The Deep End

Chapter 29

•Polina•

Vero hacks into the cameras of any house or building on the same street as the house my fathers hiding in, scanning through any footage from before the day the Popov Cleaning van was found just for confirmation that Alina wasn't lying. Once we spot it driving by we spend hours watching traffic go by, noting each car's make, model and license plate number, what time they pass and on what day of the week. Valentina wouldn't drive her own vehicle there but there were multiple indiscreet cars that passed on Mondays and Wednesdays, always around midnight. The address Alina had given us was the third to last on that road. Luck seemed to be on our side because the end of the road was a cul-de-sac. The house on the cul-de-sac didn't have cameras but the second to last house did and we confirmed what vehicles stopped at it or kept going to the house on the cul-de-sac, eliminating them from our compiled list until we had six different cars coming and going from my fathers hiding place, each of them black or white four door cars that blended in well.

When Anastasia searched their license plate numbers each vehicle was registered to average names like Kyle Smith and John Williams. It was already obvious how smart Valentina Jaurez is with how she's kept my father hidden for so long but using a car licensed under alias' is genius. It makes me question how she got involved with my father. The Juarez Cartel has grown in a massive way since she's been running it, why would she risk everything by helping him? As far as I'm aware my father has never gotten along with the Cartel because the Cartel has always worked with the Italians. I knew he didn't disclose everything to me, too afraid his weak daughter would spill her guts at the first bite of pain during a torture session, but I didn't expect him to keep such a huge acquaintance a secret. He obviously didn't account for the fact that it wasn't torture that would get me talking it was the way he treated my sisters and I.

We order Chinese takeout and keep working until our heads pound and our eyes burn from staring at the computer screens for so long. It's after midnight by the time I leave Vero and Anastasia's room and go to my room where my sisters are already fast asleep in their beds. I get ready for bed quietly and slip under the cover beside Sofka, my eyes going to the ceiling where a sliver of moonlight peeks through the curtains.

It feels weird being back in the states and still so far away from Enzo and Luca. My chest burns with hurt, my stomach clenching as the awful feeling washes over my body. I dig my fingers into the stiff mattress below me until the tips of them throb to help focus the pain somewhere else so I can think clearly. Do I go to the DeLuca Community with the information we've gathered without knowing for sure that my father is there and possibly die at the hand of Giovanni? Or should we try to somehow sneak onto Valentina's estate and risk getting caught by one of her men? Both could easily end in death. I have a task from Nikolay to fulfill that will require more people than just us so my best bet would be to go to Giovanni first even if the thought of facing him again makes me want to swallow a handful of razor blades.

Sofka shifts in her sleep, a sigh falling from her lips before she goes still again. I don't want my sisters going into that community when it's highly likely that we won't make it out alive if things don't go the way I want them to. I need to go now while they're asleep because otherwise it'll be an argument that I won't win. Once I'm out of the hotel I can text Vero and tell him to take them back to Moscow if he doesn't hear from me within twenty-four hours. I can't risk his life by asking him to come with me. Nikolay would kill me if I was the reason his heir didn't make it back home.

I slowly slip out of bed, snatching my duffle bag from the floor and shut myself in the bathroom, my body stiff with tension. Aleksandra will be pissed when she finds out I left without them but hopefully by then we'll either be raiding the house my father is in or I'll be dead and they'll be on their way back to Moscow safely.