Page 116 of The Wrong Brother

There it is.

The anger.

The hatred.

The thing that brought him back to Colorado in the first place.

I pull my knees closer to my chest. “Wasn’t that the whole point?”

For several seconds he doesn’t say anything, just drops into the chair a few feet away. Then he leans back and drags a hand across his jaw.

“My original plan was simple.” The words sound tired. “I was going to expose him.”

“Expose what?”

His pale eyes meet mine. “I wasn’t sure at first. I knew if I dug around enough, something would come up. Andrei has always been conniving—ever since we were kids. But then he took you. And I realized.”

His gaze drops to my wrists. I cross my arms, hiding them, putting it all together. “You were going to tell them about…”

“The women.”

My stomach drops.The women.Not just me.

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes. I had someone back in California start looking for very specific details. Enough people talk,” he murmurs. “Enough rumors exist. It wasn’t hard to find. In his early twenties, two women were dropped off at shelters, only weeks apart. One had bruised ribs. The other lost teeth.”

My eyes well with tears, and a hand goes to my mouth. I can’t help it—seeing Victoria was one thing. But knowing there were others before me. That I wasn’t the first.

“Oh.”

“It wouldn’t be hard to prove what he is.”

“And now?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. “Why didn’t you…?”

The thought crosses my mind that it might’ve been an issue of timing. Maybe he was going to expose Andrei that very day I disappeared and came back with the bag and the tests.

Rus looks away. When he speaks again, his voice is lower.

“How many politicians get away with that kind of thing?” he asks, anger and disgust edging the quiet words. “It’s too easy for people to overlook the past. Now I may have to go for the throat.”

The words settle heavily in the room. I don’t know exactly what they mean, but a shiver goes up my spine.

Whatever he’s considering now is worse. Much worse.

“Then what’s stopping you?”

He closes his eyes briefly. And for the first time since I’ve known him, he looks reluctant.

“This situation—what I could use against him—it affects more than Andrei.”

Something in his tone makes me sit up straighter.

“What do you mean?”

Rus exhales slowly. The firelight flickers across his face. “If I do this the way I’m considering, every news outlet in the country will be involved. There are parts of society, of our system, that will be affected. Investigated.”

A knot forms in my stomach.