’s safe here.”
“And her father?”
“We haven’t gotten ahold of him yet. We’ve put people on the watch to monitor his usual routes. Once we know where he is, we’ll send the message.”
“Good. Keep me posted. I want to know when you have that bastard in your custody.”

The line went dead.




Semion walked into the room.
“Is that the old man?”

Michal nodded.
“Yeah. He wanted to confirm that we have Katya. He asked about her father too. I told him we put feelers out there to monitor things.”

Semion sat down on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other.
“I have to give the bastard credit. He knows how to run things.”

“Which bastard?”

“The one that isn’t yours.”

Michal hmp’d.
“Her father. He’s a smart man. I bet he has gotten word about his daughter’s disappearance and he knows that we have her. He’s also smart enough to know that if he shows his face, he will not survive.”

“True,” Semion agreed. “By the way, where did you stash the governess? Freya said to ask because the girl is worried. My wife says she hasn’t been eating well and she looks sickly. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was not better than a prisoner in a real prison.”

Michal sighed.
*He did not like the situation any better. But it was the only way.

“I gave her governess a tranquilizer, left a message for the cook that she and Katya had gone to meet her father and had my men carry her to a safe location. I have given them the word to let her go.”

“So, do you want me to tell her all of that or just the last sentence?”

Michal glared at his brother.
“Chill. I’m just joking. She already hates you, there’s no need for her to think you’re the devil’s reincarnation.”

“I know she hates me. You laying it on too thick doesn’t help either,” he pointed out.

He did not want her to hate him, but what was he to do? He wanted to help her get answers that he already knew but this way was killing two birds with a stone.
He did not know how to feel about revealing it to her this way but it was the best way she could come face to face with the stark reality of who her father truly was.

“Are you going to tell her?” Semion asked.

“Tell her what?” Michal queried, even though he knew.

“Who her father is. Why she is here. I understand you keeping it a secret from her but whether she learns of it now or she finds out later, the effect is going to be the same. You can’t shield her from that.”

He knew that too. But if he told her now, she would never believe him. On the other hand, if she saw the truth for herself-

“It’s best to keep her in the dark.”

“How am I your elder brother? You’re the one with the stern expression and the grumpy attitude.”

“But you are. And father never let me forget it,” Michal said silently.


Being the second son of his father was not a crime but being the son of the woman who betrayed his father and almost got him killed coupled with the fact that Michal did not, for a long time, want to go the family way was his crime.

He was always compared to Semion- the first son who could do no wrong in his father’s eye. Semion grew up with their father and his mother- a loving household where he was integrated into their lifestyle from an early age.
He was the only person who ever saw their father’s somewhat soft side.

When Michal’s mother was pregnant with him, she tried to blackmail their father after he refused to give her a place in the family. The bastard retaliated by placing a bounty on her head if she ever came anywhere close to him or his “important” family.
Michal grew up knowing what poverty was, eating leftovers and cleaning up after his perpetually drunk mother.

When she died, he was left to fend for himself until one day when his father showed up to claim him. But things did not get better. The old man treated him badly and Sergei saw it as an avenue to take out his anger on a boy who could not defend himself.

The only person who ever stood up for him was Semion- sneaking out to give him food and bringing clothes he no longer wore. Still, Michal wanted to prove to his father that he wasn’t useless.

After joining the family business, he became his father’s errand man, doing jobs that a normal mercenary would do. His father never considered him to be more, no matter how many fights he would resolve or dirty jobs he would complete.

Then he decided to leave the country. He only agreed to bring Katya back because he had a stake in the situation and he knew that his father would not dare to hurt her.

“Don’t let him get into your head,” Semion said.

Michal smiled.
“He isn’t in my head. The only reason why I am here is because of her. I want to avenge her. Then I’ll leave all of you to be.”




“Where are you going?”

The question had both brothers turning to the direction of who had spoken.

“Don’t tell me that you’re going to leave, now that we have you back?”

“You know this place isn’t my home, Freya. I have my apartment, with everything-

“It’s your father that is the problem, right? How about we put out a hit on him?”

Michal gasped. His brother’s wife was really something.
“A hit on my father?”

“Make him pay, do him down. You understand what I mean. He should not be the reason why you keep running.”

“I’m not running, just leaving,” he told her.

*But wasn’t he? He was running from memories that reminded him of a time he wanted to forget.