Our Flame

LXVIII

NIKO

"Never thought I'd say this but, I miss Alek's smart ass." I speak. I look up to see my brothers nod their heads. "He'll come back." Viktor nods his head.

"You don't know that." Luka shrugs. "None of us defended him, I wouldn't come back either." Luka finishes. Everyone goes silent at that, there isn't much to say.

I regret many things that day. I should've gone after Nadia, I should've told Aleksi to be quiet. I did neither of those things- I stayed silent. I watched her walk away.

Vadim's phone ringing pulls me out of my thoughts. His face morphs into anger as he holds the phone to his ear. Viktor sighs, grabbing his gun. Luka and I do the same.

"Nadia and Ezra are going to jail." Vadim shakes his head. My head snaps to him, "For what?" Vadim scoffs, "I don't know. Some amateur was on the phone."

"Gianna." Viktor yells. A few seconds later Gianna comes down the stairs in all black, "I was just about to head out." She comes down the stairs. Her facial expression changes as she looks at us.

"What happened now?" She sighs. "Nadia's going jail or something, come on." Vadim grabs his keys.

NADIA

I throw my head back as I sit in a chair, "I have no idea what you're talking about." I interrupt an officer as he continues to talk. "Your voice is making me nauseous." I roll my eyes.

My head sits up as the door opens, despite my situation I give the biggest smile at who I see. "Alek." I run to my big brother, despite an officer attempting to stop me.

"Gianna called me, I was in the area." He wraps his arms around me. "I missed you." I mumble. Alek pulls away, "I suggest you let my sister out of here before the rest of her brothers show up." Aleksi speaks to an officer.

"That would be a good idea." Ezra stands. "We have nothing to do with what you're talking about." He speaks again.

"You have everything to do with it." The same officer who brought us here says. "No, I'm mourning the loss of my father. This is how I had to find out." I sigh.

Ezra shakes his head at me, "My wife needs to be home, not here." He stands, walking towards me. "You murdered her father."

"Officer, why would you think my brother-in-law could do such a thing?" Luka walks into the station.

"How are people getting in here?" A clearly frustrated officer yells. "I just would like to go home." I wipe my eyes. "You're one hell of an actor, let's see if the courts will buy it."

The courts won't buy it, I'll buy them.

"I want to talk to your head officer." Viktor walks in. The officer who brought us here stands up straighter, "You're looking at him." I scoff at his response, "Wow, they really know how to pick them."

Gianna rolls her eyes at me. "Do you have any evidence or are you just assuming?" Vadim wonders. "This is all the evidence I need." He slides over a gun.

Fuck. Ezra and I make eye contact for a second until we both look back down. "Nadia's prints are all over it. It matches the bullet found in the pile of her father's ashes."

"I've never seen that gun a day in my life." I shake my head. "You're crazy." I scoff.

"Here's what's going to happen, I will take my sister and brother-in-law and we will mourn the loss of a family member." Vadim says.

The officer shakes his head, "More than one officer will be showing up. I suggest you do your mourning before your trial."

"Let's go." Viktor signals the two of us. I open my mouth to speak as we step outside. "Do not say anything, not here." Viktor orders.

**

I stare at my family as we sit at an old diner. "Is that the murder weapon, Nadia?" Aleksi finally asks. "Alek, I'd rather know when you got back into town and why you didn't call us." Luka speaks.

"I didn't call cause I'm not here for you." Aleksi says, not once looking at our brothers.

"I don't understand how that could be the weapon." I speak. "The fire, it burnt down everything. It doesn't make sense that the gun was the one thing that made it out." I explain.

"We're being set up." Ezra clenches his fist.

"The gun couldn't have made it out of there." Ezra shakes his head. "This was supposed to be a surprise for later." Ezra whispers to me.

I raise an eyebrow, I turn as the door of the diner opens. I smile at the four people I see. "Little boss." Kai smiles at me. I get up going to give him a hug.

"Maeve." I smile, "How are you?" Maeve waves off my question embracing me into a hug. "I should be asking you that." She smiles at me.

"Remember when we had to cook together." Iris randomly says before hugging me. I laugh, "The good old days." Maeve sighs.

"Oh, guys this is my best friend Gianna." I introduce. "We've heard so much about you." Maeve hugs her. Gianna smiles at me, "Me as well."

"Nadia you're still about to be arrested, come sit down." Luka speaks. I roll my eyes going back to my seat.

"She's not going to jail." Niko tells Luka. Luka scoffs, "That's the hope." "I've dug this hole and I will get myself out. I don't regret what I did." I shrug.

Viktor sighs shaking his head, "You did a good thing for our family. We will get you out of the hole." He speaks. "Спасибо брат." I smile.

translation: thank you brother

"But until then, you both need to lay low." Vadim looks at Ezra and I. "Of course." Ezra clears his throat. "For how long?" I wonder.

"As long as it takes."

I've worked too hard to get here, to be free of my father. Somehow, even when he's dead- he still haunts me.

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word count: 1021
happy holidays friends, have an amazing day!