Potere | Book II ✓

xxiii | love you in the dark

xxiii | love you in the dark

a/n: mama says never ever become predictable. bet you didn't see this one coming.

dedicated to kari & london. 

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"Nathaniel Rostov." 

Steven sits across from us within the spacious seating of the luxury SUV, ankle crossed over his knee.  The steaming disposable cup of coffee, which might I add is his fourth this morning, resides in the cup holder between his seat and Austin's.  He yawns and using a single finger, pushes his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.

Without another word, he tosses a fresh manila folder to the man who sits across from him.  None of us slept last night.  Steven's occasional yawning and the way Austin continually shifts in his seat, doing his best to keep moving to stay awake, proves that.  I, too, was guilty of leaning my head on Liam's shoulder and shutting my eyes for two minutes.  The pothole our driver hit woke me up and I began mumbling apology after apology to Liam.  I don't think he heard me, because I'm pretty sure he was guilty of shutting his eyes behind the tinted sunglasses that he wears.

I've rehashed the story of last night over, over, and over again to the point that I'm tired of speaking on it.   But every single detail that I may not deem important, may be an idea as to what I possibly missed, or as to what the Russians have planned.

Liam pushes his sunglasses to the top of his head and flips open the file without a word.  His eyes are bloodshot red. Exhaustion is undeniable, yet exhaustion has never looked so good. 

"Nathaniel is Valentin's eldest son.  Heir to the throne, we can assume." Steven takes a sip of coffee, hesitates, and takes another larger gulp before drawing the cup from his lips. "I wish I could say it was as easy as typing his name into google and adding Rostov behind it, but it wasn't.  I had to do some pretty illegal digging."

Liam flips the page of the small file Steven and Austin were able to dig up on my former friend.  He stops on the third page, his thumb running along the edge of a few poorly developed photographs.  "What else did you find?"

"His mother is American."

"Was." Austin corrects as he stares out the vehicles tinted window.

"Was," Steven agrees nimbly.  "The woman you murdered wasn't just Valentin's wife.  She was Nathaniel's mom."

I let out a breath.  "You sure do have a way with people's moms, huh?"

Liam ignores me as he raises his gaze, meeting Steven's eyes.  In a voice devoid of all emotion, he says, "Is that supposed to make me feel something?"

Steven chalks Liam's question up as a rhetorical one and clears his throat.  "Did you piss them off when you killed her? Yes, but Valentin already had his men in position before then."  He motions for Liam to flip the page.

Our attention falls on a few printouts clipped to the top of the folder.  One is a receipt for the first monthly payment of their apartment, while the other is proof of Nathaniel's registration into UCLA in August – all of these papers dated three months ago.  He had told me that he was taking a full load of classes, but the sheet of paper before me says he was only taking one.  Mine.

Liam's eyes narrow.  "What else?"

"Not much." Steven continues.  "I'm not sure what he told Faith, but he's twenty-seven.  Unmarried.  No children.  He's been to the United States quite a few times before this.  I was able to track down the information on Valentin's personal jet.  I red-flagged a lot of trips to Vegas, and Valentin doesn't seem like the clubbing type."