Page 103 of Unexpected Redemption

I tip my head to the side and grin, acknowledging her joke. “For many years, the children of Athens were sacrificed to the minotaur. That continued until Theseus, also mentioned in Yuri’s story, came to Crete. He offered himself in place of the children. Instead, what happened?—”

Lettie puts her hand up, cutting off my words. “Pardon me. Hold the phone. What did Yuri say about him again?”

Her manners, blending so effortlessly with her snark, bring warmth to my chest.

“Not much. Just that he was a heroandKing Minos’s enemy. At the time he sacrificed himself, we’re unclear if he was the current king of Athens or still the prince. Some tales say he was simply a noble warrior. Either way, he was King Aegeus’s son.”

She nods, her expression warming. “Thanks, babe. So he went over to save the children. Then what happened?”

“When Theseus arrived in Crete, King Minos sent him to the labyrinth. However, one of King Minos’s daughters fell in love with Theseus on sight.”

Klein moves over to the easel and taps one of the names. “That would be the daughter we put a pin in earlier,Ariadne.”

I nod at him, then reface Lettie. “To save her true love from death by minotaur, she went to the men who designed and built the labyrinth for help—Daedalus and his son, Icarus. In the end, Theseus killed the minotaur and escaped the labyrinth with the information she got from those two. Ultimately, that made them traitors to King Minos. Ariadne and Theseus fled Crete to get married. But King Minos was pissed and knew Daedalus and Icarus must have helped them escape, so he imprisoned them.”

In an animated tone, Lettie sums it up perfectly. “And now we’re up to the part when Daedalus made the wings so they could escape. He used wax to hold all the materials together, which melted when Icarus got too close to the sun. Boom. Done. Did I get it all?”

I can’t keep my lips off her, but I only kiss her forehead before sitting. Last thing I need to do is give Mia and Klein ammunition to think it’s okay to keep fucking around in the lair when I’m not around. Horny fuckers.

Mia stands and moves to the easel, carefully studying the list of characters.She grabs a blue marker from the tray and uncaps it. “Sue made some connections for us to get us started. First, the mafia could be the metaphorical labyrinth. It’s nearly impossible to escape.” She draws a blue check next to that line. “Thenwe already had Yev as Icarus. Nikolai Lenkov as King Minos.” Two more checks on the page. “Daedalus is Yuri. He’s always planning, scheming, and orchestrating shit.” Another blue check. “Plus, Yev confirmed that he was involved in thefamily’sattempt to dethrone Lenkov.” She turns around, pointing the marker at the three of us in a sweeping motion. “Who do we like for the other characters?”

Silence barely settles before Lettie speaks up. “I’m thinkin’ Katia is the wife. Especially if she’s pregnant with Viktor’s baby. Like Pasiphae, Katia cheated on theking, getting pregnant in the process.”

“The minotaur,” Klein utters ominously.

Lettie nods at him. “If Nikolai knows she’s been running around with Viktor, he might see the baby as an abomination. Who knows how crazy people think?”

Mia shakes her head, nibbling on her lip. “Then why wouldn’t he just kill her? If anyone dares cross Nikolai, he offs them. Period.”

Realization hits me in a rush. “Because Nikolai Lenkov doesn’t know about Viktor fathering the baby. Only Yuri and hisfamilyknow.”

Klein piles on, “And Yuri’s the one telling this story, not Lenkov.”

“Exactly.” I tap my fingertips on the table. “Thus, it doesn’t matter what Lenkov or any other players think, only what Yuri, Savin, and Katia know since they’re working together.”

Klein groans, throwing another question out. “If Yuri’s quote-unquotefamilyare working together, why didn’t Yev tell us anything about this Mythology shit when we had him here?”

Silence settles while we contemplate his astute point.

Lettie speaks first, surprising me with her steadiness, considering the topic. “Yuri didn’t trust Yev fully. Rememberyou told me he said he was the meat jelly? Yuri didn’t tell Yev the whole story because he knew he was a disgusting pile of shit.”

“Lettie’s the smartest of all of us,” Klein says, grabbing the marker from Mia and scratching that note along the bottom of the page.

“Okay. So Katia is likely the King’s wife.” After swiping the marker back, Mia writes Katia next to Pasiphae. “Next up is Theseus, and I have a theory, building on what Lettie said earlier.”

We all widen our eyes at her.

With deliberate slowness, Mia explains, “If Redleg is represented by Athens, then whoever Yuri trusts here is Theseus. More than likely, that’s Shep. But it could also be Jonesy or even Big Al.”

My head quirks to the side. “That’s good, Mia. In that same vein, Theseus might be anyone here Yuri wants to partner with in his fight against Lenkov. Or even Redleg as a collective.”

Mia nods, marching on with renewed vigor. “Yuri’s gone against the Lenkov Bratva twice now. And Daedalus went against the king twice as well. The first time was to help Pasisphae bang the bull via his wooden cow suit. The second time was to help Ariadne escape with Theseus. And Yuri doesn’t want to get caught like his Greek mythology counterpart, so he’s being extra fucking cryptic with this message. He’s giving us only enough to put us on the path, but he isn’t spoon-feeding us intel like he’s done before.”

“Or spatula-feeding us,” Klein quips, drawing a chuckle from everyone but Lettie, who doesn’t know the background.

She quirks her head to throw me a questioning look.

“I’ll explain it later, sugar.”

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