Page 122 of Fractured Souls

It does. Koda leaves me and I walk up to the door. One of Ivan’s goons stands guard as if he’s the fucking president or some shit. Not the president, just a lowlife thug who has his sights set on climbing up the ranks.

He lets me in. Ivan’s sitting at his desk looking at a paper.

Damn, he’s an ugly son of a bitch. I have no clue what my mother saw in him.

No, that’s a lie. I know exactly what she saw in him. A place to stay rent free with the child she was stuck with when my father up and left and never looked back. I was only five then, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

My mother met Ivan when I was only nine years old. Between shelters, the streets, and various motel rooms, I don’t think I’ve ever really lived inside a house. I’ve never had a home. I guess I did when my mother and father were together, but I was too little to remember. We left Ukraine after my father left us, and the US has been home sweet hell ever since.

My mother wanted security, which Ivan pretended to provide.

And it killed her.

“Yes?”

Ivan sets his paper down, his watery eyes hard on me. “Yes?” He leans back in his chair, sizing me up. “Like I’m some fucking servant? Try again.”

What would you like, oh great shithead?I swallow the thought and my hatred, trying again. “You wanted to see me?”

“Better.” I quickly glance down at the paper he’s reading. Something is circled in red. I step a bit closer, trying not to make it obvious, and with a quick look I see the bold black wordMemoriams. “Good news. I think we finally have a starting place.”

“A starting place?” And why is he sharing it with me?

Ivan nods, standing up. He towers over me. I’m not a short dude, but he’s intimidating to look at. He’s also fucking insane. Like the Joker without all the charm. “The next town over is a called Pulglass.”

“And what does that mean for the statue?”

“I’m going to send some of my guys to dig around, see what they can find. I don't want to make a scene." Ivan looks me straight in the eyes. It's unnerving. It takes everything in me not to look away. "Not yet anyway."

“What does that have to do with me?”

“I need you ready, just in case.”

Meaning that if they fail, then it’s my turn. I don’t fail. I can’t afford to and he knows it. He really tries to pretend not to need my help. Somehow here I am. Day after day following around his bullshit. I hate the things he makes me do. I fucking hate it. But I have no choice. If I want to be close to her, I have to swallow it.

Soon. Soon we’ll escape.

I dare, just a little. “Does this mean I can stay in the house?” Not that I really want to, but I want to be here for her. I want to read her bedtime stories and have tea parties. I want to be here when she’s scared and upset. Instead I’m stuck in my fucking car.

Ivan studies me a moment. “I give you plenty of money.” He doesn’t, not unless I want to buy an apartment back in the nineteen sixties. “Get a place to stay. Stop mooching off me.”

I can’t do that. All my money is being saved for her. “I’ll be ready.”

“You say that as if you have a choice.” He walks around the desk and leans against it. I know he does this to intimate me, but I’m not scared of him. I have one weakness and she's upstairs. “Be ready. Have your phone on you. Do not miss my calls.” It’s the only thing of mine he pays for. He has one of his guys scan it weekly. It’s why I couldn’t give my number to Cam at the gym. It’s too risky.

I don’t want Ivan know where I’m going. The gym is the only sanctuary I have, and it’s nice to have a place to take hot showers whenever I want.

“I won’t. I’ll be ready.”

Ivan eyes me a moment. It makes my skin crawl. “I mean it, Aiden. You better not betray me, or the only thing you’ll be seeing is a fucking bullet between your eyes.”