I take a moment to process what he’s saying and repeat it loud and clear for the cameras. “So you killed a member of the Boston Bratva because he lied to you?”
He’s tying his own noose around his neck.
“His allegiance was to me first,” Myron says, his eyes bulging. “Now get out. I can’t kill you here or your pakhan will have my head.” What he doesn’t know is that he’s playing exactly into the cards I’ve dealt. If my plan goes as it should, he’s leading us to his own demise, but he’s just deranged enough to believe he can convict me as a traitor.
Marissa looks as if she wants to kill him herself, but a sharp shake of my head warns her not to make a move. I lean in and whisper a heated, furious, “trust me,” in her ear.
“Stop talking to her. And put the gun down,” Myron orders.
Like hell I’m putting my weapon down.
The bedroom door opens, and to my surprise, my father enters the room. He feigns surprise. “I heard a commotion in here. What the hell is going on here? Nicolai?”
Myron glares. “Look who I found. Your son abducted my daughter,” he says. “He faked his own death so he could get away with it.”
My father looks at me, and I decide to play along. “Take me to my pakhan.”
My father’s brow furrows, but I give him a slight nod, telling him silently to trust me as well.
“We will go to his pakhan indeed,” my father says. “And you can tell him everything my son has done. Weapon down,” he orders me. Fuck. He has to pretend to go along with Myron if we are going to out him.
We make an unlikely troop, Myron and my father pointing a gun at me while I hold onto Marissa. When we get to the main hall, I quickly glance around. I need to find Yakov and Tomas immediately. I see Tomas standing by the bar, surrounded by several men, and Yakov stands just a few feet from the door.
When we enter, guns drawn, the entire room freezes. Tomas steps forward, and four large men follow, their guns drawn. His guard.
“Aleks,” he snaps. “What is the meaning of this?”
Myron speaks first. “You have in your midst a traitor,” he says. “And his identity is a lie. He stole my daughter and had the audacity to come here and pretend to be someone else.”
I look to Yakov and catch his gaze. He’s standing like the rest of the men. Half have weapons drawn, though Yakov’s placed Yvonne behind him. I shake my head once, a silent signal to tell him he can believe me. Yakov holds my gaze and I nod. Once. He gives me an almost imperceptible nod and slowly makes his way to Myron.
Tomas looks at my father, his brows raised, then to me. His face is drawn and stern, as he crosses his arms on his chest. My father still has his gun pointed at me.
“Stefan. Is this true?” Tomas asks.
My father looks to me. “Trust me,” I mouth. In one swift motion, my father swivels the gun from me and points it directly to Myron. Myron’s face registers shock, then rage.
“Some of it is, and some of it isn’t.”
I speak up. “I’ll tell you everything,” I say to Tomas. “But you have to listen.” I have nothing to lose by telling the truth.
Tomas’s gaze on me is fierce. With one command, he could have me killed and Marissa taken. “I have all day.”
I have nothing to lose if I tell the truth.
“I was the bodyguard for Marissa Rykov for four years,” I say. “My name is Nicolai Morozov. I am Russian Bratva and owe allegiance to my father, Stefan, my pakhan.”
Murmurs of surprise rise in the room. Myron’s face grows beet red and his hand shakes on his gun. “I told you—”
Tomas slices his hand in the air. “Let him speak.”
I go on. “Three months ago, an informant told me that Marissa’s father had sold her into slavery. They were coming to collect a debt he owed. So I took her and ran. To keep her safe.”
“This is true,” Marissa says. It’s the first time she’s spoken. Everyone stares at her in silence. “Every word of it.”
“But I couldn’t keep her safe,” I continue. “We were ambushed, and she was taken into slavery. They tried to kill me. I was thrown into the river, but I escaped. I stayed hidden, while the men who took me reported me dead. They kept her for three months while I searched, preparing her for the virgin auction. For three months, I hid, in search for her. To find her. Rescue her. I hired help, and between us, we discovered that she was being sold at the virgin auction, but the only way for me to free her was to buy her. Become a new member of your group.”