Page 70 of Ace of Shadows
“You know he’s dead, don’t you?” Ruslan says, clearly speaking to Florence, but his eyes don’t leave me. He’s like an anchor in the middle of stormy waters.
“Yes.” Florence’s voice quakes. “I know.”
With a steadying breath, I turn back to her and my heart lurches once more. Her eyes are flooded with tears and despite how delicately she dabs at her eyes, she can’t stop them from falling.
“You… loved him, didn’t you?”
Florence nods, giving a watery smile while still trying to fight her tears. “This is… odd. He never told me his daughter was part of the Suit.”
“I’m not,” I say as the anger bleeds out of me. It’s difficult to remain furious at a woman trying so hard not to cry.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I assumed because?—”
“I am,” Ruslan remarks. “And given how fucked this situation is, I’m not leaving until I know the truth.”
“The truth?” Florence glances between the two of us and then her mouth falls open. “You think… you think I had something to do with his death?”
Ruslan doesn’t reply.
“I want to know everything,” I say, still trembling in my seat. “My dad… how did you two…” I can’t say it. Saying it makes it real, and I still can’t believe my family was crumbling before my eyes and I had no idea.
“How we met?” Florence smiles suddenly as if the memory is one of her happiest. “It was unintentional. I… I’d known Camden for years. He was recommended to me by Kraven Sidorov. He’d used him a few times for some offshore accounts and a little money trouble, and I used to date Kraven’s son, Alexei. As terrible as that was, I ran into some issues with my mortgage and Kraven recommended Camden.”
“They worked together?” Ruslan cuts in.
“Not exactly. At least, not in any prolonged capacity. I always got the impression it was a passing partnership that ended as quickly as it started. But Camden was always kind to me, and he helped me with my house, and then for the next few years, he was who I went to with questions.”
“Questions?” The word is strained to my own ears. “That’s not a euphemism, is it?”
“No.” Florence shakes her head. “It… nothing was planned. I…” She’s finally unable to stop her tears from falling and her hands return to her lap. “It was all so sudden. When I dated Alexei, it was just for the sex. I met him when I was young and working in a hotel. My family is small fish compared to a family like the Sidorovs and I was so enamored that someone so powerful could take an interest in little old me. He would tell me he wanted an older woman, someone who was part of anormallife, but I learned later that he just wanted someone he could easily control. Anyone worth their salt in Mafia circles wouldn’t fall for what I fell for. But I mistook his possessiveness for lust, hiscontrolling actions for care. I thought he loved me and he didn’t. He just wanted power over someone.”
The picture she paints makes my blood run cold.
I hope I never run into this Alexei.
“Anyway, he broke things off a few years ago and I never thought I would date again. I felt so withered and hopeless. My family are either dead or in prison, and no one cares about a criminal family that isn’t bringing in the big bucks.”
“Not true,” Ruslan interrupts suddenly. “You know as well as I do that once you swear the oath, there’s no way out.”
“An oath?” Florence laughs wetly. “No one cares about the oaths of a family in the dirt. You know as well as I do that one toe out of line and someone bigger and brighter would have wiped us out. My time with Alexei was terrifying, but it was eye-opening to what the world was like for those with the money and power to do something. That’s why I stayed for so long and part of me craved to go back. Until Camden.”
It’s jarring hearing my dad’s name like that. All my life he’s been dad. Nothing else. Camden makes him seem like a stranger.
Given how little I know about him, maybe he is.
“Camden was always so sweet, so caring and so understanding to what I’d been through. He didn’t know much about the Mafia world, but his brief time working with Kraven had shown him enough to keep him away for good.” Her eyes slide back to mine. “We didn’t mean to fall in love. It really just happened. He was the kindest, most respectful man I’d ever met, and before we knew it, we were in love.”
“Respectful?” I choke out. “What kind of respectful man cheats on his wife?”
Florence wipes her tears with one curved finger. “He felt terrible for that.”
“Didhe?”
“Yes! He really did. We tried to fight how we felt, tried not to see each other. I even moved banks, but it…” Her eyes flutter closed. “It was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Being near him was intoxicating. Hearing his voice excited me in ways I’d never felt, and all I wanted to do was to see him smile at me.”
My attention briefly darts to Ruslan who is still watching me intently.
“And the fact that he was married didn’t deter you?”
