Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(44)

And he did talk.

A lot.

A lot more than Violet had heard him chat since she had met him, actually.

“You know,” Konstantin began conversationally, “it’s only polite to answer someone when they ask you a—”

“Would you shut up?” Amelia barked.

Violet snickered into the book she was reading but didn’t even bother to hide the fact she was closely watching the two over the edges of the pages. Frankly, it was the most entertainment she’d had since Kaz had up and left without so much as a word.

And really, she was less likely to be pissed off—or rather, let the anger she did feel fester more than it was—if she focused on what was directly at hand.

Like Konstantin’s sudden need to bother his … captive.

Well, Violet guessed that was what Amelia was.

Her former friend didn’t have much to say to her, even when she tried striking up a conversation. When Violet attempted to question Konstantin on what he was doing with Amelia, or what would happen, she received another one of his many blank looks that essentially told her f*ck all.

“What’s going to happen when you go back to New York, huh?”

Violet met Amelia’s gaze at the question. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t, but you do, and that’s interesting.” Amelia’s fiery stare slid toward Konstantin. “More interesting than he is.”

“Liar,” Konstantin said, waving a pickle in Amelia’s direction. “I am greatly amusing.”

Even Violet lifted her brow at that one. “Greatly is a bit of a stretch.”

“No one asked you. You only need to be interesting to one man, and that isn’t me.”

Violet stared at Konstantin for a long while, taking in his words. She was coming to find with him, a person needed to listen to what he did say because it was often what they weren’t expecting, but it was a lot more than what he simply offered.

In other words, she took nothing he gave at simply face value.

From what she just gathered, Amelia was … interesting to him.

Well, then.

Violet turned back to Amelia. “Whatever happens, happens.”

It wasn't that simple.

She was a little worried.

Terrified was more like it.

Angry that she had yet to even get a f*cking call from Kaz since he’d been gone … but still, she was concerned.

“Your father will kill him,” Amelia said quietly, that fire in her eyes dimming just a bit.

Violet never dropped her old friend’s stare when she replied, “He has to catch him first.”

For as much bravado as was in Violet’s tone, she didn’t feel it quite the same way in her heart. No, in there, a heavy weight rested like a poisoned ball ready to explode.

Because Amelia was right.

Alberto Gallucci seemed like a simple, laid-back man from afar.

He was anything but.

He did not make idle threats.

“Was it really worth it?” Amelia asked. “All of this—the mess it made—was he worth it?”

For that, Violet didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

Konstantin pushed off the arm of the chair, standing straight and offering the jar of pickles he held to Amelia once more. “Pickle?”

Huffing like she was just goddamned tired of his games, Amelia snatched the jar from Konstantin’s outstretched hand and pulled a pickle from it. “There, now shut up.”

Konstantin only smirked in response and took the jar back without a word.

But he did turn to Violet.

“Oh, I forgot,” he said.

Violet looked up at him. “Forgot what?”

“You have a plane to catch tonight. You should probably pack your bags.”





“Oh, but Daddy has missed you,” Kaz whispered to himself as the garage door slowly rolled up, revealing his Porsche on the other side.

Just a couple of days before, he’d had the car shipped back from Chicago. How long had it been since he felt that kind of power beneath his hands? It was supposed to be just a car, just a material possession that he enjoyed occasionally, but it was just another reminder of what Vasily had attempted to take away from him.

Behind the wheel, he took his time starting the engine, wanting to savor the sounds of gears shifting and bringing the beast to life.

He was home.

Backing out of the garage, Kaz headed toward the same airstrip he had driven to when they were leaving the city. It only seemed fitting that the same brought them back again.

Since his return, Vasily still hadn’t surfaced, and if he knew what was good for him, he would remain out of sight. There hadn’t been an urgency to finding Kaz when he disappeared to Chicago, but now, every single man of the Bratva was scouring for any trace of the old Pakhan.

For all intents and purposes, Kaz was now head of the family, and because of it, head of the organization as well.

But he knew his leadership was conditional, only sealed once he brought them both the heads of Vasily and Alberto. He didn’t mind the first—he would gladly kill the man—and not just because of his part in Gavrill’s death, but also for all the shit he caused for Violet.

The latter did not worry him. Not that he couldn’t see that the man answered for what he did, but he couldn’t be sure what Violet’s reaction to that would be. Kaz had a great hatred for his father, and it took an emotion like that to do what Kaz planned.