by Kat Mizera
“It’s okay.” Anton shrugged. “I have a great dad and my other grandparents are really cool too.”
“Someday, when I am gone, you will think back to this moment and remember that I would have loved nothing more than to be at every hockey game, every baseball game, every event—cheering and coaching. I could not even do this for your father and uncle, but in my heart, I did.”
“You were always at our hockey games,” Sergei protested.
“As children, yes, but now that you play in the NHL, I have never been to a game.”
“You came to KHL games,” Toli said gently.
Anatoly’s eyes momentarily grew misty. “Yes, and those were some of the best nights of my life.” He was quiet for a moment. “Toli, you and Sergei must take your families and go home to the U.S. I will sort out what the MGB wants.”
“The MGB?” Anton looked confused.
“That is what they are calling the new KGB,” Anatoly explained. “It’s going to consolidate domestic and international intelligence and include some type of law enforcement as well. It’s best if I don’t share details. The planning is ongoing but it’s coming.”
“Is this bad?” Anton asked.
He shrugged. “The KGB was a feared and too-powerful entity that allowed its agents to do many bad things. It’s not a good thing, but it’s reality, and those of us who are close to the situation have only two choices: Join or suffer the consequences.”
“You initially said no, didn’t you?” Toli said thoughtfully. “That’s why Mama was beaten back in January. They sent you a message.”
Anatoly sighed. “I didn’t say no, I merely pointed out that I’m almost 70 years old and not in any condition to reprise my role from when I was 30. They seem to think I can be useful in other ways, and after the attack on your mother, it’s clear I won’t have a choice.”
“What can we do to help?” Toli asked. “Papa, you can’t do this alone.”
“I can. I will.” He put one hand on Toli’s shoulder and the other on Sergei’s. “What I need from the two of you is to go home to the U.S. and play hockey—or coach—” He glanced at Toli’s shoulder. “Become U.S. citizens. Stay away from Russia. Raise good, hardworking children who will enjoy the freedom of being American but still know their Russian heritage. When you leave this time, do not ever come back. I’m serious. Your mother and I may come to visit but probably not together, so you must carry on as if we are not a consideration. Once I’m immersed in the MGB, you cannot have a relationship with me.”
“Can’t you defect?” Sergei asked softly.
Anatoly shook his head. “It’s too late for that, and as I said, chances are that we would never be allowed to come together. And neither of us would be willing to leave the other behind.”
“But if you do this…” Toli’s voice trailed off. “You’re trading your life for mine.”
“Isn’t that what parents do?” His eyes met his son’s. “Wouldn’t you do it for Anton? I made my choices before you were born, Toli. I was recruited at 18, even before I married your mother. We agreed early on that we would find a way to keep our children out of that life and we were blessed with two boys who had extraordinary athletic skill.”
Toli scowled. “So we just go back to our happy lives in the U.S. and you become a spy forced to do who knows what?”
Anatoly smiled. “It’s not quite so black-and-white, but yes, this is what will happen. I will join them in whatever capacity they desire in exchange for your freedom.”
“But there must be something you can do to have some leverage,” Toli said slowly. “Money. They must want and need money.”
“What goes on here is so much deeper than money.”
“This is going to be a burden to you.” Toli locked eyes with his father. “We’ve been a burden to you all these years—”
“Never a burden,” Anatoly smiled. “A choice. I made choices so that my boys would have a better life. A choice I made because I love you.”
“And I fucked it up by calling Grisha.”
“You were always on their radar,” he said quietly. “There were always questions about you, whether or not you were interested in sharing this life. By calling Grisha you made it appear that you were finally interested.”
“Is Grisha trustworthy?”
“To the extent any of us can be. He has a wife, a family, so if he was in a position where he had to choose, then no, he would not be trustworthy.”
“Here’s what I don’t understand,” Toli said slowly. “I reached out—I needed something from them that would have meant I owed them. Whether it was money or some sort of public ass-kissing or whatever, they had me. Why didn’t they come? Why did they allow me to get shot, or possibly even killed?”
“I have been curious about this also,” Anatoly said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “It’s disturbing on a completely different level.”
“Did they want me killed? Were they trying to send a message? Maybe to Sergei or Anton, that no one is safe?”
“Until today, Anton was completely innocent,” Anatoly murmured. “No, I believe this was either a message to me, or entirely about you.”
“To what end?”
“I don’t know.”
Toli took a breath and looked at his brother. “Sergei, I need you to take Anton home, back to Dallas. Can you deliver him safely back to his mother for me?”
“Of course, but—” Sergei began.
“I’m not going back to Dallas!” Anton snapped.
“Son.” Toli put his hand on his shoulder. “I know you wanted to live with me, but I don’t know what’s going to happen now. It might not be safe. I don’t even know if I’m still going to be married when I get back. They managed to chase my wife not just out of Russia, but away from me. Whatever they have in mind could be dangerous and I need to know you’re safe.”
“No.” Anton folded his arms defiantly. “I’m not going without you.”
“Me either,” Sergei grunted.
Toli glanced at his father. “Would you talk some sense into them?”
“I cannot,” he said simply. “Sergei is a grown man and Anton is your son, not mine.”
Toli narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you two realize how fucked up this is?! Sergei, you have a family now—what about Nikolai?”
“Tatiana is aware of the situation and will use her contacts here to protect Nikolai,” was all Sergei said.
“All right, enough.” Anatoly waved an impatient hand. “You’re all Petrovs—and stubborn as hell. Go spend some time with your mother while I reach out to see what I can find out.”
“You’re grounded,” Toli muttered to Anton as they headed back towards the condo.
“Good luck enforcing that while I’m in Dallas,” Anton muttered back.
Father and son exchanged a look that encompassed a plethora of emotions too numerous to count: love, defiance, worry, fear and amusement.
“You’re a good kid, you know that?” Sergei said under his breath, ruffling Anton’s hair.
“I’m a Petrov,” he shrugged.
Chapter 11
Toli lay on one of the beds in his parents’ guest room and stared at the ceiling. Tessa had been gone for nearly 48 hours and he and Anton were flying back to Las Vegas in the morning. He hadn’t heard from anyone back home and though it bothered him, he was more concerned with what was going on here. The guilt ate at him, knowing that one desperate phone call had led to this mess he’d created. He’d only wanted to protect the people he loved so they didn’t have to worry about Marco. Instead, he’d made things worse and had gotten shot to boot. Now he was worried about his safety, worried about his future in hockey, and more than that, worried that he’d lost the great love of his life. He’d tried to call and text dozens of times, but she hadn’t responded. He hadn’t bothered calling Zakk because he simply didn’t have any answers and it seemed like it would be nothing but a lesson in futility.
“Toli, are you packed?” His mother came
in the room and switched on the lights since the sun had started to go down and the room was dark.
“Yes. We’re ready to go.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed his hair back. “My sweet, wonderful Toli.” She smiled, palming his cheek as she stared into his blue eyes. “You have had so much success professionally, but so much heartache in your personal life. I worry for you, Toli.”
“I’m okay, Mama.” He squeezed her hand.
“You are not okay,” she said firmly. “I see the pain—and the guilt. You had a slight lapse in judgment but your heart was in the right place. Tessa will understand. She loves you.”
“She did,” he sighed miserably. “I have a feeling whatever happened to make her leave Russia without a word was done by design by people far more conniving than I am.”
“So you’re just going to let her go?” Anastasia raised her eyebrows. “You’re not going to fight for the woman you love? For your wife? For the woman possibly carrying your child?”
Toli felt his face flush. “Mama! What makes you say that?”
She laughed. “You have wanted more children for many years—do you mean to tell me you didn’t start trying immediately?”
Toli could count on one hand how many times he’d blushed in his life and they’d all been with his mother. His face was burning now and he shook his head. “Mama, I don’t even know why she left. She’s probably already filed for divorce.”
“Ridiculous!” Anastasia roller her eyes. “She loves you, Toli. She is waiting for you to go home and fix this, explain what happened, and convince her to believe in you again.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a woman. I saw the way she looked at you, the way she touched your hand, your face…the way her heart shone in her eyes when I gave her some of your baby pictures. I could see her imagining the children you will have together. No matter what happened, she’s waiting for you.”
“Mama, maybe it’s better this way,” he sighed. “I don’t want her to live with fear, worried that my Russian history will come to haunt us. Maybe this was a sign that she’s better off without me.”
“Anatoli Petrov!” Anastasia’s eyes blazed with anger and she wagged her finger in his face. “That has to be the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said! Do you think I would trade your father for some safe, boring school teacher? I love your father, no matter what he does in his career! The fear, the worry, even the indiscretions—I would never—”
“Indiscretions?” Toli frowned and this time it was Anastasia who flushed.
“When you and your brother were small, sometimes your father was gone for months at a time—almost a year once. I’m sure there were other women but it was a different time and he spent every day fighting for his life and the safety of you, your brother and me. I chose to look the other way because I love him and I know he loves me. He always came home to me—just as you must go to Tessa.”
“But Mama—”
“Listen to me.” Anastasia took his hands in hers. “No matter what’s happened, she loves you. She’ll listen to your explanation, but you must go after her.”
“Why didn’t she talk to me before she left?” he asked miserably. “Why didn’t she trust me enough to come to me? No matter what she heard or came to believe, how could she not know how much I love her? How deeply I’ve loved her almost since the first time I saw her? How can she not know, Mama?”
“Something frightened her,” she said gently. “Whatever it was had to be compelling enough to make her question everything you’ve shared. You know how these people operate. Someone got to her and either threatened the little girl or told her such a big lie about you that she could not risk coming to you. This is why you must go to her.”
“What will happen to you and Papa when I leave?” he asked softly.
“We will continue as we always have. I lived through 45 years as the wife of a KGB operative,” she smiled. “We haven’t so many years left now. I will survive whatever is ahead for us too.”
“I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“I know, but you must. We did not make the sacrifices we made for you to become involved in this. You will go home, make up with your wife, play hockey a few more years and have many babies.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m going to try, Mama.”
“Toli.” His father stood in the doorway. “Come.”
Toli sat up and leaned over to kiss his mother’s cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”
“Of course.”
He followed his father out of the apartment, down the elevator and onto the street. “Papa, where are we going?”
“To get some answers.”
They walked briskly in the cool evening air, Toli’s mind far away. What was Tessa doing now? Was she crying? Missing him? Hating him? Wishing she’d never met him? His chest ached whenever he thought of her, but he had no choice but to prioritize. The first thing was getting Anton home safely. Then he had to do whatever he could to minimize the damage he’d done to his father’s future. Only then could he focus on his wife. It hurt knowing he had to put her third, so he imagined it was even worse for her. She would probably never forgive him for this, but he was helpless to stop the chain of events that had begun to unfold. His phone rang as they walked and he pulled it out, hoping beyond hope that it was Tessa. Instead it was Zakk. He sighed as he answered.
“Zakk.”
“When the fuck are you coming home?!” Zakk sounded extraordinarily annoyed and Toli nearly winced.
“I’ve got a situation with my father,” he said carefully. “But I hope to leave tomorrow.”
“Your dad okay?” Zakk asked, his voice quieter.
“I don’t know yet. I’m about to find out.”
“Toli, is everything okay?”
“Not even a little bit,” Toli said dryly. “But I have to go. I’ll call tomorrow. You have my word.” He disconnected.
His father glanced at him curiously.
“My friend Zakk,” he said.
“Zakk Cloutier.” His father smiled. “He is large, yes? Very fast on the ice. I enjoy watching him. Good hands.”
Toli couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, he’s fast and has an accurate shot, though his size often puts him in an enforcer position.”
“He’s always at your side when there is trouble, yes?”
“Always. He’s one of those people who stands up for what’s right, no matter what.”
“Does he know what you did?”
“That I called one of your old KGB contacts to add security to the wedding?” Toli’s raised his eyebrows. “No, of course not.”
Anatoly smiled. “Would he have allowed it?”
Toli frowned. “He couldn’t stop me, but no, he would have tried to keep me from making that call. He would have tried to convince me to cancel the wedding or make a big last-minute change.”
“Why didn’t you?” he asked quietly.
Toli hesitated. “Because I didn’t want to elope; I wanted us to have a wedding we would always remember.”
“Well…” His father met his gaze with an amused glance. “I think you got what you wanted. You’ll probably never forget that day.”
Toli rolled his eyes. “Not exactly what I meant, but yes, I suppose you’re right.”
They rounded a corner and Anatoly slowed down, looking up and down the street. “Here,” he said. He knocked on a door with no number or markings of any kind. It opened a fraction of an inch and Anatoly grunted a word Toli didn’t understand. The door swung open and they stepped inside.
“This is a surprise.” Grisha came out from what appeared to be a kitchen, a towel in his hands. “Come, sit.”
They followed him into the kitchen and sank into low chairs around a small table.
“You have news?” Anatoly asked him.
“I have a little.” Grisha paused to pull something out of the oven. “Ahhh…nothing like homemade bread!” He smiled and pu
t it on the counter before joining them at the table. “I do not know what was said, but your wife was approached outside the hotel. She appeared to be crying before she was approached, and we assume they capitalized on her vulnerability at that moment.”
Toli frowned. “She was crying? When?”
“The night of your party. Approximately midnight.”
Toli thought back. They’d gotten back to the hotel around 11:45 and Tessa had gone up to put Raina to bed. He hadn’t seen her since. If she’d been crying before she’d been approached, that meant he’d upset her even more than he realized either during the party or the drive back to the hotel. He wracked his brain trying to remember anything he’d done that would have made her cry after they left the reception. She’d been upset after their talk in front of the jewelry store, but nothing else had happened that he could think of. So what had made her cry then? He wanted to stomp his feet in frustration just as realization dawned.
“I just figured out what I did to make her cry,” he admitted. “Zakk told me she saw me in the bathroom with Tatiana—but she didn’t see Sergei. Instead of confronting us, the way most women would have, she must have walked outside and started to cry. That’s when she was approached by whomever was looking for the opportunity.”
“They were watching, waiting for an opportunity, and they found it,” Grisha said with a frown.
Anatoly let out a huff. “Toli, you must go home to your wife! Before it’s too late!”
“I can’t leave you like this.” Toli looked at Grisha. “This is my fault and I should be the one to fix it.”
“This is not your fault, Toli,” Grisha spoke softly. “There was already something in the works, long before you made that call. That is why my people didn’t arrive. They were stopped.”
“What do you mean?” Toli frowned, completely confused.
“I don’t know more,” Grisha looked around nervously, as though someone might be listening. “I know only that you called me and explained your situation. I called my contact in Los Angeles—it would have taken no more than a couple of hours for a few men to fly to Las Vegas. I spoke to my man at 4 p.m. the day before the wedding and he assured me they would be there. Then I heard nothing until your father called to tell me you’d been shot.”