I had asked Dimitri multiple times today if he really wanted to do this, but he was adamant that he wanted to do it while Olena wouldn't be home. So we waited in silence for the sounds of his car pulling into the driveway, and the echo of the door shutting. I slipped my hand into Dimitri's for comforting support, looking at him as the front door opened. Dimitri was ramrod straight, tense like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey.

Except it wasn't prey. It was his father.

I flinched as Dimitri's hand tightened around mine, his grip becoming too tight. Dimitri noticed and relaxed his hand immediately, whispering his apology as he watched his father approach.

Randall took in the two of us on the couch and stopped, a confused and equally tense expression on his face.

"Please tell me you didn't knock her up," Randall groaned crossing his arms over his chest.

Dimitri growled in the back of this throat and I squeezed his hand. "No. I'm not pregnant," I said firmly.

"But we do need to talk," Dimitri bit out, squaring his shoulders back as he glared at his father.

Randall looked at me before looking back to Dimitri, coming further into the living room and resting his hands on the back of the armchair that everyone knew not to sit in.

"We know who you are," Dimitri said, breaking the tense silence. Randall raised his brow at Dimitri but didn't say anything.

"We know that your name is Randall Ivashkov. And that you are Nathan's brother," I said bluntly, biting the inside of my cheek.

I watched Randall tense up at my omission, a flicker of panic crossing his face. His eyes flicked back and forth between Dimitri and me, swallowing roughly.

"Did you say anything to your mother?" Randall asked quietly, almost desperately, gripping his hands on the leather upholstery. He genuinely looked panicked at the gravity of the situation. There was no longer panic on his face, just blatant fear.

"No. Does she know?"

Randall shook his head and made his way around the chair, sinking down into it. I looked to Dimitri and surveyed his expression, noticing that he had the mask on his face that he wore when he didn't want to show something was bothering him. It wasn't something I saw often, but I knew what it looked like.

"Your mother doesn't know much. Just that my name was Ivashkov," Randall said, rubbing his hand over his knuckles in a nervous manner. "How much do you know?"

"We know that you were a part of the Ivashkov family and that you disappeared when you were eighteen," Dimitri said, "what happened?"

Randall looked uncomfortable, looking at me again.

"I have the right to know. Your brother is the reason my mom is dead," I said through my teeth, feeling a bit of anger rearing its ugly head. Randall had the decency to look down at his hands again, a flash of guilt crossing his face.

"I never wanted to be a part of that life. The violence, the drugs, it wasn't something that ever interested me. Misha used to shield me from most of it, but I still had to experience my fair share. When I left I didn't have very much with me, and when I met your mother, I thought maybe she was my ticket out of that shitshow life," Randall said quietly. I shifted in my spot and crossed one leg over the other, rolling my shoulders back. The sound of water hitting the roof filled the room becoming the soundtrack to the grotesque conversation.

"How did Olena help with that?" I asked, reaching my hand out and placing it on Dimitri's knee, squeezing gently in hopes to make his stiff posture soften.

Randall cleared his throat and started in on the story, explaining how meeting sixteen year old Olena was his golden ticket out of the shadows. After a few weeks, Olena's family let Randall sleep on their couch when he told them that he ran away from a toxic household. It wasn't a lie, the upbringing he was in was toxic. Once Olena turned eighteen he started courting her, but shortly fell pregnant with Karolina.

At that point Randall had been working odd jobs to support himself, and now Olena and their child, so they eloped, and he took her name. He had a few close calls with his family over the years, but again, Misha shielded him from it. Misha was the one who got Randall and Olena set up with a house and enough money to get them along. But when Nathan came around on Dimitri's seventh birthday, Misha got the appropriate documentation to get them out. And to America.

I turned to look at Dimitri, but he had his perfected mask on his face. A mask that he wore when he wanted nobody to know how he was feeling. I looked back at Randall and asked him a question that I was dying and dreading to know the answer to.

"Did you know that Nathan was going to set the fire to the Estate?"

Randall looked at me and fresh guilt crossed his expression. "I was there."

"What do you mean you were there?"

"Nathan threatened to hurt my family," Randall said, but Dimitri cut him off.

"More than you already do?"

Randall narrowed his eyes at me but continued speaking. "He threatened to kill you and your mother. I went solely to tell him what would happen if he came near my family, but when I got there, he had a transfer happening. The estate had been abandoned for years, and he had been using it while he is here to store and transfer cargo. Drugs, guns, people," Randall said, biting his lip with a headshake.

"Once I realized what was going on I wanted to leave, but then he started threatening other people."

"Like who?"

"Like you," Randall said looking at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not quite shrinking back into my seat, but leaning into Dimitri a bit.

Randall got up and paced a bit, agitation radiating off of him. "He watched us for a bit and noticed you coming over often, Dimitri climbing into your window at night. He figured you were important to us, so he upped the threats."

"What kind of threats?"

Randall stopped pacing and looked at me, his lips going into a thin line. "Things that aren't appropriate to repeat in front of you. And better that you don't know."

"How did the fire start?" I asked after the silence started to suffocate me. I didn't want to know, but I needed to know.

"Nathan started it, hoping that he'd trap me inside. He figured that if the first responders found me dead in a building full of drugs, they could close the case and pin it on me. I managed to get out, but… well, you know the rest," Randall said.

I gritted my teeth together and my legs moved faster than my mind could comprehend. Randall was tall, but my size was to my advantage. I hit my fist against his jaw so sharply that there was a loud crack. Dimitri was hot on my heels, gripping my shoulders and pulling me back while I cupped my throbbing hand.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," I whimpered under my breath, carefully straightening my hand out. Randall was on his knees, his hand cupping his jaw.

"Did that make you feel better?" Randall asked, pushing himself up from where he stumbled from the impact of my punch. I hissed when I touched my hand, looking down at my rapidly swelling knuckles.

"Yeah. It did actually," I hissed, whimpering when Dimitri cradled my hand in his. Dimitri touched my knuckles carefully and I flinched back, but he soothed me and continued to examine it.

"You probably broke it, Roza."

I grimaced and glared at Randall. "How dare you come to her funeral! You knew what happened, you were there, and then you had the balls to come to my house and offer my dad support," I said with a head shake, trying to straighten my hand out.

Randall got back up to his feet while still rubbing his jaw. He didn't say anything about me punching him but looked down at my hand before looking at Dimitri.

"She definitely broke something. Take her to urgent care," Randall said before walking out of the living room and into the master bedroom, closing the door behind him.

I not only broke three knuckles, but I broke my hand in two places. It was excruciatingly painful and Babe wasn't overly impressed when he had to come to pick me up because the painkillers were so strong that I had to have 'parental supervision'.

Once I got home I went upstairs and crawled into bed, carefully laying down without putting pressure on my hand. I felt too much and just wanted to block everything out for a bit. Looking up I found Dimitri lingering in the doorway, looking unsure and uncomfortable.

"Do you want me to stay? Or do you want to be alone?" he asked, hands in his duster pockets.

"I want you to come lay with me and not say anything. I don't want to talk about anything right now," I said, shuffling over so that Dimitri could comfortably lay down behind me. Dimitri pulled his duster off as he walked around the bed and took his shoes off before climbing up behind me. Dimitri gently wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my back to his chest, resting his head above mine.

I heaved a sigh and tried to relax, using his smell and warmth to ground me and level out my emotions. I reached up with my left arm and pulled Dimitri's arm tighter around me, focusing on the feeling of his chest moving against my back. I let my eyes flutter closed when I felt his lips press against my temple.

"Do you ever just want to scream until your lungs give out?" I asked, tucking my uninjured hand under my head.

"Yes. But I don't recommend it. It can be uncomfortable," Dimitri said, curling himself further around me. I scoffed and readjusted myself, laying on my back now.

"Your dad had something to do with my mom's death," I said quietly, shuffling around in his arms so I was on my back. I met Dimitri's eyes and he had a frown on his face, his brows pinched together. Dimitri reached out and ran his thumb over my brow, trying to smooth out the tension in my forehead.

"I know," he replied quietly, guilt trickling into his voice. I breathed in noisily through my nose and looked up at the ceiling.

"I can't help but hate him, but at the same time not," I said before looking back at Dimitri, "He wanted out and he got forced back into it."

Dimitri ran his hand over my head and looked down at me, no particular emotion on his face. He was waiting for me to get it all out and off my chest.

"I just… I don't feel any better than I did before," I said disappointedly.

"I know," Dimitri said with a kiss on my forehead. I sighed and hissed when I pressed my broken hand against Dimitri's leg as I tried to move.

"So what are the chances I'm going to get charged with assaulting a police officer?"

Dimitri laughed and shook his head, a smile crossing his face for the first time all day.

"Unlikely."

"Yeah? And why is that?"

"Because I think for once in his life, Randall actually feels bad or remorse about something," Dimitri said surely. I frowned and nodded, agreeing with him silently. He did look like he carried a lot of guilt about what happened with my mom.

"Do you think you'll tell your mom?"

Dimitri shook his head. "No. I think he will. I think that us knowing will be enough of the push he needs. It would be better for her if he told her. Yeah, they have a toxic relationship, but I think to some degree they both still love each other. Which I don't understand but," Dimitri said with a shrug. I sighed and nodded my head again, grimacing at the spinning in my head. It seemed like some of the effects of the painkillers were kicking in.

"Will you stay for a bit? You're a good pillow," I mumbled, curling into Dimitri. Dimitri wrapped his arms tighter around me and pulled me close, helping me get into a comfortable position to sleep.

"I'll be here when you wake up," he said resting his face in my hair.

I knew something was off when I didn't get a good morning text from Dimitri, and I knew something was really off when he didn't show up at school this morning either. I waited for him in the cafeteria and then tried to call him but it went directly to voicemail.

It wasn't until Adrian approached me with a skittish demeanour that made me truly wonder.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, canting his head towards the courtyard. I nodded and got up, giving the girls a look of reassurance before following him out.

We found an unoccupied area and sat down. Adrian had pulled out a pack of cigarettes and was playing with the box before looking at me.

"Have you talked to Dimitri today?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't been able to get ahold of him. His phone keeps going to voicemail."

Adrian nodded his head again, swallowing roughly.

"Did you or him say something to Randall about knowing the truth?"

I tensed up and furrowed my brows. "Yeah, last week. Why?"

Adrian sighed and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it quickly and taking a drag. He looked more agitated now than when he found me in the cafeteria.

"Randall went to the police last night. And my dad is pissed."

I felt my heart thud and then practically stop. What? He went to the police!?

"What did he do?"

"He turned himself in, he's considered an accessory even though he didn't start the fire. The police department put his family into protective custody after Randall told them what Nathan threatened to do to his family. The police are probably going to come and talk to you too," Adrian explained tapping the box against his knee.

"But my dad… I've never seen him this angry. And I've pissed him off pretty good before. He took off this morning, and I don't know where he went."

"Would you turn your dad in?"

"If I wasn't terrified that he'd shoot me if I did, yes."

The bell rang, cutting the rest of our conversation short. I got up and gave Adrian a sad smile.

"I'm sorry he's your father."

Adrian nodded as he took a final puff from his smoke before stamping it out under his shoe.

"Me too kid, me too."

I walked back into the school only to be stopped by Ms. Petrov, a look of concern on her face.

"What is it?"

Ms. Petrov put her hand on my shoulder and started directing me out of the cafeteria. "We need you to come down to the main office, your father is here with a few police officers. They're putting you both into protective custody until they can arrest Nathan Ivashkov."

Let me know what you think!:)