Page 50 of Devil's Retribution

Viktor smirked. “Well, they do, but they’re large, made of lead, and you don’t exactly swallow them—”

I shot Viktor a look and he went quiet, chuckling. I knew as well as he did that there was no treatment for the kind of heartless greed that had prompted my uncle’s actions. No cure for his cowardice or his selfishness. He had chosen this, and he would keep choosing it, until he was captive or dead.

And Viktor, as I’d suspected, genuinely wanted my uncle dead. Understandably, if he’d told me the truth about his brother.

I didn’t have a problem with that anymore. I probably should have, even as badly as Uncle Charles had wronged me, but I just couldn’t manage it. He’d personally screwed over me and my sister financially to the tune of billions—and that had only been the beginning. My morals were strong, my conscience bothered me, and I still had trouble admitting my true feelings, but—he could rot.

Still a little wobbly from the kiss, I hugged Nick and then went to lie down. He hopped up on my one side, and nestled against me. Viktor sat on my other side, and trailed his fingers along my shoulders as he slipped an arm around me.

It felt good. It made me feel strangely complete. But even as we talked over what to order for dinner, and even as the warmth of both my child and the man who was an inch from becoming my lover seeped into me from either side, I knew. Today I had truly declared war on my uncle. Law be damned—I was taking back my money, and I was going to force him to face me, and Viktor, and answer for what he’d done.

Chapter 19

Viktor

“It feels funny,” Nick protested, but gave in and let me swab the inside of his cheek. I sealed the swab into its vial and handed it over to Bela, who nodded his goodbye and walked out with it.

“How long until we see results?” Emma asked, looking intrigued.

“Three days,” I replied calmly. “We’ll run a search against all known DNA databases. If he has living relatives besides you, this will find them.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“So what’s on the menu for the rest of the day?” I asked, brushing some stray hairs behind her ear. Now that we had kissed, I couldn’t stop touching her. She didn’t seem to mind at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. Right now, her eyelids had dipped like those of a cat being petted.

“I uh… those interviews. Cleaning out the rest of the office. Do you think your computer guy will be done soon?”

“I’ll be seeing him in an hour. I’ll find out how far along he is.” It was a little strange that Alexei was taking quite so long. Either he was having trouble finding the information, or there was so much, that verifying it was taking a long time.

It had been a rough night. Doc had actually gone to the hospital, and though he had survived along with Mischa, neither one of them would be going back to work anytime soon. It would take Doc at least a month to heal his burst eardrums. Mischa’s concussion had been bad enough to cause brain swelling, he was out of the woods, but not yet out of the hospital.

“I may not be around much until tonight,” I said apologetically to the both of them. “I have the matter at my club to attend to, as well as investigating some things about Charles.” Primarily, if we could get our fingers into his bank accounts, like dear, wicked, little Emma had suggested.

“I understand. If you call ahead, I’ll try and have something for you to eat when you get back.” Nick came to lean on her, and she slid her hand down to his shoulder.

“Thank you. Call me if you find out anything that might be important.” I trusted her instincts on that.

She was amazing. I wished I had somehow known her before this. Known the truth about her, and about what her uncle was doing to her. If only I could have approached her and convinced her from the truth, instead of what happened.

But I would live with the regret instead. It was a fitting punishment for what I had done. And if I could earn her forgiveness and her trust, perhaps there could be something real between us.

It was sentimental, and unlike me. I had avoided entanglements with women that were more than strictly casual. They could be very dangerous to the women involved, and also created a point of vulnerability for me should my lover be attacked. But right now, I didn’t care.

Every time I played that kiss back in my mind, I craved more. Far, far more. But if I thought about that too much, a lot of blood would leave my brain and I wouldn’t be functional for dealing with business.

“All right, you two, I’m off. I’ll call you,” I said, moving toward the door to grab my things and head out. I did it far more reluctantly than I wanted to let on. Even though this place belonged to my enemy, Emma and her boy gave it such warmth that leaving was like exiting a warm bed on a freezing day.

Outside, it had switched back to typical Los Angeles weather, warm sun, stinging smog and the stink of the city. I hated that smell, but at least it was no longer raining like Seattle in late autumn. I drove my car out of the garage and into traffic, which was thick and chaotic at noon.

I had time in the stop-and-go traffic, so I put my phone on speaker and dialed Anatoly. “Tolya! I’m on my way to Alexei. Any word on the bombing?”

“Well, we got the other bomb off, and got that asshole to talk.” He sounded tired. Not a surprise, the x-ray had revealed two cracked ribs from the stabbing attempt. Stab-proof vests only had so much padding, and the would-be assassin had put his whole body into it.

“What did he say?”

“Lots of swearing, at least until we threatened to leave him there again. Then he cracked.” He hesitated.

“Well?” I demanded as I inched my coupe forward. “Is it Igor?”