Page 47 of Used By the Merciless Bratva
I watched the atmosphere in my dad’s office change as both men started yelling louder, practically lunging for each other.
“What business of yours is it if I do or I don’t?!”
“I’m accountable to the Bratva! It goes without saying, my interest lies with the Yezhovs!”
“Don’t you have something else to look into?”
“I’m not here to look away. That’s tantamount to contributing to the fall of the Bratva. Asking you is extending some courtesy. Do the right thing.”
“Would the world stop spinning because the ‘almighty’ Yezhov Bratva falls like it deserves to? And what if I don’t?”
“I’ll report it!”
Feliks’s sarcastic laugh was the last thing I heard before the video ended.
I didn’t need to know where the argument ended or what shady business my dad had discovered.
One thing was crystal clear: My dad had been loyal to the Yezhov Bratva.
He hadn’t committed treason.
Someone made him take the fall; they used him as a cover-up.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Danil’s voice from behind me cut through my thoughts.
My mind immediately flooded with images of the night my dad died. While I had been angry and even furious then, my mom later explained how the Mafia really worked. Treason was the offense that allowed no second chance; death was the only penalty.
I had let go of my active anger at Danil, the man who killed my dad, when she told me that, even though she was sure my dad wasn’t a betrayer, the Yezhovs wouldn’t have come for him if they didn’t have enough proof that he was.
Even when circumstances brought us together, I slowly realized my anger and resentment had more to do with his attitude than with him being my dad’s killer.
But if it turned out that he killed my dad for something he didn’t do, I would fucking kill him.
I turned around, then moved to the side, allowing him to see the screen as I played the video again. He moved closer to the table and began watching, frozen.
Anger crept up in me as his eyebrows furrowed in a look of shock. Like it wasn’t his damn job to verify before meting out punishment.
“Did you know my dad wasn’t a traitor?” I lashed out.
“Where did you get this video?” he inquired, instead of giving me a damn answer.
My palm hit him across the face as I spat, “I don’t fucking know.”
He held my wrists in an iron grip, restraining me.
“If anything, any thread of proof, made your dad innocent, I would never have had him killed. I’m a just man; I take great pride in that,” he declared.
“I hate you!”
“You can hate me all you want, but you will never,” he started, his voice icy as he bent his face closer to mine, “everleave me.”
He got his point across.
I’m trapped.
My eyes shifted away from glaring at him and moved to the floor. I heard him sigh as he suddenly let go of my hands. When I looked up in surprise, I was faced with a sight I never thought I, or anyone else on Earth for that matter, would ever see. A remorseful, almost pained, expression on Danil’s face.
“Katria,” he breathed, his voice low, causing my heart to tighten involuntarily. “I have no knowledge of this video recording or where it originated. You must believe me. Don’t torment yourself with pain.”
