Kolya out on his lie. And after all these years under his father’s thumb, Kolya had learned how to hide his tells from his father when he did lie.
Not that it happened very often.
Vadim stuck a hand in the duffle to pull out a wad of cash and flicked through the bills as he asked, “And what about the animals? I know he had enough to make a small army.”
“All taken care of.”
“Meaning?”
“They’re not there.”
He didn’t think details were important on that end. Hell, who knew? Maybe some of those poor animals found their way to animal shelters that might even reunite them with their previous families—unlikely, but one could hope.
Hope.
He wasn’t the type for that.
Where had that come from?
Vadim didn’t allow for Kolya’s thoughts to wander for too long before his voice brought him out of his mind with a bang as he said, “There’s nothing else, then.”
“Nyet.”
“No?”
Kolya simply stared at his father.
Vadim stared back.
Finally, Vadim broke the silence by telling Grisha, “Leave us for a moment, yes?”
Grisha didn’t think twice about lifting his old bones—he had a good ten years on Vadim—out of the chair when the Pakhan spoke, and doing what he had been told. The door didn’t even make a sound when it closed behind him as he left.
“That’s for show,” Kolya said unbothered. “Because we all know Grisha is made aware of everything.”
Vadim’s expression remained unchanged as he stared down his son. “One more time—is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“I said what needed to be said.”
Therein lies the difference.
Apparently, not to Vadim.
“You are deliberately leaving information out, yes? Why?”
Kolya stayed quiet.
He wasn’t giving this up unless Vadim forced it out of him. And frankly, that was very likely, knowing his father.
Vadim’s calm veneer slipped in the face of Kolya’s stubborn silence. His jaw tightened in his frustration as he leaned back and waved a finger at his son, saying, “The Kozlov daughter—and no, don’t even think to pretend like you don’t know exactly who I am talking about.”
“I won’t pretend.”
Now that he knew Maya, he couldn’t possibly act like he didn’t.
“I was fit and fine to allow you whatever time you needed before you came to me with the fact that you had the girl, but you didn’t seem to want to do that.”
Kolya stayed like a statue—silent, tall, and unmovable. He knew how his father worked, and right then, the truth was simple. Vadim wanted to rant and talk and go on like he did, but he wasn’t actually looking for a response from his son. That would only piss him off more, likely.
“I knew you had her from that very first night,” Vadim continued. “Do you really think anyone enters one of my safehouses without me knowing about it?”
Kolya cocked a brow but refused to speak. That was good information to know—although he suspected Vadim kept up on his security at their various places, he’d never thought to actually ask for details. Maybe he should have.
“And I had someone go over to check—she walks the pup occasionally, and without someone watching her, I might add.”
“Why does she need someone watching her to walk the dog?”
“Might she not come back?” Vadim questioned.
“That hasn’t been a problem yet, no?”
His father leaned forward and his hands curled tightly around the edge of the desk. “Why were you hiding the girl, Kolya?”
“I wasn’t hiding her. I took her. She has no reason to be gallivanting around the fucking city. She doesn’t seem to want to do that, anyway.”
The thing about Vadim Boykov—and it was as clear as the fucking sky was blue—was that the man could keep his expression as blank as a white sheet of paper no matter the circumstance. It was only when his anger became damn near uncontrollable that he truly slipped, and the mask cracked enough to show the violence that was about to come someone’s way.
It was the tick in his jaw.
The narrowing of his eyes.
The white in his knuckles.
All of that told Kolya that Vadim was about to snap.
“I had already gathered what you needed and asked for where Ivan’s debt was concerned when they stumbled upon Maya,” Kolya started to say.
“And what?”
“Circumstances and rules are clear—she became Boykov property. I didn’t see the harm in taking her, considering my status.”
Vadim relaxed a bit, but his sharp gaze drifted over Kolya’s face as though he was trying to read whatever he could from his son’s expression. “You wanted her, no?”
Kolya hesitated on that answer—it was an obvious yes,