Hotbox (81 page)

I exhaled and rubb
ed my face with both hands. “So
? Your death?” I still couldn’t say it without feeling resentment.

“
Well, my hopes for putting it behind me meant nothing.
Aleksey found out I was pregnant and put two and two together.
People like the Derevenkos can make anything happen. They staged everything
to happen
at the house, and
to
take place
when your father was out of town on a job.
The
premature
labor, the
paramedics, the doctor
…
When he finally made it back, I’d already…died.
They replaced the real
baby with one that was already deceased,
and m
ade it appear as if I were dead
as well. My wishes had always been to be cremated, so while all of the funeral plans were carefully orchestrated, I was flown to Russia and…” She began to cry again. “When I
sent
you
to
the neighbors…that was the last time
I ever
saw you.”

I began to feel the feelings of that day; or at least the day I realized I no longer had a mother.
“They only wanted the baby,” I stated
dryly
.

“And his mother, to take care of him,” Kristof added.

This brought us to the next newly discovered bit of information. “So I have a half brother?”

I almost hoped she would tell me no, but she nodded her head. “Yes.”

“And?”

She took a breath. “His name is Tr
evo
r.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Not Pasha?
Or
Sergei? Dmitri?”

I was being mean, but my mother only smiled. “No. Tr
evor. And he has my maiden name,
Anderson.” I didn’t respond for several seconds, but when she asked, “Do you want to meet him?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“He’s-
he’s here? He lives here?”
Duh. Where else would he be?

But s
he
only
nodded.

I took a deep breath. Finding out I had a mother and a brother all in one morning… I didn’t know what to say…

“Tyler, I understand how you might feel. This is all…a lot to process. Trevor has had time
to
get used to you, even though you’ve never met.
He’s always known he has a brother.
We have pictures and videos—”

“Videos?”

“Of your baseball games,” she smiled.
“
Those are our favorite.
People post all ki
nds of things on the Internet. We
’ve
only
recently
been able to see
most of your college games, and some high school games
as well
.
”

I knew my mouth was hanging open, the shock unable to settle, but I still couldn’t believe this was happening. My mother and half brother had lived in Russia—or wherever we were—
for nineteen
years? And I didn’t even know about it! A different emotion was brewing inside of me but before I could release it, Kristof cut me off.

“I know what you’re thinkin
g, Tyler, but you’re wrong. Your mother did not abandon you. There i
s still more to explain.”

He glanced at my
mom
with question
, and she reluctantly nodded.

“Your mother wasn’t able to see you because she’s been a prisoner to the Derevenkos and Aleksey Meinikov. Tyler, your mother and brother have not been living here under my care all these years. I only foun
d out about them
ten
months ago
. They’ve been under the control of the Derevenkos
all these years
.”

“What?” was all I could say.

“It wasn’t like
I was locked in a prison cell
,” my mother informed me. “But…it was more or less the same, I guess. We actually lived in a house much like this.
Basically
Trevor and I ha
d our own wing of the residence
. But we weren’t allowed to leave, or use the phone
or computers
… We were hardly allowed to be anywhere without an armed guard watching our every move.”

I eyed Kristof. “When? When did you find out?”

“When I first told you to break it off with your girlfriend.” He waited a moment, no doubt hoping I would see the parallel and deem his intentions to be fair. “I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you, Tyler—”

“Then why didn’t you
just
tell me she was alive?” I asked loudly.

“Because I wasn’t sure how things were going to turn out. I didn’t want to tell you that your mother was alive, only to destroy your spirit once more if something were to happen to her when…when I tried to help her. I didn’t know if
we would be able to help her
.”

“Does Dean have something to do with it? Is that what he’s been doing for you?”

“Yes, only he doesn’t know she is your mother. Dean had already worked his way into the Derevenko organization. They thought they were using him to get to me, but in fact, it was the other way around. Dean is the one that was able to get inside the Derevenko palace to arrange for an extraction.
He hasn’t eve
n seen your mother or brother; h
e only made the opportunity possible, and
then
someone inside Derevenko’s organization got them out. It’s amazing what people will do for the right amount of money.
”

My head was swirling with information. Information that was clearly information, but I had no idea what to do with it.

“Dean’s request to keep you f
rom Jayden was actually perfect,” he said.
“
It was what
I needed to happen
anyway
.
I didn’t want anyone to find out that you were Olivia’s son, and that
I had any personal ties to you
.”

“What about this brother you have? Dean said you were trying to get your brother out of Russia.”

“I don’t have a brother,” he replied. “I do have a very good friend,
Ivan
, and I used his name to provide a reason for what I needed from Dean.
He thought it was Ivan’s wife and son that were being extracted from the Derevenkos.
We all change the facts along the way, just to keep ourselves protected.
It’s the way things are done.
You’re in Latvia, by the way,” he
added
.

I scoffed. “Latvia? As in…between Russia and Lithuania?”

He nodded and looked at my mother, who was also smiling.

“And what is to the south?” Kristof asked.

I thought for just a second. “Belarus, I believe.”

He glanced at my mother again. “See? He’s smarter than all of us.”

I scoffed again. “It’s a little intimidating to go to a
nother continent and not know which country you’re
going to end up
in
.
You’d
study what you could as well.”

He smiled. “Yes, I realize that. I’m sorry, but you do know—”

“Yes, I know how you work,” I replied.

H
e chose not to respond and allowed a long moment of silence.

“So how did you find out she was alive?” I finally asked, nodding to my mother.

My mother quickly replied with, “A modern convenience called ‘text messaging.
’
”

I actually laughed. “Seriously? You
texted
him?”

“Well, Trevor did. I couldn’t figure out a
cell
phone if my life depended on it, and obviously…it did. So once I was able to locate a
current
number for Kristof—
it took
years
for the opportunity to finally present itself
—we began sending him messages from the phone.”

“How’d you get a phone?”

She sighed. “I had to steal it,” she replied softly, almost like she was
still
trying to
keep the secret
. “Some of the employees own two or three different phones. It took some effort, but we were able to send off three separate messages
. Trevor made sure each one contained
‘
d
o not reply
’
and then we would delete the evidence and return the phone before anyone knew
. Once I was sure
Kristof
knew my location, all I could do was wait and hope for the best. He was my only chance
, Tyler
. I knew he was the only one that could make it happen.”

Kristof was looking at the floor and I wondered what he was thinking. Had he hoped she still had romantic feelings for
him
? Or were they already reunited? I had no clue, but I chose not to ask just yet.
I was just about to question the “extraction,” but my mother apparently had other things on her mind.

“Do you want to meet him, Tyler? Your brother?”

I
t was a very long pause, long enough for my mother’s face to betray her disappointment, but I did say, “
Uh, yeah, sure
.”

Her mouth
curved
into a smile and she stood, almost nervously glancing about. “Oh. Should I—?” She looked at Kristof and motioned to the hall, and he shrugged. “Oh. Uh…”

I stood. “Can’t you just…buzz him down?” I motioned to the button that had earlier summoned Boris.

Kristof
smiled at my attempt to lighten the situation, but my
mother shook her head. “No, I’ll
go get him.” She immediately began to leave, but turned ar
ound at the hall. “Um, Tyler, I’ll
be just a moment.”

When she left, I directed my attention back to Kristof.

“She is quite nervous,” he
said
, standing up with me
. “She has been waiting for this day for… Well, for
nineteen
years, I guess.
I’m not sure how much you remember her, Tyler, but… She’s changed quite a bit. Deep down she’s still the same lovely woman, but… The other things—her sense of humor has somewhat disappeared, she’s a little more serious than she used to be—those are effects from what she has been through these past several years. It might take some time for her to bounce back completely. I just want you to be aware of that.
”

I could understand that. I didn’t know the details of her
life with the Derevenkos, and I wasn’t sure if I ever would, but I was definitely aware of the possibilities.

“Just so I’m clear on something… She’s been here for how long?”

“About
five
months.”

“And you didn’t want to tell me.”

“I couldn’t risk it. I wanted you to see her for yourself. The Derevenkos are
outraged
. They have no question that I was the one that took your mother from them.
Because of that, I needed to take extra precautions.
”

“What about Jayden? Now I’m…how many miles away from her?”

“Jayden is safe.”

“What about Dean? What if he’s told them something about her?”

“
He hasn’t. He’s still working their organization for a little while longer.”

“Then why all the secrecy? Why can’t I just be with my fiancée? If I should even call her that,” I mumbled.

“I have to cover all the bases.
Just in case. Right now the only person I have to protect you from is Dean, and that is being taken care of.
He is doing one more thing for me, and then I can arrange for another deal.
”

“You’re not gonna just get rid of him?” I replied sarcastically.

He paus
ed momentarily. “I’m a business
man, Tyler. He has done me a great service. And you, too,
although
he doesn’t know it. He will be rewarded for his success
es as long as he follows the terms, and so far he has. I know you don’t care for him, Tyler, but it’s about loyalty, not affability.”

“
So why do you keep such close tabs on Jayden if he’s following the terms? How do you know where I’m at and what I’m doing at all times?
I think you’re downplaying the situation.”

He looked at me hard. “And what makes you think that?”

“
You’re hiding something.
Why can’t you be straight with me for once? Why
do
there always have to be secrets? If you coul
d just tell me what’s going on—”