Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

He shrugged. "You were a teenager. A couple of years before she died."

"Before she was murdered," Airiana corrected.

He had nothing to do with that. You know your neighbor most likely killed her.

"Yes, of course." Theodotus shuddered visibly. "She was murdered. It was so terrible. We'd stopped communicating. We thought it was getting too dangerous."

She didn't bother to answer Maxim. What would be the point? He wanted to believe Solovyov, but certain things didn't add up.

"Why would you think it was dangerous after fourteen years of communication?"

Theodotus frowned. "I don't think you could possibly understand the politics and unrest in our country. There was turmoil and intrigue and everyone walked a fine line."

"I happen to be extremely intelligent," Airiana said, forcing herself to keep sarcasm from her tone. "I doubt if I have a problem comprehending anything. You could have left Elena, but you didn't. You can't pretend she would be more valued or powerful than you in your position."

"No," Theodotus admitted. "I've never said that, only that she was very dangerous, and had tentacles into the underworld she had no problem using. She tried to have me killed. She would have tried to kill Marinochka and you had she known about you."

"After all those years?"

"You didn't know Elena. She was extremely vindictive. She didn't want me as a man, but she wanted the prestige of being my wife. She had her parties and her friends, but she maintained her connections with unsavory people just so she could frighten anyone who crossed her. And yes, I was afraid of her. More than anyone, I knew the lengths she'd go to."

"And yet you dared to have an affair."

Theodotus pressed his fingers to his eyes as if his head was beginning to throb. "Yes. I couldn't help myself. As I said, Marinochka was extraordinary. We talked for hours. She always had a perspective on subjects I hadn't considered. She was young and enthusiastic. She made me more open-minded and expanded my thinking." He closed his eyes briefly. "She made me laugh. She had a wonderful sense of humor."

It was the first time Airiana believed him, and it made her uneasy. All along she hadn't really believed this man could be her father. She thought perhaps it was an elaborate setup to get her to defect, or to get information from her. No one was that good of an actor. Theodotus actually looked older, sad and regretful. He wasn't looking straight at her, but off across the room.

"She did have an exceptional sense of humor," Airiana conceded.

"She made me feel young and as if I could live again." Theodotus took a long swallow of the Scotch and shook his head. "We didn't expect a baby to come along. Marinochka had no family, and I asked a mutual friend to put an apartment for her in his name. She couldn't stay at the school."

Airiana was certain the things he was saying now were true. He had known her mother, and she probably was his daughter.

"We talked about what to do. Both of us knew you couldn't stay in the country, but it was important to us that you were born in our beloved country and bear my name. By that time, I'd talked to Marinochka about Elena and her family and she knew the danger to you. One of Elena's brothers was part of the Russian mob and another was very high in the ruling party."

She glanced sideways at Maxim. He would know the truth. His nod was nearly imperceptible. Knots formed in her stomach. More and more she was coming to believe that at least part of Solovyov's story was the truth. Wasn't that the best way to convince someone everything you said was true? To mix in portions of fact?

She looked around the opulent room. Theodotus could certainly afford to travel in style. Who had paid for the submarine? And Maxim didn't come cheap, she was certain of that. Did physicists in Russia make millions?

"Why didn't you just get in touch with me," she repeated, insisting on an answer.

Theodotus sighed. "I received word that you were in danger. Years ago, your mother sent to me the rudiments of a project you were working on. I recognized the brilliance and potential and it became the foundation for work that I was doing here. Unfortunately, Elena had her ways of getting information and she found out . . ."

"What ways?" Airiana demanded. Was she trained to extract information using sex? She couldn't help the small glare she shot Maxim. She had tried not to be hurt by his rejection, but still, he sat there, looking masculine and invincible, a man, not a boy, and everything in her responded to him. She didn't seem to affect him in the least.

Elena was no agent, Maxim denied, his voice even. She was connected and she used everyone around her to get what she wanted.

"She was able to seduce one of my assistants and he used hidden cameras to take information to her." Theodotus sighed again. "I understand your need to question me, I expected it, of course, but I didn't realize your refusal to believe me would hurt."

"It isn't that I don't believe you. I'm beginning to think I could possibly be your daughter and that what you've said about my mother and your relationship with her is true. But did you expect me to take this all at face value? Especially when my mother was murdered? The agents discovered that Mom was communicating with someone here in Russia and they believed her to be a traitor."

For the first time, Theodotus looked angry. There he is. The real Theodotus Solovyov. He is not quite as easygoing about all this as he pretends. He doesn't like to be questioned.

He is a man of great importance in our country. He has a certain stature and I'm certain few ever question him.

Exactly. If he went to his party and said his wife was a traitor and carrying on affairs and threatening him, they would have found a way to dispose of her. You know that. It's what you do. How many times has such a request been made from men with less political clout? And look around you, Maxim. Who is paying for all this?

Your father is a wealthy man.

Surely you can see what Solovyov truly wants. He might have been curious about me. He may have really had feelings for Marina. But ultimately, men like Solovyov are all about work. They can't ever stop, even if they know a weapon they're developing will destroy the entire world. He's like that.

"Marinochka was no traitor. She was a citizen of Russia, just as you are. She committed no crime in telling me of our daughter's school projects. No money exchanged hands. She loved her country, and she loved me."

"Why did you really stop communicating with her then? I was fourteen years old and my projects were really beginning to take off. What made you stop?"

"I told you. It was becoming far too dangerous."

She leaned toward him, looking him straight in the eye. "It became dangerous because she was lonely and wanted to go home to you. She wanted to be with you. When you said no, she began drinking. That's what really happened, isn't it?"

She'd taken a stab in the dark, but it wasn't that huge of a leap. She knew her mother. Marina had been a romantic, and if she had been rejected by the secret love of her life, her illusions about him would have been shattered. She truly was gifted. She was intelligent and she would have come to realize that he'd been using her to gain information on Airiana's work.

She'd stopped asking. Stopped discussing. She'd withdrawn from her daughter and begun drinking heavily. Airiana had always blamed herself, that she wasn't paying enough attention, but it would be like her mother to punish herself for believing in Solovyov for so many years. She must have been devastated.

"Of course I couldn't allow her to return. Elena would have had her killed immediately. Both of you. I couldn't allow that to happen."

"You stopped communicating with her when I no longer shared information on the project I was working on with her, didn't you?" It was another shrewd guess. More than anything, Marina would have wanted to protect Airiana, and her daughter had sworn an oath not to reveal to anyone the nature of her work when she'd turned fourteen. Marina had respected that oath, and had never asked her to discuss the work again.

"It was for your protection. Both of you. The timing had nothing to do with it. This is getting us nowhere." In a sudden fit of anger, Theodotus threw the crystal Scotch glass against the wall. It shattered into many pieces.

"I agree. I'd like to go home now," Airiana said, without looking at Maxim.

"I am taking you home. You're Russian, and no daughter of mine will be working for another country." Theodotus stood up and took a threatening step toward her as if that might intimidate her into submission.

Airiana didn't move, continuing to watch him the way a mouse might a snake--except she had a secret weapon, and she felt rather smug about it. Theodotus might think Maxim was on his side, but she knew he was on hers. He couldn't hide his aura from her, and he'd suddenly gone very dangerous, sitting there silently, coiled like a real cobra might be, watching his prey through narrow, hooded eyes. He hadn't taken his gaze from Theodotus, not once he'd stood up. He hadn't even blinked.