Page 117 of Stolen Empire
I hate him for it, but I have to play along long enough for Dimitri to come find me.
My pulse spikes.
“We’ve already done this,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s not my name.”
“Still denying it?”
He slides the document across the desk like he’s performing for an audience.
“This is a birth certificate issued in Perm. It lists your mother as Anzhela Volsky and your father as Lyovik Morozov.”
The paper is the same one he showed me before—black ink on yellowed parchment, my birthdate, my mother’s name, and beside it, that same name I can’t make sense of.Lyovik Morozov—Father.
My throat closes.
“I told you before—I don’t know who that is. My name is Katya Volsky.”
“Liar.”
He pulls out the photo again, but I shake my head at it.
The man, the woman who could be my mother’s reflection, and the little girl between them.
I swear it looks like me too, but I don't know that man, and I can't remember if my mother looked like that or if that could be someone who just resembles her.
“You were raised away from Morozov's family,” the older man says.
“Your mother took you and ran before your father died. She didn’t tell you who he was or what you were. But that doesn’t change the truth.”
I tear my eyes from the photo, my hands clenched into fists on the table.
“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t know these people.”
I honestly don't know what they're getting at.
Everything is so confusing.
I was supposed to come here to get information for Dimitri to solve his problems, and whatever this is seems overwhelming and foreign.
“You're the connection.”
He leans back, studying me.
“Your father was Lyovik Morozov, Pakhan of the Morozov family. Before he died, he made a pact with Sergei Vetrov—an alliance to share territory and resources. It shifted the balance in Moscow.”
My stomach churns.
I don’t want to hear this, but I can’t look away.
Sergei must be an older relative of Dimitri and his brother Rolan, but that doesn't mean I know anything about this.
“Your father died when you were five,” he continues.
“His enemies thought the Morozov line would end with him. But it didn’t. You survived. As long as you live, the pact lives. The Vetrovs can claim allegiance with the Morozov family through you. You are what will make my enemies more powerful, and I can't let that happen."
“I don't understand…."
My voice is barely a whisper as I try to reconcile what it all means for me and for Dimitri.
