Part of Your World

No Idle Threats

I glanced back down at Aria, her wide eyes more green today, and she shied away at the look I knew I was giving her.

"I see you've met Niko," I said, voice tight. She blushed, nodding as she seemed to shrink in on herself, twisting her nimble fingers together before she began to sign.

He asked me to play, I'm sorry.

I ran my hand through my hair, reigning in my quiet fury. She was innocent of whatever Niko was about to tell me, she had to be. She was far too pure to be anything or anyone else.

"I don't mind," I said, offering her a fake smile.

"Since when can you read sign language? You didn't tell me she was fucking mute," Niko hissed beside me. I turned to him, leveling him with a mordacious stare.

"Upstairs, now," I growled back. His eyes not leaving mine, he gripped his bag, ignoring Aria and stomping up the stairs.

"Be just a few minutes," I said to her, following my brother. As soon as we were in the guest room, he threw his bag to the bed and whirled on me, his normal calm demeanor agitated, his voice rising.

"You will not demand anything of her ever again, you impudent—"

"She's Mavka's daughter, you fucking idiot!" he yelled, face reddening. His words pulled me up short, my mind whirling. There was no way in fucking hell...

"Mavka...Rusalka?" I said, my voice barely a whisper. His eyes told me I was right. I shook my head, wracking my brain, conjuring up the image I remembered of that evil fucking bitch. I hadn't spoken her name in years.

"She only had sons," I argued, voice filled with quiet rage. Three of them, to be exact. One, however, was rotting in the ground, his justice doled out by my hands alone.

"Funny, how easy it was for you to forget everything that had to do with Violet—"

"Shut the fuck up, Niko, or I'll put a bullet between your eyes," I hissed in warning, sweat pooling on my back as I took a threatening step forward. He gave me a disgusted look.

"You don't see, because you choose not to."

"Where is your proof, your evidence?" I hissed. Niko had a remarkable gift, one that came in handy and made debating him on anything a fucking pain in the ass. He had a photographic memory, and he had an ability to see things no one else cared to pay attention to. In short, he was a bonafide genius, but it was a fact he never flaunted, not until he needed to prove me or my brothers wrong.

He crossed his arms, heavy brows furrowing. The geometric tattoo on the front of his neck shift as he swallowed, eyeing me.

"There was a photo of her, on Mavka's computer. I'd knocked into it that night, and it lit up..." he trailed off, eyes storming over.

Benjamin Rusalka. I knew every detail of him, down to the pattern of his fingerprints. Their eldest son, hair so blond it was almost white. Violet...a searing pain tore through my chest at her memory, my big sister. I never thought of her. I'd given her justice and closed that chapter in my life. Apparently, Niko hadn't.

He'd followed me that night, six months after her death, to their mansion, and while I was branding Benjamin's face with an iron, Niko was just a few stories above me, unable to come face to face with our sister's murderer.

In Moscow...

I shook my head.

"Aria's lived in Maine her entire life," I said, calming toward my brother. Even geniuses could be wrong sometimes, could see patterns and phantoms where there were none. He shook his head, his jaw clenching and unclenching.