Page 88 of Darkest Deeds
“Because I know Ava.” Damn it. She told me. She said the words right to my face and I refused to listen. I let Sergei get in my head and convince me she’d turned on me like I did eight years ago. I accused Ava of repeating her same sins when it’s me who burned her at the stake twice for crimes she didn’t commit.
“She came in there so brave, Nikolai,” my mom continues, clasping her hands under her chin in complete awe. “That man may have created a child but he is no father. I should know.” A flash of regret crosses her face. She’s referring to my son of a bitch father, so I move to hug her again, but she stops me with a firm hand against my chest. “I am not finished. That man wanted to hurt her, but she still untied me and showed me a way to climb down the back of the house so no one would see. Then she gave me the keys to Mark’s car and told me to go. I wanted to thank her, but she was already gone. That girl saved my life.”
“She went to his office.”
My mother brushes a hand across my cheek. “What do you mean?”
The footing I’d been so sure of fails me as my back slams into the wall. “When she left you, she went to Sergei’s office. Son of a bitch! That’s what he meant when he said you were gone. He knew Ava had let you go.”
Jesus, she threw that grenade, knowing he’d have no way out while hoping I’d have no way in. They both knew my mother wasn’t at Seven. They both knew I’d eventually make my way to the Chernov estate, but Ava planned to make sure nothing was left standing when I got there.
I have to find her.
“Did she say where she was going?”
She shakes her head. “No, all she said was that she had a debt to repay.”
I push off the wall, tearing my hands through my hair. “Mom, this is very important. Who forced you out of your house in New Orleans and brought you here?”
She scrunches her nose up at my question. “No one forced me, moy khoroshiy. I was told you had been arrested and requested to see me. I could not leave Louisiana fast enough.”
“I need the name of the man who told you this.”
She palms her forehead and taps her toe in deep thought. I’m about to lose my mind when she snaps her fingers and smiles. “Evan.”
“Ethan?”
“It could be. It all happened so fast.”
I glance back at Mikhail, who quietly nods, confirming my fears.
Ava’s going to meet with her FBI agent.
But instead of handing him information on her father, she’s going to turn herself in for killing him.