Chapter 37—Aiden

Dominic and I pull up outside the Falcione mansion a few minutes before eight.

I arranged to meet as soon as possible, so I could fit as much as I could into today.

Naturally, I took Dominic with me.

He stares at the house like I do, and I wonder if he feels that eerie vibe too. The air is filled with it.

I could feel it the moment our car drove through the large iron gates that felt more fitting to a high-security facility than a place of abode.

To be honest, I felt it from the moment Maksim uttered Persephone’s request to bring one of the D’Agostinos with me.

It was odd, just like the feeling I have now.

I thought maybe she didn’t like Russians, but Jude is Russian, and she gave him more money than anyone could explain.

So I don’t know what the request meant other than it’s odd, or maybe it’s more about me. Maybe she feels like she needs protection from me. She wouldn’t be the first person to seek that.

“I don’t like the look of this place,” Dominic states. “My father never liked coming here.”

“Nor mine. Let’s go.”

We walk up to the door, and I ring the bell then feel for my gun in my back pocket. I don’t know what trouble there would be here, but I home in on my motto of never being too careful.

The door opens, and an elderly Italian man greets us.

“Good morning,” he says, and I recognize his voice. He is Davide.

“Hello, Davide,” I reply. “I trust we need no introduction.”

“No, you do not, Pakhan.”

“Wonderful.”

“Come in and follow me,” he says, motioning for us to follow.

Dominic cuts me a wary glance as we walk inside, stepping on a black marble floor like the type you’d find in a museum.

The high ceilings, wide staircase, and entire décor remind me of exactly that, and when I look at the walls and see oil paintings of the family, that fits the feeling too.

I realize then that it’s not exactly that the place was decorated to look like a museum. It’s the vibe of how the memories have been preserved, and the evidence is there in the portraits professing a happy family. A mother, father, and their two sons. All smiling and frozen in time.

But we all know Phillipe had another family, and the smile on his face is the only one that looks fake.

We’re walking, so I don’t get much time to have a good look, but for the six paintings I see, he wears the same expression in each.

Davide leads us to the sunroom and where Persephone is standing by a potted palm tree.

She strokes the leaves and hums the way you would when singing a lullaby to a baby.

She looks her age, maybe older, for the curve in her back and the frailness in her body.

Her hair is white, skin gnarled, and the knee-length dress she wears with the little lace collar gives her a sweet librarian look.

When she turns around, however, and I meet her pale green eyes, I take a deeper look inside them and see something I recognize.

Darkness.

Darkness emanates from the soulless, dead eyes that stare back at me, and I know she’s not really what she seems to be.

My father always told me it takes one to know one. As sure as I stare back at this woman, I feel like her soul is as dark as mine, and the vibe I sensed is her.

“Greetings, Pakhan,” she says. “And you, Dominic D’Agostino.”

Her voice is refined and astute. I would almost expect it to belong to someone like a lawyer or a judge.

“Good day,” Dominic answers in an expressionless tone.

“Hello,” I say when she glares at me.

The glare turns into a smile that makes her wrinkles more pronounced. The smile is not one of humor or greeting. It feels evil.

She looks back to the plant and points to it. “Plants are like children. They need love and nurturing. It makes them grow, and you get the best of the bunch.”

“Is that so?” I keep my gaze trained on her.

“Yes, it is, Pakhan.” She nods and gives me her undivided attention. “You know, I knew you would bring him and not the boss.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I did. You two are very similar.”

That makes me think she knows more about us than I’d like.

“Is there a reason you requested I bring a D’Agostino with me?”

“Maybe I feel like I need an advocate who’ll understand me. Someone who will make me feel safe as I answer the questions you have for me. I want to be able to stand by the decisions I’ve made in the past. We Italians do things differently than Russians.” She looks at Dominic as she speaks. I’m eager now to hear what she has to say.

“I didn’t really think it was that different.”

“Oh, believe me, it is.” She chuckles and moves to sit in the large wicker chairs. “Please sit. Davide, you may leave us.”

Davide looks undoubtedly worried about leaving her.

The only thing I wanted to ask her about was the money, but maybe this woman might know more than I thought.

When Davide leaves, Dominic and I sit next to each other on the sofa opposite her.

“You boys look like your fathers. It’s amazing, this could be forty or so years ago, and I could be looking at both of them.”

“Ms. Falcione, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to get on with the questions I have. This isn’t a social visit.” I don’t have time for shit and riddles.

She fucking knows I didn’t come here for a walk down memory lane. I’m aware I look like my father, and Dominic looks like his. I also think, given the way our fathers died, it’s inappropriate to talk about them if she knows Jude is part of the Order.

“Of course.” She smiles, lifting her chin. “I’m sure you must know I’m not going to answer any questions, though, without getting something in return from you.”

I incline my head and contemplate the odd request. I wouldn’t have thought there was anything I could give her. I never came here under those grounds.

“That really depends on how much your words are worth.”

“I think they will be worth quite a lot to you, Aiden Romanov. Let’s just say I might be able to answer one or two questions about the past and shed some light on what you seek.”

“What I seek?”

“I know you’re looking for your son.”

My heart stills. Does she have information on Aleksei? “Do you know where he is?”

“No, but I think I might have some information that might help you in your search for him. So I need your answer before I continue, or you can leave.” She brings her hands together and rests them on her lap.

“What do you want?”

“I want Jude Kuzmin dead.”

Dominic and I exchange glances. No way in fuck did I expect her to say something like that.

“You want Jude dead? The evidence I’ve found places you as a fan. You gave him a serious amount of money.”

“I did, and I made him what he is today. I fed the snake until it turned around and bit me. He blackmailed me out of my family’s inheritance, and we want it back. The only way to get it back is to kill him. I don’t have the muscle and the balls to do such a thing. But you do. I want him dead. And... I want your word that you won’t kill me when you hear some of the things I have to say.”

This woman is playing with fire. I bite down hard on my back teeth, wondering what the hell she’s going to tell me.

My blood heats when I conclude the only thing that might make me want to kill her is hearing she played a part in Aleksei’s kidnapping, or she assisted in some way.

“That’s a hard thing to ask me,” I grate out.

“Those are my terms.”

What fucking choice do I have? If she has information she thinks I need, she already knew my answer would be yes.

“Granted. Now tell me everything I need to know.”

“It all began with my husband’s infidelity.” Her expression hardens. “I was the apple of my father’s eye because I was his only child, so he made sure I always got what I wanted. That included Phillipe Falcione. By whatever means.”

“What does that mean?”

“Phillipe never loved me, but he married me to save his family’s wealth. Unfortunately for him, that meant I owned him. So when he fell for that little bitch who thought she could steal my husband, I made sure I taught all of them a lesson.”

She’s talking about Olivia’s mother, Juliana.

“When did you find out about the affair?” Dominic asks.

“I always knew. I knew from the moment I met Juliana Markov. She was seventeen years old. Not even legal, and she was sleeping with my husband. What I didn’t know about were the kids. I couldn’t believe Phillipe had children with her.” There’s a rasp in her voice that speaks of her hurt.

I can’t help but feel sorry for her because what Phillipe did was completely wrong. Cheating is such a big thing in our world that, for most men, it’s natural. Me and mine, however, have never been like that. My father had his women after my mother died, but he never forgot my mother. When he was with her, she was his everything.

“I found out he had kids when I met his son, Eric. He came here to find him. The boy was barely fourteen. I took one look at him before he even opened his mouth and saw my husband’s face in his. He didn’t have to tell me who he was. It was then I knew the extent of Phillipe’s treachery. The second blow was finding out about the daughter. My beloved husband had two kids with Juliana Markov. Philippe didn’t stop at the one, he continued to embarrass me. And that’s why I did what I had to do.”

“What did you do?”

“I found a way to destroy the Markov's. I loved Phillipe too much to hurt him, but that didn’t stop me from hurting the other people involved. Juliana and her father, Elmiere. The only thing they had was Markov Tech. When I severed the contract with the Syndicate, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I wanted to destroy their lives the way they destroyed mine. The only real power I had was money. I have a shit ton of it, so I found the right people who could make use of that money and do what I couldn’t do for myself.”

The right people…

This woman does know more than what I thought, and it feels like she’s just getting started.

“Who were the right people?”

“The Kuzmin's. Both Jude and his father.”

A chill races over my skin, and my back goes ramrod straight. “It was you who backed them.”

She was the investor.

“It was. After your father terminated business with them, they lost the chance to do business with the Syndicate. They came to me for help, and I backed them, seeing the opportunity to use them to achieve my own goals. I steered them in the direction of Markov Tech. It wasn’t that hard to entice a man like Jude Kuzmin, who was already into weapons trafficking and the black market. The prospect of owning a company like that could make you a god. And I got my revenge. Revenge was sweet to watch Juliana and her family lose everything after that. She lost the man she should never have been with, those long legs she used to spread for him, her precious son when he was kidnapped.”

Jesus Christ, she knows Eric’s alive.

“Then the daughter who served as a welcoming replacement for what Jude lost,” she adds, and my interest piques.

“What did Jude lose?”

A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes, and I get the feeling we’re about to get to the parts of the past that would make me want to kill her.

“Your wife, Gabriella,” she answers.

“What the fuck do you mean?” I glare at her.

“She was supposed to be his. She was supposed to marry him, but when your father severed the business relationship with Jude and Nikoli, her father was forbidden to associate with the Kuzmin's. She was in love with you, but Jude was in love with her and bitter for the loss of opportunity, financial and otherwise. ”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Now the fucking pictures on his computer make sense.

“I gave Jude the foundation to attract a bigger shark than the Syndicate, and he did exactly that when he attracted Igor Evanovich, a leader in the Order.”

My suspicions were right.

“You know about the Order?” It did occur to me that she might know, but I wasn’t sure.

“I do.”

“So you know they were responsible for killing Phillipe and our fathers?”

“I know now. I’m sure, though, Jude was aware of the plot and never told me. At the time, he would have been working with the Order for years. Back then, things were way out of my hands, and that was a different faction of the Order with a different leader I didn’t know. I only know Igor because my father had friends in high places. On my word, he took Jude and his father into his fold.”

“You seem to have quite a lot of powers of persuasion.”

“I didn’t need to persuade him that much in that instance. Markov Tech was an asset to him. And Jude too. When Elmiere lost his contract with the Syndicate, I wiped the floor with him, and he nearly went bust. I set it all up so that he would accept Jude with open arms. Jude simply stepped in with all the money to save the company. However, he and his father earned their stripes of leadership from Igor when he found out who lost him millions on his precious shipment of drugs to the feds.”

I’m reaching for my gun before she even finishes the sentence, pushing to my feet as I aim my gun at her.

She’s fucking talking about me. She knows what I did.

Her.

Dominic stands, too, his eyes focused on her.

“What the fuck do you know about me?” I balk.

“Enough, Aiden, so if you kill me now, you won’t know the rest of the story. And you gave me your word, remember?”

This evil bitch really knows how to play the game. She knows I fucking want the rest of the story. But I think I have some of it figured out.

“Tell me the rest of the fucking story, then, Persephone.”

“Do I still have your word?”

“Yes.”

“Then put the gun away, Pakhan.”

With reluctance, I put my gun back in my pocket.

“It was Jude, wasn’t it? He wasn’t just part of the plot he executed it. He was responsible for what happened to my wife?”

“Yes, he orchestrated the whole thing, but the plan went wrong.”

“In what ways?”

“It wasn’t meant for her, Aiden. She wasn’t supposed to die. That night was meant for you. That was a plot to assassinate you. Except it didn’t work out.”

My lips part. “What are you saying to me? They were coming to kill me?”

“Yes. They were. Jude was going to take Gabriella for himself like he planned to for years. He’d loved her since she was a child. When your little mishap happened, Igor gave him the muscle the Order offered to go after a man like you. He wouldn’t have been able to do it before as an associate of the Order. The Voirik was too strong, and so were you.”

So it was still my fault.

Gabriella’s death was still my fucking fault. I played into the enemy's hands. That night will forever burn in my memory. The dead men on the lawn, Gabriella calling for me to save her, the fire and explosion that killed her.

If the fucking night was meant for me, though, why am I still alive?

“Why didn’t it work out?”

“You took Gabriella’s car. She was supposed to be at work, but you went instead. The men were going to take Aleksei from the house, and Jude was going to kidnap her at the salon. But she wasn’t there. It was you.”

I close my eyes and remember it all. The fucking nightmare that still plagues me held the answer.

I did take her car. She asked me to. I offered to close the salon for the night because she was so tired. I just wanted her to rest and have time with Aleksei. I left my home that night, never knowing what lay waiting for me. I was gone for nearly two hours, making sure I did everything the way she wanted it.

She had specific things in her car, like balance sheets and stock replenishment she needed in the salon for the next day. I remember even as I took her car, thinking I wished I’d taken my bike. Maybe if I had, the spy who was watching would have known it was me leaving.

But they got it wrong.

So the fucking person who betrayed me didn’t get that part right.

Who the fuck was it?

Who did this?

“Someone betrayed me,” I roar. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know, but somebody did. That was the only way Jude would have been able to get in your home and get past your security.”

“And what part did you play in the plot, Persephone?” I glare at her. She knows specific details. She knows the meat of the story like she was part of the plan.

Her sudden silence tells me she was.

“Answer me!”

Her hands tremble. “Aleksei was brought here by one of Jude’s men. Jude had no plans to keep a child that didn’t belong to him and one who had no mother. He would have done it if she lived. Phillipe was away on business. Jude utilized that, and I took care of Aleksei until Dr. Pearson came to pick him up.”

My soul quivers, and for the first time in forever, I feel my heart, and although it’s cold and dead inside, it still breaks.

“You… you had him. My boy.” My hand twitches on my gun, and I know if Maksim or Ilya were here, they’d expect me to end her. She was part of the plot. While I grieved for both my wife and my child for years, she knew my son was still alive and held her silence.

I raise my gun again, and she looks to Dominic once more for compassion, but he raises his gun too.

“Give us one damn reason why we shouldn’t blow your head off right the fuck now?” Dominic asks, speaking for me.

“I know where Eric Markov is, and it’s the same place Dr. Pearson and all the other doctors who took care of children being prepared for sale reported to.”

God in heaven.

“Where?” I demand.

“Brazil.”

As the answer sinks in, I suddenly remember something Dr. Pearson’s said.

It was while he was praying.

I remember the way he looked as he chanted the prayer. It was like he was desperately trying to tell me something.

He said the Lord’s prayer but then added in the words Christ, the Redeemer.

My God. The truth hits me with the realization that Pearson was indeed trying to tell me where Aleksei was. I just didn’t realize it at the time.

Persephone just said Brazil.

Dr. Pearson was talking about the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil.

He hid the answer within a prayer because he was being watched and wanted to sound like he was high and praying before he died.

He told me Aleksei was still alive, still there, and he still looks like me.

Aleksei’s in Brazil.

And so is Eric Markov.