25 | Drowning

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We're sitting around in the living area waiting for Irina to finish down in the basement

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We're sitting around in the living area waiting for Irina to finish down in the basement. Ivan is talking in hush whispers with his second in command while Valentina is on her laptop stuffing fries into her mouth.

"Do you want to half the burger Nate?" she quizzes looking up from her laptop, I smile and shake my head no. I was only joking around with her when I asked why she didn't get me anything.

She bobs her head before concentrating on the laptop again. We hear someone clear their throat, "Valentina, did he give you any information on my brother or his plans?" Ivan asks, taking a seat on the couch across from her.

She sighs, "he wants me to kill you and your son."

Ivan tenses in his seat, probably sacred that it could happen. Val doesn't owe him anything, she's only doing this because Viktor has been making her and her family's life hell.

"Don't worry Ivan, I'm not going to kill you or your son. I have nothing to gain from that —" she pauses, a little frown resting on her face, "he said Viktor has leverage on me, something I'd be willing to kill you for. Ivan, I need you to organize a meeting with the Italians and the French."

"If you don't mind me asking, why?"

Val stands up from her seat motioning for Ivan to stand as well, "organize it for tonight and text me the location, we are all going to sit down and have a friendly chat."

Ivan nods, we hear the basement door open, and out walks Irina covered in blood with Hugo and Angelo following close behind.

She walks up to Val and embraces her in a hug and whispers something in her ear. Val smiles and returns the hug, "there's an envelope on the coffee table, Ivan, take Irina and give her the envelope. It has everything she needs to start her life over again."

Val's eyes start to gloss over, she was never one to show emotion. Even though we've always dealt with things like this, it never gets easy. Irina says her goodbyes before walking out with Ivan's right-hand man.

Ivan pauses at the door, "this will all be over soon," with that he walks out the door.

I walk over to Val and kiss her forehead, pulling her to my chest wrapping my arms around her, I feel her relax in my arms.

She pulls back to look up at me, "dad is hiding something from all of us and Viktor knows what that is, we're going to find out tonight."

"Are we hiding our faces tonight love?" I mumble.

"Yes. Let's go home before the boys get back from school and the others come back from work."

We say our goodbyes to Hugo and Angelo, who are organizing a clean-up crew for Vadim's body. I slip into the car and start the engine up, I glance at Val who looks exhausted. Trying to lighten the mood in the car, I turn on the radio.

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