Adam had to breathe, his lungs burning from lack of oxygen. He stood to place some distance between him and his grandfather. “The trail ended on a cliff high above the turn. I watched your son slam into the back of Annija’s car and push her over that ridge. The car exploded on impact. Ludis charged down the hill. At first, I thought he was trying to save her, but instead of pulling her from the burning car, he just stood there and watched it burn.”
Emil ran a hand across his face as his eyes filled with tears. “And all these years you thought I was responsible? No wonder you hate me.” Emil didn’t say anything for a long time. “I have sinned in this life and I’ll pay dearly for those sins, but killing my daughter isn’t one of them. Ludis will pay.” His eyes grew dark and hard; for the first time since Adam walked into the room, he met the real Emil Vasnev.
“She was the best of me. Hurting Annija would be inflicting pain on myself.”
Adam didn’t know why it mattered, but it did.
“I didn’t even know you existed until a month after Annija’s death.” Emil fisted his hands and winced. Pain edged in his features and he clamped down on his jaw as he stared into space.
“If the pain is too bad, we can do this later.”
“No, it’s been too long already.” He removed a crisp white handkerchief from the inside of his coat pocket and patted his forehead. “I was missing your mother and went into her room―the only thing I had left of her.” A tear escaped the corner of his eye. “I chose one of her favorite books from the bookshelf and your picture fell out. One look and I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Annija had a child she was hiding.” He faced Adam. “You’re a father. You must understand what that did to me. She had a secret life she didn’t care to share with me.”
“Emil, Ludis was searching for something. After the flames died, he reached into the backseat and yanked out a video camera. He just tossed it away. What was he looking for?”
Emil’s eyes widened, then his body seemed to crumple in on itself. His breaths came in quick, shaky gasps.
“What’s wrong? Should I call Reese?”
Emil took a deep breath, then another. Air was going in, but no air was coming out. He was suffocating. Only one person could help his grandfather stop hyperventilating. “Robert, I need you.”
Robert knelt next to Emil, lifting his wrist. When Robert entered the room, he had been a soldier. In seconds, he had converted back to a priest.
“Mr. Vasnev. Try to take a deep breath for me.” Robert’s voice was low and soothing.
After several tries, Robert finally calmed Emil’s breathing. The words Emil spoke next twisted in Adam’s gut.
“I thought he was after you because of my will. If you didn’t appear before I died, Ludis stood to inherit everything because there is no proof you existed.” He eyed Adam with a slight smile gracing the corners of his mouth. “When you disappear, you do a fine job.”
“If Ludis is not after me for the inheritance, what else could it be?”
Emil gripped Adam’s wrist, his bony fingers digging into the skin. “My brilliant daughter made sure you held the key to surviving by leaving you the only proof that can send Ludis to hell. And from the look on your face, you don’t even know the power you hold over him.”
Thirteen
As Emil’s words rang inside Adam’s head, he yanked his wrist free and moved to the center of the large room. Calista sat in a lounge chair with Anna. His daughter’s eyes closed, and then opened, exhaustion present in every feature. His little warrior didn’t want to leave him alone. In no time, her eyes shut, and this time, her breathing slowed, and she settled into Calista’s arms. Sleep won, a small miracle.
He turned to Calista, their eyes held for an instant before she lowered them, gently brushing a strand of hair off Anna’s cheek. It was a simple loving gesture, something he rarely had a chance to share with Rina. Robert inched closer to Calista and looked nothing like the priest he was only moments ago.
“My mother didn’t leave me anything. If she had, I would have exposed Ludis years ago.”
Emil jolted from the sofa. “No, you must have it. Annija ran to you, not me. You must have the proof.” He grabbed for Adam’s arm with a shaky hand, but stumbled, catching himself from hitting the floor with a hand on the coffee table. He quickly righted himself. “There was a time when Annija was only fifteen, and I caught him mauling her. He was all over her like a dog in heat, and if I hadn’t shown up when I did, he would have raped her.” He wiped a hand over his mouth. “I should have killed the bastard, but damn if Annija didn’t plead for his life. I gave in just because she asked.”
“How in the hell did you not suspect that motherfucker?”
“He came to me face-to-face, but a broken man, heart-wrenching sobs…it took forever for him to get the words out about my daughter. Had there been even a hint of his involvement in her death, I would have ripped the fucker’s balls off and stuffed them down his throat.”
“Whatever the hell you think Annija had, she didn’t give it to me.”
Emil rammed Adam in the chest with such force, he stumbled backward into the coffee table. He would have fallen flat on his ass if Robert hadn’t caught him. Emil jerked open the small door of the end table and retrieved a compact semi-automatic pistol. Robert saw the weapon before Adam and started to reach for it, but Emil levelled it at Robert’s chest. “Bullshit. Tell me what you know or…”
“Put it down, Emil. He’s a priest for God’s sake.”
“I’m going to hell anyway. But not before I make Ludis pay. Now tell me what I need to know.”
Adam steadied his stance. The dying old man had morphed into the vicious crime boss right before his eyes. And to think he imagined for an instant that Emil could have changed.
“Reese, guards!” Emil’s voice was strong, hard; the frail persona of only a minute ago became an illusion.
Men seemed to come out of the walls again. The room filled, with each man holding a gun on Adam. Robert inched a couple steps to his left so that he and Adam blocked Calista and Anna. There was no way Robert could protect them from the guards or Reese, who stood directly behind them.
“What the hell, Emil. I can’t give you what I don’t have.”
“No, you must. Annija went to you. You have it. I know you have it!”
“What am I supposed to have?”
“The disk… the disk from the camera in the car.”
A light went off in Adam’s head. The video camera Ludis tossed back into his mother’s charred car had haunted his dreams. Taking a slow step forward, Adam caught his grandfather’s wild, unfocused gaze. “I want Ludis as badly as you do. He took my family from me. We just need to work together…”
“No! You’re lying to me.”
Emil twisted away from Robert and jabbed the pistol into Adam’s cheek. A rough edge cut into the skin, drawing blood. Adam froze, his breath caught in his throat.
“Emil, stop,” Reese demanded from behind him, his voice low, controlled.
“He’s lying. Ludis thinks he can look me in the eye and lie to me. That ends today.”
The pistol barrel shook against Adam’s cheek while Emil’s eyes darted back and forth in their sockets, the wild look a mixture of intense hatred and pain. The man was on the edge—one false move, and he would turn bat-ass crazy.
Adam could end this by pulling the trigger. Emil would drop like a rock. But then what? How would he ever get over killing his own grandfather? Emil, driven mad from grief and the pain from a cancer eating him alive, had no idea what he was doing.
Adam quickly glanced at Calista. Miraculously, Anna still slept in her arms. Calming his breathing, he deliberately lowered his voice and said, “Reese, trust me.”
Not waiting for a reply, Adam slapped his grandfather’s wrist with his right hand while he grabbed the barrel of the gun with the other. He pushed the barrel down and away from him at the exact moment the fingers of his right hand g
ripped the bottom meat of Emil’s thumb, forcing Emil to loosen his grip on the weapon. The move took only seconds. Emil let out a throaty groan, but Adam retrieved the pistol and tossed it across the room. Emil came back with a hard jab toward Adam’s jaw, which Adam dodged. He took a fistful of Emil’s collar, twisted him until his back was against Adam’s front, and wrapped his arm tightly against his grandfather’s neck. Leaning his head close to Emil’s ear, he said, “Stop. I’m Adam.” His eyes darted to Calista. “Get my daughter out of here.”
Calista got out of the chair. Anna jerked awake and squirmed from her arms. It was a move she and Adam had played often. Wide-eyed, Anna took a step toward him. “Anna, stop. Go back to Calista. Reese, tell your men to lower their weapons. My daughter…”
“Do it!” Reese replied as Emil screamed, “No! Shoot him, shoot him.”
“I’m not Ludis. It’s Adam.”
Calista placed her hand on Anna’s shoulder and tried to move her through the doorway, but Anna jerked free and ran across the room. Adam’s heart dropped to his stomach. She was inches from Emil. “Stop,” he said in a breathless hiss.
Emil faced Anna with a wide-eyed, frantic glare. “Annija, come to me, now.” He reached for her, but Adam tightened his hold.
“Don’t. That’s my daughter, Anna.”
“Annija, listen to Papa. Come to me.”
“I swear I’ll snap your neck in two if you touch her.”
Anna took another step but froze without speaking to Adam. He didn’t know what he would have done if another telepathic message sent a blind-plowing pain through his head at that moment. Instead, she concentrated entirely on Emil. The next instant, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Emil’s knees.
Adam saw red. He sucked in a shaky breath. “I won’t let him…”
Reese didn’t say a word but jerked his head in a nod.
Emil glanced at Anna, and the tension in him drained. His shoulders slumped as he brushed his free hand over the back of her hair. Then he removed his handkerchief from his suit pocket and swiped it over his face. Never taking his eyes off Anna, he said, “You can release me.”
“Who the hell am I?”
“Adam, my grandson.”
Adam released his hold and lifted Anna in his arms with his free hand, then handed her over to Robert before he eased Emil down to the sofa.
Adam had always thought of himself as a logical thinker. But he couldn’t connect the dots this time. Emil’s eyes cleared, and the man Adam met only a few minutes earlier returned. “What the hell just happened?” He turned to Reese.
“It’s the drug. It takes care of the pain, but there are side effects. He doesn’t usually turn so…”
“Fucking violent?”
Calista hissed, “Adam.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I would have hurt you,” the old man mumbled.
“If I had anything from Annija, I would have told you.”
“Annija went to her grave believing I… she must have thought I planned the whole thing, sacrificed her to my enemy.” His eyes bore into Adam. “She never knew how much I loved her, cherished her. I could have never been part of that butchery.” Lowering his head, his shoulders shook as he wept.
All these years, Adam believed his mother had raced back into his life because Emil had found out about him. There was something else much more serious going on. Why had his mother come to him? At eighteen, how could he possibly have protected her?
“That day, my mother sent me away with only the clothes on my back and a small backpack. There wasn’t anything but cash and a set of keys for a car she hid for me.” Adam raised his hand when Reese started to speak. “And no, the car was completely clean. I went over every cranny. If there was any kind of disk, I sure as hell don’t have it.”
“You must! If not, my daughter’s death was for nothing.”
“Don’t you get it, old man? My mother’s death was for nothing.”
Never had Adam wanted to strike someone more than at that moment. A hand pressed his elbow. He didn’t have to turn to know it was Calista. “I wasn’t going to strike him.”
“I know. I’m not here for him.” She eased closer to him, placing her other hand around his waist. With her mouth close to his ear, she whispered, “I’m here for you.” Then she rested her head against his back. The tension in his shoulders and back muscles drained out of him. An instant later, another piercing pain sliced through his head, followed by Anna’s panicked voice.
“He’s here. The man that hurt Mommy is here.”
Fourteen
Adam’s body stiffened and he pressed his fingers to his temples. Calista rubbed his back as sweat broke out on his forehead. “Exhale, Adam. Breathe through it, and tell us what Anna said.”
“Ludis is here.”
Calista shuddered deeply. Father Anthony set Anna down between them in the middle of the room. He wanted his hands free.
Adam eased closer to his grandfather. He might not be ready to accept Emil with open arms, but his instinct to protect him was crystal clear.
Emil tried to rise but Adam placed a hand on his shoulder.
“How does Anna know Ludis is here?” the old man asked.
A shadow appeared in the doorway and Ludis Vasnev stepped into the room.
“Yes, Blake, do tell us how your daughter knows what she shouldn’t.”
Calista’s heart dropped to her stomach. The man she saw running from Anna’s home stood only a few feet from Adam. And, how she wanted to hurt him, but pitted against a man like Ludis, she didn’t have a chance of succeeding. The last thing she should do was bring attention to herself, another target Adam had to protect.
The waves of fury that radiated off Ludis and Adam sliced through Calista, turning her cold to the bone. She had never experienced such hatred before. She drew Anna closer to her and held her hand. Together, they tried to back into a corner. One of Ludis’s men at the doorway lifted his semi-automatic rifle. Calista, rooted in place, hugged Anna tightly against her and focused on the weapon strapped across his chest.
Adam raised his gun, breaking the trance-like state in the room. “You just made my life so much easier, Uncle.” Never taking his eyes off Ludis, he murmured, “Robert, get Anna and Calista out of here.”
Before Father Anthony had a chance to react, two men appeared in the doorway, blocking the exit. At the same time, two more armed men charged in from the only other door in the room.
“I don’t think so, Blake.” Ludis sneered and stared at Calista. “No one is going anywhere. Why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”
Ludis moved into Calista’s personal space. A shiver crept up her spine as his eyes raked the length of her. There was no way she would ever shower off that look from her skin.
“She is the nanny and has nothing to do with us.”
Adam’s tone was harsh, unfeeling. Calista didn’t dare glance in his direction. His earlier words, get out any way you can, raced through her head. He was counting on her to protect Anna.
Ludis placed his hand on Anna’s head. Before Calista could pull her away, Anna knocked his arm. This time, she didn’t hide her face in Calista’s side but glared at her great-uncle. Unbridled contempt from a four-year-old had no effect on the man, but it sure as hell ignited Calista’s protective instinct. Ludis would touch Anna again over Calista’s dead body.
“So, you know who I am, little one,” he said, and knelt until he was eye-to-eye with Anna.
Calista had been introduced to evil with Hanna Tu’s sadistic rapist. Ludis was on another plane entirely. An image of Rina’s lifeless body flashed in front of her, and she couldn’t control the second shudder. “Stand back.”
He grabbed Anna’s arm and tried to pull her away from Calista.
“Don’t. Touch. Her.” Adam fired a shot right behind Ludis’s left foot.
“Lay one hand on the child and I’ll rip you apart piece by piece,” Emil added.
Ludis let
out a harsh laugh. “So much love for your only son, old man. I’m touched.” With the slightest movement of his hand as he rose, his men moved in and surrounded them.
Ludis grabbed the medicine bottle on the coffee table and gave it a quick glance. “Is this how you are managing the pain from the cancer?” He opened the bottle and emptied the pills into the palm of his hand. “You told me after I broke my arm at ten that pain meds were a sign of weakness. Weak men don’t rule.” He spilled the pills onto the floor, and then ground them into a white powder with the heel of his boot. “I don’t take orders from you.”
Emil’s eyes darkened, and he charged his son. He raised his hand and backhanded Ludis, knocking him off balance.
“I have no son. You’re dead, you hear me, dead!”
With each word, Emil’s posture weakened, and he struggled to stand. It was as if that one slap drained every ounce of his energy. He sucked in a raspy breath and began to cough. Reaching for several tissues on the end table, he wiped his mouth. The thin, white paper came back dark red.
Ludis touched his lip and wiped away a small drop of blood, then lifted his hand and backhanded his father. Emil crumpled to his knees.
Calista gasped and pulled Anna’s head into her side.
“Enough!” Adam’s body shook with such fury; his control was in threads.
Calista never saw Ludis move. One second, he was glaring at his father and the next, he whipped around, drew his handgun, and pointed it right at Anna. “I don’t think so, Blake. Back down, now. Your bastard means next to nothing to me.”
“No!” Emil let out in a raspy voice, then began to cough again.
Father Anthony wheeled on Ludis, jerking his gunned hand into the air. The gun went off, shattering the stillness as the roar of the weapon ricocheted off the walls. The bullet hit the ceiling fixture, and tiny shards of glass rained down on Ludis and Adam.
In the Shadow of Malice Book 3 Page 11