Hey, Daddy (Semyonov Bratva Book 2)

People are like, ‘bear with me’ and don’t even have a bear with them.

—Nastya to Haze

HAZE

Soot and ash continued to rain down as I stood with John and an FBI agent named Jefferson Evador.

My gaze was on the back of my cruiser as I stared at Dima, who was holding his sister close to his chest.

Shasha, an angry thundercloud next to them, had his hands on his hips and was fuming mad.

“What happened?”

I’d repeated the fuckin’ answer ten times already, yet I started over for the newcomer and explained.

“I had some questions for Nastya, so I asked her to come with me to Jack’s. She chose to ride with me, and her brother was going to drive her Jeep to Jack’s. Before either one of us got into our vehicles, Nastya called out to her brother, asking him if he could come to her for a second. He was about eight steps away from the car when the Jeep exploded.” I fibbed slightly.noveldrama

John caught the lie for what it was, but Evador didn’t react.

He nodded.

“Did you see anything suspicious?” he asked.

I shook my head but explained Nastya’s words. “She saw a box in the back of the Jeep that she didn’t put there.”

“How did she see a box?” Evador asked.

“It was a really big box,” I explained. “She could see it over the tire poking up. And it had that Christmas packing tape covering the box flaps, so it drew her eye. Especially since it’s no longer Christmas, you know? According to her, they stopped using that tape a month and a half ago. You’d understand more if you knew more about her profession. She has a keen eye when it comes to packages, because it’s her job. And she knows that she didn’t have a package in the back of her Jeep.”

“Who all has access to her keys?” she asked.

“She’s not one hundred percent sure she locked it,” I explained. “So they probably didn’t need access to her keys.”

Evador nodded. “This tracks with the other cases as well. In the four other cases, all of them played out very similarly to this particular case, each person first received the package of the body. Always from a secondhand source like the Locker. Then, from there, they’d start receiving other ‘gifts.’”

I nodded.

That was part of what I wanted to talk about at Jack’s today with Nastya, Shasha, and her family.

Telling them all what I learned from Evador.

Letting her know that she was no longer the prime suspect in the case, no matter how badly the senator wanted to nail Shasha.

More importantly, letting Nastya know that she wasn’t out of my sight for the next however long it took to find this sick motherfucker.

That’s why I hadn’t left upon seeing her brother with her.

Her brothers weren’t going to scare me off with the knowledge I now held.

“I think we’re done here for now.” Special Agent Evador sighed. “Going to tell her everything?”

“As much as I’m allowed,” I lied.

I’d tell them all of it.

I was informed not to share particular aspects of the case, but they didn’t need to know that I now had feelings for what used to be their prime suspect.

“Okay, if you can have her at the station tomorrow morning like you said, then I’ll try to fill in any gaps that you may not be able to cover,” he agreed.

I shook his hand and started walking toward where the now five Semyonov siblings were now waiting, very impatiently might I add.

Before I could get there, though, my phone rang, letting me know that I had one last problem to tackle before the bigger one in front of me.

“Hey.”

“Why am I at Uncle Ben’s again?” she grumbled the moment the phone call connected.

Telling her that there was a fuckin’ psycho coming after the girl that I was sleeping with didn’t seem like the best conversation to have over the phone. Though, it would be a conversation that we would be having.

Desi was now old enough to know that I wasn’t celibate and had a life outside of her—something that her mother had pretty much forced down both of our throats when Desi’d been just a baby.

“Long story, which I’ll explain to you when I get there.” I paused. “Did Uncle Ben tell you about your mom?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

An hour after she’d gotten to school—per Ben letting me know that she was dropped off and safe—I’d gotten a call from the principal explaining that Julia had tried to pull Desi out of class.

Ben had dropped the letter off with the principal for me, letting him know that as of last night, I was the only parental figure that was allowed to pick her up until our court date that was set to take place in three weeks’ time.

Needless to say, Julia, after getting served the papers upon her arrival home—how they’d gotten home, I didn’t know—had thrown a shit fit and started giving me call after call. I’d blocked her number, of course, and she hadn’t been able to reach me.

And since she didn’t know where I lived, nor where my family lived, she hadn’t been able to get to Desi any other way but at school.

Something else I’d gotten a phone call about this morning after talking to my lawyer.

“Are you okay with that?” I asked.

“I’m okay with just about anything short of cold-blooded murder after what Eddison did,” she admitted.

That still made me sick to my stomach to think about.

Something that I hadn’t quite even been able to digest yet, really.

“Okay, well, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said. “And, if you’re feeling frisky, and want to start looking for houses for us…” I left that hanging, knowing it’d get her excited.

She didn’t disappoint, squealing like she used to do for ice cream when she was little.

“Okay!” she called. “What time?”

“Probably in a couple of hours, baby doll,” I drawled. “Love you.”

When I looked up from the ground I’d been studying while on the phone, it was to find every pair of Semyonov—and two Carters—eyes on me.

I studied them for a long moment before saying, “What I have to say isn’t for cop ears.”