Ghost (Boston Underworld #3) - A. Zavarelli Page 0,38

is second guessing herself. And then she turns to me, her face severe.

“I am going to tell you something about Alexei,” she says. “That you must never divulge to anyone outside of this house. Something that requires absolute trust and faith, Miss Talia. Because this information could hurt him if you ever expose it. Do you understand?”

“Then why tell me at all?” I ask.

“Because you need to know. And he is too ashamed to tell you himself. But perhaps it will make you see.”

I remain quiet and watch as she makes a gesture with her hand.

“Call out to him.”

“Why?”

I move my gaze over his figure on the sofa. Tall and strong, but desperately alone. His posture is defeated. Tired. He is not ten feet away from us, and still he has not turned.

“Alyoshka,” Magda calls out.

Nothing. There’s no response. No movement from him at all. It’s as if we are not even in the room.

“You try,” she tells me.

“Alexei,” I call out.

No response. So I try again, louder.

“Alexei!”

Nothing.

Magda reaches down and pats my hand. “He isn’t ignoring you, Miss Talia.”

Her words leave the necessary unsaid. And I stare at the back of his head in confusion. How could I have not seen it?

“He reads lips?”

“He reads everything on your face,” Magda answers. “But if you are very close to him, and you speak into his right ear, he can hear a little bit.”

It makes sense now. The truth is so incredibly simple. Right in front of me all along.

Alexei cannot hear. This is why he keeps himself locked away in his house. He doesn’t want anyone to know his secret. Because in the mafia, in his world, that secret would be a weakness.

And I suddenly find myself wondering if he sees himself as weak too. If this is why he chose me. Because we are both flawed and damaged.

“It will be a long evening for you,” Magda tells me. “You should go upstairs and relax until the party starts.”

I give Alexei one last glance before I nod and do as she says. “Okay.”

21

Alexei

By five o clock, all of the guests have arrived.

Viktor and his most trusted Vory have come to dine with us tonight. In celebration of my marriage. This party includes Katya and Anatoly as well. Even Nikolai and my own father who dutifully ignores me the way he has always done.

I don’t foresee a happy occasion, and the longer I wait for Talia to come down, the more my nerves agitate me. I don’t know what her mood will be like this evening. If she will prove them all right by ignoring me too. Wearing the same flat expression I am now accustomed to. The same desire to end her life rather than be married to the likes of me.

I should have gone to her. Spoken to her after the incident. But my anger is too much. I cannot look at her without betraying how I feel. Like she has betrayed me.

Viktor is speaking to me when his eyes move behind me. And before I even look, I know it is her. I wait, wondering what version I will get this evening.

She appears by my side, and when I turn towards her, she is reaching up to kiss my cheek. The action surprises me, and Viktor does not miss it. It’s only after a moment that I realize she is too short and I am too tall, so I bend to accommodate her.

Her lips are soft and warm against my skin, and absent of any anger or despondency that I’ve come to expect from her. When she pulls away, she threads her arm through mine and rests her pale fingers against the black of my sweater. She’s wearing her wedding ring. As am I.

My eyes are moving over her, dressed in all black. It’s the perfect accompaniment to her ghostly white skin and pale blonde hair. She looks like a haunted angel, eyes smoked in black and lips painted red. And right now, every pair of eyes in the room is on her.

“Good evening,” she speaks to Viktor.

In my mind, I know I need to turn my attention back to him. To avoid making a fool of myself. Missing any cues in conversation. But I’m having difficulty tearing my eyes away from my wife, who… I don’t seem to recognize at all.

There is a smile on her face as Viktor takes her free hand in his and greets her. She is tucked in close to my side as