They both groan. “Potestas Omnisis Latin for Power Over All. We believe it’s a secret society going back more generations than anyone could count. Possibly even as far as the fall of Rome.”
“We?”
Vas’s lips part slightly. The only tell he gives me that hints at his duplicity.
“Mark and I.”
My lips tip down, I nod. “You and Mark discovered a sudden link to a secret society?” Vas nods. “By yourselves?” Another nod.
“Right.” I stand from the table. “Look, I’ll go on your stupid business date with Crunchy Jr. But, until you start telling me the fucking truth Vasily Ivankov, feel free to step down as mysovietnik.”
“Ava,” my father cautions gently.
What the hell?
“No.” I slam my hand down on the Formica tabletop. “I’m done with the lies and subterfuge. How am I supposed to trust my own men when they can’t tell me the truth? Do you not trust me to be your leader? Was you backing me with your father all a lie?”
“It’s not like that, Ava.” Vas pushes his chair back and stands. He leans toward me, hands on the table supporting him. “I need you to trust that I can’t tell you everything. Not right now.”
The laugh that leaves my lips is dead and mirthless.
“That’s not how this works, Vasily,” I tell him. “Matthias and everyone kept me on the outside. Hell, I didn’t even know I would inherit the Bratva. Or that his security company is an actual thing and not some showboat site. How can I trust someone who has never once trusted me?”
“I do trust you.”
My eyebrows disappear into my hairline. “Then where is Dima?” I cross my arms against my chest and stare at him expectantly. Vas sighs and hangs his head. “That’s what I thought. Send me up what you need me to learn.”
Then I walk away.
“Shit,” Vas rages behind me. My father whispers something to him that is too low for me to hear. Whatever he tells him doesn’t appear to have any effect on Vas. Not at first. But slowly, he submits and sits back down in his seat.
What the hell is going on?
One thing I know for sure, I am going to get to the bottom of whatever they are hiding.
Even if I have to do it myself.
fourteen
We land nine hours later at the small SeaTac airstrip where my hangar is located. I barely sleep the entire flight as Andrei and I work on getting to know one another.
In one word, it is surreal. Tomas filled the void Kirill left within me as a child, and I never wanted another father. To have the chance at getting to know the father that would have loved and kept me if he could have shifts something inside of me.
Something I’m not quite ready to name.
Maksim and Nikolai await me as I step off the plane and back onto the blessed terra firma of the city I call home. The two men greet me with wide, bright smiles and firm hugs. None of us has ever been separated from each other for longer than a week at a time. Five weeks is nearly unacceptable.
“Your woman is causing quite the stir.” Nikolai smirks at me. “And she’s learned a few things since you’ve been gone.”
Vas has been keeping me apprised of Ava’s every move. Not that I would interfere, but I did have him caution her a few times on her actions.
It hasn’t worked.
“I’d honestly wear a bulletproof vest when you decide to tell her you’re still alive,” Maksim jokes. “On second thought, maybe something to protect your legs. She’s got a thing for shooting out kneecaps.”
Andrei laughs boisterously behind me. “I like her already.” He claps me on the shoulder. “And you said she was sweet and naïve.”
“She was,” I mutter.