11. The Tenderness of Silent Minds

Yuuri was livid with a quiet rage that he wasn't used to. If Viktor was right, what had happened last night was infinitely worse than just a couple of hurtful words to him. He thought he might be. He was so furious he didn't even feel the sleep deprivation.

While Viktor had slept soundly, Yuuri had drifted in and out of sleep, too worried to find real rest. Viktor had offered to drive back later and he was glad. He was so tired he might get them killed.

In the morning, Yuuri had told Viktor about the supposed evidence Valery had left on him. Checking hadn't even occurred to him, even though he could easily have done so the night before. But the poisonous words hadn't stood a chance while he was pleasuring Viktor: Valery hadn't been in his thoughts for a moment while they had been close. He hadn't needed any confirmation then and he hadn't needed it when Viktor had insisted on giving it as they showered together. He understood him. He'd have wanted Viktor to see there was nothing there, too, if their roles had been reversed, would have needed to make sure there wasn't even a hint of uncertainty that could grow into something worse. So he'd looked, had convinced himself of what he'd known already, and had kissed the unblemished skin of his thigh. No-one would drive a wedge between them. Not today, not in fifty years.

They joined the rest of Viktor's family for breakfast, but Yuuri wasn't hungry at all. He poured himself a cup of coffee but declined any food. The knowing smirk on Valery's face added to his nausea. Viktor took a few bites of his bread before he set it down. 'So,' he said finally. 'How was your evening, Valery? You got pretty drunk last night. I hope you're ready for a little … chat.'

'Not too drunk for you, Viktor.' He made a face. 'Although if you want more of me, you'll have to wait. My head is killing me.' He grinned. 'See, Yuuri, how easily I made him mine?'

Narrowing his eyes, Viktor leaned forwards. 'Something I've been dying to ask you. Did you, by any chance, go to the Admiralty Embankment rink recently? Just because I wonder if someone capable of rape is also capable of murder.'

The conversation between Lera, Ren, and Anya died abruptly. 'Vitya!' Anya said. 'Have you lost your mind?'

'Just asking a question. Hey, I've got another one! Did you enjoy watching me having sex with Yuuri? Did you touch yourself to what you recorded? You must have watched it often enough if you know what my cock looks like.'

Anya had fallen silent with shock, her expression showing that she thought Viktor really was a horrible person. Ren looked bewildered, Valery amused, and Lyonya had shrunk in on himself even more, if that was possible. But Yuuri only watched them briefly. His attention was drawn to Lera. Her eyes had gone wide, ghosting over her brother before settling on a point in the distance, and she looked suddenly ashen.

Valery laughed. 'You really are completely out of your mind. Why would I watch you fucking your little whore?'

It wasn't Viktor who answered, it was Lera. 'It's going to be exactly like Dima,' she said softly, more to herself than anyone else in the room.

The amusement died on Valery's face, replaced by ire at a frightening speed. 'Shut your stupid mouth, Lera. You don't know what you're talking about.'

Anya looked between them and slammed a fist on the table, making Lyonya flinch. 'What is going on here?' she said sharply. 'Have you all gone mad?'

'Valery wasn't in at your rink,' Lera said clearly. Her eyes settled on Yuuri, determined and sharp. 'Our father was. And he said it would be exactly like Dima.'

'See, this is why no-one involves you, Lera.' Valery had shifted to Russian, but Yuuri understood him just fine. 'You're too weak to do what is necessary.'

'Yes,' she said, still in English. 'Weak and gullible. Or at least I was. But not anymore. I've kept my silence long enough.' She turned her stare at Viktor, who sat frozen. His expression was almost panicked, as if he knew that whatever was coming, he didn't want to hear it. 'Uncle Dima, your father, Vitya, he didn't kill himself. Our father murdered your mother and then him.'

A heavy silence followed these words. 'It makes sense,' Viktor said at last, his voice barely above a whisper. 'It makes so much sense. I remember when I was young … very young … I found him so funny, your father. He ran after everyone, turning off lights, closing doors, shifting things back to where he thought they should be. By a millimetre sometimes, and he'd explode when we moved them away again.'

For a moment, Yuuri was tempted to ask what that had to do with anything, then he remembered. 'The lights. He risked detection by turning the electricity back on in the rink.' Viktor's nod was almost imperceptible, his eyes staring at nothing. 'Why, though?' Yuuri asked Lera when he knew Viktor couldn't. 'Why do any of that?'

It was Valery who answered. 'Because you're all worthless is why. You, too, Lera, you'll end up destitute like Anya and I'll be laughing at you.'

'She is not destitute,' Ren said quietly. His expression was passive, as if all of this didn't concern him, but Yuuri saw that his fist, clutching a napkin, was white from the force in his grip. He was mad. Really mad. 'Your family may have leeched her almost dry, but since other than you she isn't scared of pulling her weight, she picked herself up fine.'

Valery snorted. 'Because you are feeding her! This entire thing here is a farce! You own the hotel and let her pretend.'

'Not true. We own it together.'

'You bought it.'

'Doesn't matter. We both want to make this place something remarkable. Together. Who paid more initially is irrelevant. You wouldn't understand. Now keep your teeth together before you lose them.' He made a gesture to Lera and offered a small bow. 'You were going to say something. My apologies.'

'He killed them,' Lera said pointedly, 'because Uncle Dima married a singer he fell in love with rather than some oligarch's dim-witted, nasty-tempered daughter. And Grandpa refused to disown him, so my dear Father took things into his own hands. He killed my Aunt and Uncle. Grandpa … maybe he suspected something, but he decided to change his will. My Father got nothing. Instead, the inheritance was split equally between Vitya, you, Anya, Valery and me.'

Yuuri shook his head. 'And why … go after Viktor and not Anya?'

'He couldn't manipulate Viktor. He was too old to fall for it. He got Anya, Valery, and me to give him access to our shares and all of us to shun Vitya by manipulating us.' She paused and threw her brother a disgusted look. 'Recently, this piece of trash has been making a lot of investments and I wondered where he had the money from. Father must have bought him as an accomplice. You said there were cameras in your apartment?'

Yuuri swallowed and nodded. 'Yes, quite a few.'

'Valery must have walked Father through installing them or he did it for him. The old man would never have managed on his own, he doesn't get modern tech.'

Valery spat on the ground. Ren looked as if he'd jump off his chair but checked himself with a visible effort and let him talk. 'Of course, I helped him. He didn't need to buy me, either. He told me how we were cheated off our share by the dirty mongrel that birthed these two. Viktor doesn't deserve any of our money. I only got my reward after.'

'Somehow, that makes it so much worse,' Yuuri muttered. 'And you, Lera? How much did you know?'

'Nothing of this. We were children, Yuuri, we believed him when he said he'd be taking care of Anya because Vitya was volatile and dangerous; that after his father's suicide he was violent and couldn't be raised by him.'

Viktor swallowed. He had found his voice again, but it cracked when he spoke. 'Me. Violent. That … wow.' He raised his hands. 'But he left me alone for so long?'

'Because you were miserable and lonely, Vitya. You had success and that irked him, but sometimes the pain in your eyes was clear as day. As long as you weren't happy, it was fine with him.'

'And when he realised that I had found a source for joy in Yuuri, he decided to remove it. And because he's a stupid, despicable, uncaring asshole, he killed my dog instead.'

'Maybe Katarina got close to catching him and he dropped the poisoned chocolate,' Yuuri said. 'I'm sure he didn't mean to do that.'

Viktor laughed, entirely without humour. 'Obviously, because he meant to murder you! How is that better?'

'Lera, this is all well and good, you finally telling the truth,' Anya said, looking as livid as her husband. 'But are you telling us you never thought we might like to know that our parents didn't kill themselves?'

Lera shook her head. 'No. I mean, I wanted to talk, but if I did, I knew I'd lose everything. I let him buy me, but now I'm done. I can't keep doing this. I love you too much. And you seem so sweet, too, Viktor. You didn't deserve all that crap. Also … I swear to God, I didn't know any of this until a few weeks ago. I started putting two and two together when he left with that weird announcement and I pestered Valery into telling me. He knew already. And I still did nothing.'

Yuuri shook his head. 'You couldn't. Processing something like this isn't something everyone can do in a blink. In an ideal world, you'd have gone to the police or at least Anya at once, but that isn't how it works. I'm not blaming you for needing time. No-one should. You're human.'

Ren unclenched his fist, put the abused napkin on the table, and started smoothing it with both hands. 'Are you willing to tell the police any of that now, Lera?' His voice was quiet, but Yuuri felt his tension and fury like a living creature, a predator, ready to pounce. It made his skin crawl and he was glad that the man was on their side.

'Yes,' she said crisply. 'Of course, I am.'

'Hold on,' Anya said, holding up her hands. 'There's more, isn't there, Viktor?'

Viktor cleared his throat. His hands were clasped together in front of him to keep them from shaking, Yuuri knew, and he placed his on top of them. Viktor gave him a brief, grateful look before unclenching the iron grip he had on himself and taking Yuuri's hand instead, their fingers interlocked. 'I think so,' he said. He sounded more collected, but what they'd heard would torment him for a long time. 'Ren … could you find out what happened to Lyonya last night?'

Their host shook his head. 'No, he doesn't want to speak about it.'

Viktor's eyes settled on Lyonya's before the latter evaded his gaze. 'I know what he did to you. He meant to do it to me, he got the wrong guy in his drunk state and the dim light. I'm so sorry.' Viktor's eyes met Yuuri's briefly, looking haunted. 'I wish he'd tried me. I'm past freezing when someone tries to take what I don't want to give.'

Yuuri squeezed Viktor's hand, still joined with his, but remained silent. The implication of that last bit was awful, but he wouldn't ask. If Viktor ever wanted to say more, he would give him a clearly deliberate prompt. And if this was all he'd ever say and planned to take the rest to the grave, then so be it.

Lyonya's eyes were wide and horrified. They darted around and settled on Ren. 'Why did he do that? Why would anyone do that?'

Ren had no answer. He shook his head, looking ill. 'Can you tell us what happened, Lyonya? Can you tell the police?'

Lyonya opened his mouth to speak and Valery stood. He reached for the other man but never got there. In a blur of motion, Ren had vaulted over the corner of the table, and a moment later Valery slammed into the ground with Ren lying half on top of him. Valery squirmed helplessly for a few seconds before he gave up.

'You're not touching him ever again, so quit struggling. Are you done?' Ren asked. 'Say it. Are you done, 野郎?'

'I'm done, I'm done, get off me!'

Grunting his agreement, Ren got up. Grabbing a fistful of Valery's clothes, he all but threw him back onto his chair before he stood next to him, arms folded. 'Lyonya, my dear friend,' he said. The softness in his voice as he addressed him was in stark contrast to before. 'Please talk to us. This is very important. We need to make sure he never hurts anyone again.'

Lyonya nodded. He spoke quietly, talking to the few square inches of table right in front of him. 'Someone opened my trousers. He yanked them down so hard I almost fell off the chair. He took out my … my … And he started to take me in his mouth. I was scared and started kicking. He scratched me when I hit him, but he stopped. And when I'd put my clothes on again, I ran away. I couldn't see who it was. I'm sorry.'

Viktor nodded slowly. 'Don't be. We know it was Valery because he was quite proud of himself when he told Yuuri about it. He … made it out to be much more than what actually happened and thought it was me, but … Lera?'

The young woman had stood. Calm, almost serene, she took hold of a breadknife and turned to her brother. Valery tried to scramble out of his chair, but in his panic, he fell backwards with it. Ren didn't stop him, watching him crash with it with the hint of a smile. He completely ignored Lera's threat. Valery remained dazed for a moment, helpless to her. 'Уёбок,' she spat at him. Yuuri had never heard the word, but the meaning was clear enough.

'Lera, no!' Lyonya's voice cut through the silence. 'Lera, he isn't worth it, please, you can't.' He got up and close to her, one hand extended. 'Please, don't.' She offered no resistance when Lyonya took the knife from her and passed it to Ren. 'You can't let him do that to you. You're better.' He reached out again, this time to pull her close and she sagged against his chest, shaking with quiet sobs.

'Anya, please be so kind and call the police,' Ren said. 'I'll make sure this scumbag doesn't go anywhere.'

Anya nodded and left the room, already punching her phone's screen on the way. Ren kept his eyes on Valery, who was starting to pick himself up. He put a foot on his shoulder. 'Stay where you are or I swear I'll kick your throat so hard you choke to death. And no-one's going to tell me no.'

Anya returned, looking clearly shaken but in charge. 'They're on their way.' She turned to Viktor. 'I understand if you want to leave, but …'

'But the police will want to talk to us, too,' he finished for her. 'We should also make sure that the information gets to the Russian police. If they can nail my dear Uncle for trying to kill us, at least, it'll be something.'

'Absolutely. I'm so sorry, Vitya, this isn't what I wanted. I had no idea.'

'I know. We know.' Only now he let go of Yuuri to rub his hands over his face. 'This isn't your fault. Only his. I'm … I'm not going to cut you out of my life for what he did. I'm glad to have you back in it because aside from him, you seem like great people. I look forward to getting to know you.'

((野郎 - /yarō / is bastard. Don't use it. Really. The same goes for уёбок - /uyobak/ which is really very bad: Don't use it unless you can hold your own in a fight. I also almost misspelled it as уёбак because I wanted to write it as it sounds. This is why I can't read Russian aloud, too: I read the letters I see, get confused by ы, which we don't have, read г as an h, which Russian doesn't have, and generally sound like a moron because I only understand fragments.))