Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(23)

“How do you know these things?” Mikhail asked, and the careful ease was gone from his voice.

“I was in the closet. No one knew I was there, and it was kept out of the police file.”

For the rest of them, it was obviously all coming together, but for Alex, she still didn’t have the slightest idea as to why she was there in particular.

“These men you speak of, they are the ones to attack you and the cop, yes?”

She nodded.

“Why would I do this? You cannot collect from a dead man.”

She tossed the folder on the table, just as she had done the papers, but this time, her ensuing remark was worse. “My father learned that Viktor was sleeping with your wife.”

Alex’s heart dropped, even as Mishca’s mouth dropped open though he snapped it shut just as quickly.

Anya gasped indignantly. “You will allow her to accuse me of these lies? In my country, I would cut out her tongue.”

“There is no need for such threats, Anya,” he consoled his wife. “Let the girl speak. If she lies, well, we will deal with her, but know that no harm will come to her until she is finished.” But Mikhail didn’t look like he actually believed Lauren, as though that last statement was said for Mishca’s benefit. “You claim to know of this life, then you know of my title. No one moves unless I order it.”

“Unless they were trying to hide it from you,” Lauren retorted, a coldness to her voice that became more prevalent. “If you didn’t order it, then what reason would your captain have to kill him?”

“Where is your proof?”

“There is no proof!” Anya exclaimed. “She is lying.”

For just a moment, there was sadness in Lauren’s eyes. “There’s living proof.”

This time Mishca spoke up, the confusion clear in his voice. “Was there a witness to the act?”

“Alex.”

Upon hearing her name, she jolted a bit, looking at her brother for some kind of explanation. “How did I get in this?” She remembered when Mishca had said Lauren’s father died, back when she was five. With some quick math, Alex shook her head. “I was like a baby when her father was killed.”

Lauren looked directly at Mikhail, her head held high as she spoke the words that would set off a chain reaction that would end in multiple deaths and years of heartache.

“She’s not your daughter.”





12

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Calling Her Name





By the time Alex got to Snow’s address, she was more than a little antsy. The door was already open, people spilling out into the yard of the house, most drunk and stumbling over themselves. She paid them no mind, though she did have to step around a guy who was getting cozy with a tree.

Snow was right in the middle of the action, reclining on the sofa in the living room, his feet kicked up on a table that looked like it had seen better days. The sight of him sitting like that made her frown. They were completely different, didn’t look alike in the slightest, yet the pose reminded her very much of Luka.

Up until this point, she had made a strong effort to ignore thoughts of him, push him back to the far recesses of her mind, but now, even with the smallest of reminders, there he was, racing back to the forefront. There were always the good thoughts first, the ones when she remembered the way he smiled, how he always smelled warm and inviting when he was around. Even the way he always crowded her space, even when she didn’t want him to. Those thoughts always brought that familiar twisting of her stomach, but after always came reminders of why she did her best to avoid him lately.

Unlike everyone else, Luka saw too much. He had a way of seeing right through her as if he could read her thoughts…anticipate what she was going to do before she did it.

It could have been because they were so much alike, two broken people trying to find their way because any other reason didn’t make sense. That was why she could stand to be around Snow despite everything about him. It was easy. He didn’t make her feel anything. Snow was just a place keeper for someone who was unattainable, someone who she desperately wished she could be with. Snow was a good enough distraction when the pills weren’t working. As long as she had the pair, she could forget about the life she led outside this room.

Snow’s eyes drifted over her, playful and unfocused. Apparently, he was partaking of his own product even though Alex specifically remembered him telling her how he would never use. But either way, that was none of her business, as long as there was something left for her.

Forcing a smile, she continued walking toward him, not sparing the girls at his sides a second of attention. What he did when she wasn’t with him, she didn’t care. Truthfully, she didn’t care what he did when she was with him, not that she remembered much of that anyway.

“Thought you weren’t coming back?” he asked as he remained seated, letting her come to him for once.

Alex hated it. Hated that she was now craving a drug only he could give her, and hated more that she knew what this weakness was costing her. She knew that he wouldn’t accept her money this time. He’d made that point clear the last time they’d seen each other. Was she really willing to offer herself up for this?

“Does it have to be out here?” she found herself asking, looking around at the scores of people who were oblivious to her inner turmoil.