That is something we both agree on.
“Any news on mother’s grave?” I ask curiously. I forwarded all the information Serena gave me to him, knowing he has the better resources to bring her home.
Andrei bites his lip. “The cemetery is a big place.” He sighs. “But I have my best men working on it.”
“If it helps, I can have one of my analysts move our satellite in that region,” I offer. “Maybe we can try some thermal scans or even Lidar to map out one section at a time. I doubt there are many graves with two bodies in them.”
Andrei hums thoughtfully and inclines his head. “Thank you. I would like that.”
“There isn’t any reason to thank me,” I tell him mournfully. “She was my mother, and I failed to protect her.”
It is something that has always weighed on my heart. I let Kirill murder my mother without fighting back. He took her from me, and I did nothing. Sometimes, she still haunts my dreams, her pale face peeking up from the dark alongside thebrother I was forced to kill. If only I had been stronger, a better fighter. If only?—
“Stop berating yourself, Matthias,” he reprimands me. Andrei leans forward in his chair, elbows resting on his knees, his stormy eyes roaming my tormented face. “You know she named you after her father. Matthias Belov was your grandfather. He was a hardworking man who moved to America with his only daughter, your mother, after his wife died. Your grandfather and your mother had a relationship most would dream to have. He was loving and supportive. When I came in and took her away, he was happy for her despite her choice in men.”
“Did she know you were heir to the Bratva?” I snort.
“She did.” He chuckles lightly. “We never told her father, though. I wanted to keep my life.” The two of us laugh. “My point is, you were only a boy, Matthias, and you did the best you could with what you were given. Amalia did the same for you.”
I sigh, running a hand through my mussed hair.
“I don’t have any ill will toward you, my son,” Andrei murmurs. His gray eyes are glassy as he stares at me. “What happened with your mother and Antony was not your fault. It was Kirill and my blindness that led to their deaths.”
Pursing my lips, I shake my head.
“You could never have known, Father, that he would betray you.”
He blows out a breath. “Kirill always sought what was best for him first,” he admits. “And I should have seen that. But none of that matters now because it led us here. You never would have made the connections you made or forged the bond you have here with your brothers if it hadn’t been for his treachery. We may have lost people, but we gained so many as well.”
My father stands from his chair, placing his empty tumbler on the table to his right.
“I learned a lot over the years,” he admits sadly. “After Ivan left me, I was lost, drowning in a black pit of despair because I had nothing left. It took me a long time to realize that if I keep looking at the past and imagining what could have been, I will never have a future.”
“Goodnight,otets.” I smile up at him.
“Goodnight,syn.”
I sit at my laptop for a few hours more, running through weekly reports from my men. Despite everything that is going on, I still have a Bratva to run, as well as some of my other businesses. Nicolai takes care of most of the clubs and bars, but he still reports to me and keeps me in the loop. Ava has taken over running Arctic Security so Leon can step down from the more public eye. He never liked being the face of most of our companies. He likes to get his hands dirty too much.
Setting my laptop aside, I stand from the chair and stretch, my sore muscles groaning in protest at the movement. Fuck, I am getting old. Taking the elevator up to the residential floor, I quietly enter the room we’ve been staying in while the house I bought is being renovated. It doesn’t need much renovation, honestly, since it is fairly new construction, but there are safety features I want added, and the houses next door are being torn down to make room for a larger lawn.
“Not again,” I mutter under my breath when I find our bed empty and still made. It is nearly midnight, and she still hasn’t come back to the room. I am all for motherly bonding time, but this is getting ridiculous.
Shaking my head, I exit the room, leaving the door open slightly for when I come back, and take the elevator up one morefloor to where Liam houses Katherine in the suite across from his. I turn the doorknob and quietly pad across the living room carpet and through the open bedroom door.
There my wife is, cuddled into her mother’s side like a kitten, on top of the covers while her mother sleeps peacefully beside her. Stepping up to the bed, I lean over and draw Ava into my arms. She whimpers as I pull her away and into my chest.
“No,” she whispers grumpily, her eyes still half-closed. “I want to stay.”
I shake my head. “Not tonight, Red,” I tell her. “You are my wife, and you will be in my bed.”
Her cute face twists into a scowl, the sleep washing from her eyes as she glares up at me, her nose scrunched angrily. Damn, why does that make my dick twitch?
“She needs me,” Ava insists haughtily.
I stare down at her as I walk us out of the room and into the elevator. “And I need my wife,” I tell her. “You can’t use your mother to put distance between us,Krasnyy.” Ava bites her lower lip guiltily. Yes, I know exactly what she has been doing, and I am not going to stand for it. “How am I supposed to show you that what we have is real if you don’t allow me to? I have given you time to spend with your mother to remold the bond you lost, but now it is time to give her some distance.”
“But she shouldn’t be alone,” Ava whispers, her eyes growing sad. Shit, I hope she doesn’t cry. I never do well when she cries.