Page 54 of Vows of Blood
She side-eyes me. “Izzy.”
“We’re family now, right? Part of theBratva, the brotherhood? So, your secrets are mine and vice-versa.”
She smirks at me, but there’s no humor in it. “That’s not how it works. If you’re doing something that might fall back on Alexei?—”
“It’s not. It won’t. I promise. It’s just…” I sigh. I might as well just tell her. “I have to talk to my father, that’s all.”
She blinks. “This is Pecora’s place?” she asks. She takes a second look, her eyes filled with a kind of childhood wonder. “Huh. I always thought it’d be bigger.”
“Yeah, well, times are rough,” I tell her. “Anyway, I have to talk to him.”
She shakes her head slowly as she leans back in her seat. “I thought I told you to stay out of this, Izzy. Getting in the middle of Bratva business is only going to get you killed, you know.”
“I’m not getting in the middle of anything. I just want to talk to him. There something wrong with a daughter wanting to talk to her father?”
She stares at me and I know she sees through my bullshit. “This is a bad move. Let me drive you back home?—”
“No. Listen, you don’t have to be involved, okay? Just stay out here in the car and make sure I make it back out. That’s all you have to do.”
“That’s getting me involved.”
“No, it’s not.” I put my hand over my face in exasperation. “Look, you can drive me back if you want to, but I’m just going to find a way to get back here once you’re gone. Isn’t it better that you’re here to have my back just in case?”
She looks away, her eyes examining the street ahead of us. Finally, she says, “Fuck. All right. You got fifteen minutes. If you’re not back out here, I’m coming in guns blazing.”
“Thank you, Anya.”
I get out of the car and jog up the walk to my father’s door. Anya’s words have been echoing in my head since that day at Maxim’s house.“Stay out of it,”she said. Sure. I don’t know how anyone can possibly expect me to stay out of this. Especially when I’m pretty sure they would all do the same thing in my shoes.
I ring the doorbell and wait. It’s still early, but I know he’s gotta be home. I hope he’s up by now. Sometimes, he likes to get up late if he had a long night. I glance at the time on my phone. It’s almost midmorning, so he should be mulling around the kitchen in his robe and slippers.
The door opens and there he is, just like I imagined, wearing his old, beige fluffy robe and gray slippers that Annie got him for Christmas last year.
He sees me and his face splits into a smile. “Isabella,” he says. “Come in, come in.”
He steps to one side, letting me in. I walk into a living room that I last saw the night everyone was arguing over my sister bolting. I pick up the faint smell of peppers and sausage mixed with my father’s cologne. That must have been what he had last night for dinner.
“This is a surprise,” he says. “Haven’t even heard from you since the wedding. Can’t call an old man every now and then?”
“I’ve been busy.”
He chuckles and stuff his hands in his robe pockets. “So, how’s married life treating you?”
I could laugh at that, his asking me about a life that he sold me into. “It’s fine,” is all I say.
“Fine? You two are still in your honeymoon phase?—”
“Can we not act like my marriage to Alexei is a normal thing, please? I don’t have the time for the banter, anyway.”
His smile fades and he sighs. “I would have thought that you’d be making the best of that situation. Alexei’s a handsome guy. Loyal, from what I understand, too. I hear a lot of those types like to keep mistresses on the side. I’m not judging or nothing. I had a couple ofgoomahswhen your mother was still alive. I think it’s a common thing between cultures, you know?”
I don’t know where this bullshit is coming from, but it doesn’t matter. I’m on a timetable, here.
“Anyway,” he says as he heads toward the kitchen. “I just put some coffee on. You want any?”
My stomach’s been weird since my first cup of coffee. I’d better chill on my caffeine intake. “I’m fine, Dad.” I follow him into the kitchen, where he’s standing at the counter and getting a mug from the cabinet. I’m just standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall.
“You can’t sit down for a second? What’s the rush?”
