Page 99 of House of Lies
Admitting that I’ve missed him too would be too damning.
“I doubted my decision every second.”
We agreed that there would be no more secrets or lies between us, but I hesitated to ask him what was happening. Where has he been? I remember all too well what happened when I asked him to trust me in the past. Kaz sits next to me on the bench, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my neck.
“What are you doing?” I ask, taken aback. He tightens his embrace, pulling me closer until there’s no space between us. “Are you sure this is what you want your employees to see?”
“That I am obsessed with my wife? That I am willing to fall on my knees to please her? Yes.” God, the things he says sometimes make no sense. “What did I miss?”
“Not much,” I sigh. “Ivan is a prick. I don’t think any of your employees speak English. And there’s the intimidating guy who follows me everywhere.”
“What did Vanya do?” Kaz straightens his back, grabbing my chin to turn my head.
“It’s not his fault; it’s mine. I thought ... I don’t even know what I was thinking. I tried to talk to him to find a compromise, thinking that maybe if he got to know me, he would hate me less. But it didn’t work.” I let out a dry laugh. “I’ve?—”
I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to tell Kaz about this, but I’ve tried to handle it independently, and I’ve gotten nowhere with his cousin. Kaz releases his grip on my chin.
“None of this is your fault, solnyshko. What did he say?”
“It’s not anything specific," I say. “I asked him to show me around, but I think I offended him. Then I asked if I could use his phone to call you because I wanted to talk to you. I wanted books to help me learn Russian, but he said no. You know ... the little things.”
Kaz’s jaw tightens, and his eyes turn cold.
“Fuck, Caelia! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left right after we arrived. I should have been here for you to show you around and get you whatever you needed. This is not a replay of your marriage with Mattia.” He narrows his eyes. “You’re not my prisoner, and if it makes any difference, Vanya was fucking told to give you whatever you ask for. He’s just a stubborn prick.”
I wish I didn’t believe him. He always made it easy for me.
“I’m not mad,” I assure him. “I’ve been a little lonely. How did your meeting with your grandfather go?”
Kaz rubs his face.
“Not as I expected. He’s getting too old for this. I’m afraid he won’t be able to stay in charge for much longer. He also knew that Sevastyan killed my father and did nothing about it.”
“Did he give you a reason?”
“He didn’t want to lose both sons, but it’s a weak excuse.”
“Who will take over when he can no longer be in charge?”
“Everyone will want to take over,” he scoffs bitterly. “At the moment, Dedushka is the Pakhan, which means he’s in control and oversees everything in the area. He expanded the business in the ‘90s when the government auctioned assets. He bought everything he could, from shops to companies. He also holds contracts for less legal activities.”
“Do you want them?”
“After my father died, I wanted to focus on legal businesses. I let Vanya handle the rest, and Sevastyan controlled everything while I was in prison. I’ve been away for too long. There’s little stability now, especially after starting a pointless war.”
You would think that I, as his wife, would know these things about him.
“What did you go to prison for?”
“Money laundering, but most of the evidence was circumstantial.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“No more lies,” he reminds me. I’m unsure how much truth I can handle before allowing myself to feel everything. I promised I wouldn’t try to run away. “And before I forget, you are officially Mrs. Mordvinova,” he says, reaching into his jacket and retrieving something from an inner pocket.
I watch as he unfolds the papers and hands them to me, along with a pen. The documents are in Russian, and I can’t understand some of the letters.
“What am I looking at?”