Chapter 4

Elijah:

“Why is the cop coming here again, Ilya?” My aunt, Nikita asked, calling me by my Russian name. Her blue eyes met my brown ones as she entered the living room. She was on edge because I told her that Anastasia was coming, and I couldn’t blame her. The number of times they sent Mikhail because Anastasia decided to want to play cop on me were annoying enough as it was.

“Because Aunt Nikita, Alexander is one of my men, and unfortunately for me; Alexander died by a killer their looking for, at least that’s what she assumes. We need to see if there’s a link to lead us to the bastard for me to make him pay, and also for us to ensure that nothing like this happens again” I said cupping her cheeks. I kissed her forehead and smiled “you just relax; I’ll take care of things with her”

“You can’t seriously expect to leave a case like this to her, right? Whether the man is someone they’re looking for or not…”

“If I was leaving the case to her, I wouldn’t have allowed her to come to the house. We both know that she’s good at what she does, she’s devoted at least, and would give me what I want…”

“She’s good and devoted, yes. But her loyalty isn’t yours, Ilya, you know that she wouldn’t be giving you anything” Aunt Nikita said gently. She was right when it came to that, but she didn’t know that I had my own plans when it came to the case. I wasn’t stupid a to trust the woman, but I knew when to take a chance that came to me.

“If it benefits her, or at least, she believes it does; she will” I said taking a step back. My little sister, Iris, walked down the stairs and smiled at the sight of me. She hugged Aunt Nikita first, kissing her cheeks before jumping into my arms. Her brown hair which was left loose was neatly curled letting me know that she had her own plans for the day.

“I didn’t know that you would be joining us to lunch today; I would have prepared something that you’d like” Iris said smiling, her hazel eyes were lit, as her smile didn’t leave her face letting me know that whatever her plan was for the day; it was one that she would most likely need permission to do, and she wouldn’t be asking me for it.

“And to what do I owe the honor of having my beloved flower cooking for me? What have you done this time? Or more specifically, what do you need permission to do this time?” I teased. She laughed and shook her head. The door was knocked before she could answer and I knew that it was Anastasia who just arrived. I looked at Aunt Nikita and Iris, nodding at them to go inside. Yaroslav walked down the stairs and I nodded at him to open the door. The two of us were going to speak to these officers without the family interfering; I didn’t want them to have to deal with them.

“Officer” Yaroslav said opening the door for Anastasia. He opened the door wide enough for her and Blake to walk inside. Her dark brown hair was tied in a ponytail above her head, and I was surprised to see that Blake managed to show up here judging by the fact that he was very much against her associating with us to begin with. I knew the man enough to know that he was trying everything to keep her away from dealing with us, but Anastasia was too stubborn to listen, and that was something that even I knew for fact.

“Yaroslav” Anastasia said nodding. She looked at me and nodded, I returned the favor and motioned to her to take a seat. Her and Blake sat by one another in front of us.

“Would you like to drink anything?” I asked.

“Thank you” Anastasia said shaking her head. Aunt Nikita walked out of the kitchen holding a tray of mugs of coffee.

“We won’t poison you, if that’s what you’re worried about” she said approaching both her and Blake. I had to fight back laughing at her comment as Anastasia stood up to take the tray, a manner of being polite. Blake simply took the mug as Anastasia set the tray on the coffee table “is there anything that you two may need, Ilya, Yaroslav?”

“Thank you, Aunt Nikita” I said shaking my head. She nodded and walked back into the kitchen leaving the four of us.

“Ilya?” Anastasia asked frowning in confusion.

“Elijah is my English name, Ilya is the Russian version of it” I explained “now back to business, what’s the deal with the killer? And what would he have to do with one of my men?”

“That’s for you to answer about why he would be killing Alexander, but as for his deal, simple and short; the man has been trailing different crimes, all that ended with the same caved Z letter on his victim’s forehead” Anastasia explained “the one issue we have is that we can’t find a relation to the people he’s been after as to try and find out who he is. However, seeing as he went to one of your men; I thought that you may have an idea if Alexander had an issue with anyone”

“We have our enemies everywhere, but none of them would be as low or stupid as to kill and leave it for the public’s eye or for the police to find. The bodies are usually cleaned up long before they’re found as not to have cops interfering”

“Well, that leaves us in another bimbo, as you’ve noticed; Alexander dying and being left in the street for both the public’s eye, police, and the mafia’s eye…”

“That doesn’t spell anything good” I said stopping her. Anastasia nodded and took a sip of her coffee. Blake didn’t bother touching the mug after sniffing it as if a dog would.

“Well, do you have anything that we could check out? Anything that we could use to investigate? Surely the man has left prints…?” Yaroslav asked Anastasia.

“You can’t expect us to trust you with legal documents, can you, Mr. Volkov?” Blake asked stopping Yaroslav.

“The case includes us just as much as it concerns you. If the man attacked one of my men and killed him, and needless to say that Alexander isn’t an amateur, he’s a well trained assassin; he could attack anyone from the family, and that is not a risk that I’m willing to take” I said answering Blake who glared at me “and believe it or not, the technology that we have is far more advanced that yours is…”

“That’s where you’re wrong…”

“Oh, really? If that’s the case, then why haven’t you been able to trace the bastard? As far as I can tell, you’re saying that you’ve been after him for a while now” I said stopping Blake who glared at me. Anastasia and Yaroslav looked at one another before Anastasia shook her head.

“You’re right on the fact that we’ve been trying to trace him for a while, but that isn’t because we can’t do our job, Elijah” Anastasia said answering me “the man literally leaves no proof, and believe me; we’ve tried everything to find him. But he hasn’t left a print since day one, no hair falling, not even foot prints. The cameras can’t identify him either as he does it somewhere secluded, throws the body and leaves. Why we can’t trace a car, because he leaves the car beside the body, and the car is usually stolen”

“So, the fucker has thought of everything basically” I said and she nodded.

“Okay, where does that put us? You can’t expect me to leave the case in your hands, and it seems like your friend here isn’t willing to cooperate” I asked Anastasia not caring to look at Blake.

“It doesn’t put you anywhere, Elijah. We came here to ask whether or not you knew anything that could lead us anywhere, but it seems like you’re just as clueless” Anastasia said getting up.

“Oh, no, malyshka; that’s where you are wrong” I said getting up to stop her “the case concerns us just as much as it concerns you, and whether or not, I am not going to leave it in your hands to just die along with the other cases”

“The case is not dying, Elijah”

“Whether you want to admit it or not, malyshka; you and I both know that it is”

“I’ll need to consult my boss…”

“Believe it or not, the last thing I care about is your boss” I said glaring at her. Anastasia ran her fingers through her hair as she looked at Blake “you have an hour, and whether you like it or not; you and I both know that I will be having my way”