Backburner
Genesis wasn’t sure how to feel as she looked at the photo of the man she’d been told her entire life, adopted her.
“I don’t understand.” She felt her lungs were squeezing her heart. She was desperate for every breath. She couldn’t believe what she was looking at. “He and my mom told me I was
adopted. They adopted me. They never hid from me how they rescued me.” She shot a look to Lorcan, “can you check to see the real name of his wife? Did you know her?”
“I didn’t know her,” Lorcan denied her question. “Are you saying Mak told you he was your adoptive father?”
“Yes. Why tell me he was not my biological father? Was the entire story about me being found at the fire station a lie? They kept a scrapbook, Lorcan. It showed how they were on a list to adopt, and I was the lucky child to get to be part of their family. They celebrated not only my birthday but also the day they got me. My mother often said it was the best day of her life to get me.”
“If she was your real mother then maybe it was.”
“But why the subterfuge,” she was so frustrated at the notion her entire life was a lie. “Wait,” she shook her head, “I was adopted.”
“What do you mean?”
Backburner
2/9
“I mean when I went to college and applying for scholarships,
I needed to provide evidence of my adoption. I needed to go to apply to the State of Florida for a copy of my adoption records. My papers listed me as baby Jane Doe and my parents named me.”
Lorcan pulled up a photograph, “is this your mom?”
“Yes. That’s her.”
“Ekaterina Sokolov.”
“No. Wanda Jones. She went by Wanda.” She punched the desktop. “This is bullshit. Gosh, I wish I possessed Egan’s gift for ten minutes just to get into their heads to find out why.” Her heart was aching as she stared at the photo of her mother. “She was so beautiful. I used to watch her all the time. She could sing.” She sniffed, “I remember her singing in the kitchen and she would dance around. Dad would sit there scowling at her, but you could see her liked her theatrics.
“Genesis, I don’t know why they lied to you but if these are your so–called adoptive parents and you’re a cousin to Oleg, then you were blood related to them, specifically him,” Lorcan said softly.
“I don’t get it.” She whimpered and nestled her head into his shoulder. “Is it wrong I wish today never happened?”
“No. It is not wrong.” Lorcan rubbed her shoulder. “It is not wrong in the least. It’s been shit from the moment you opened your eyes.”
Backburner
“Well, not from the moment I opened my eyes. I was quite happy to wake up where I woke up.”
3/9
Kiefer gave a laugh, “is this where you tell me you used Dad as a mattress last night?”
“No but his shoulder makes a great pillow.”
“I think it’d be like sleeping on boulders,” Kiefer made a playful move to squeeze his father’s bicep. “Hard as rocks. Kind of like his head.”
“Funny.” Lorcan lifted his middle finger at his son.
“We get better every generation, Dad.”
“Yet, here I am with your wife on my lap.”
“Ouch.” Kiefer clutched his chest as if wounded but his smile. was wide. “Actually, I have to admit, I like seeing her there. She’s never been one to be vulnerable or needy in front of me. Never asked for anything, when we were first together, and I like she has you to let this side of her shine.” He stroked her cheek, “it suits you to be loved, Genesis. All parts of you.”
Kiefer’s phone rang interrupting their moment and Jerren’s voice came through loud.
“We have a problem, Kiefer.”
“What is it?”
Backburner
“The convoy carrying my bitch of a sister was intercepted.”
“By whom?”
4/9
“I don’t know. There was a lot of gunfire. They were coming through Connecticut and out of nowhere a team came at them. I’m trying to get the dashcam information. They let two of the five cars go but Laoise’s car was taken. The men which were in her car are dead, tossed out of the car, four other men in the other two cars are dead or injured. One of those cars went off a cliff down an embankment. I’m still waiting on an update.”
“Fuck.”
“Why?” Genesis asked seriously. “Were they rescuing her?”
“Who the fuck would rescue her? Nobody liked her.” Kiefer grunted angrily.
“Well, somebody liked her enough to bring her to Tunisia with them. Is it possible whoever brought her to Tunisia doesn’t mind. going up against our family to get her back?” She shot back at him.
“One,” Kiefer shot her a look, “very sexy you’re back to calling it our family. Two, the guys who took her to Tunisia were local thugs from her hometown and didn’t know she was wanted by us. The minute we put out we were looking for her, they called it in. They kept it quiet until we got there to get her. They collected their reward, and I don’t believe for a moment they gave a shit for her. She was nothing more than a hole and a means to get money.”
Backburner
“This day is really getting worse and worse,” she sighed.
Jerren spoke up, “look. I’m on my way to figure out the casualties in Connecticut. I don’t know what I’m going into.”
5/9
“Take Tadgh with you.” Kiefer spoke up. “Swing back here to get him.”
“Will do.”
Lorcan wasn’t mincing words, “check on our men and make sure everyone is accounted for, dead or alive, Jerren. If they took anyone with Laoise, I want them back. If they’re dead, we give them the burial they deserve. If they’re alive we bring them home. Am I clear?”
“Yes boss,” Jerren didn’t hesitate.
“If they killed Laoise, I want her body back here to verify it. I don’t want shit coming back five years from now like some goddamned telenovela where she rises from the dead.”
“And if she’s alive?”
“Bring her back so Genesis can do what needs to be done.”
“Speaking of Genesis. I might have a lead on the guys who killed Astra. One of her neighbors told the police a black SUV was hanging around the house she rented. She said when she was taking her dog out to take a piss around five, the car was there, and two men were sitting inside it as if waiting for someone in
Backburner
6/9
Astra’s house to come out. She said their windows were rolled down and they were speaking a language other than English.”
“Russian?” Lorcan questioned.
“She didn’t say but why are
but why are you thinking Russian?”
“The connection to Genesis’s family tree.”
“You have links?”
“To the Sokolov family.”
“Jesus Christ.” Jerren hissed, “not Nazar Sokolov.”
“One and the same. The man who Genesis understood to be her adopted father was Nazar’s brother.”
“The alive one or the dead one.”
“The dead one, asshole.” Kiefer snapped at him.
“Sorry, Gen.”
“It’s fine.” She paused, “wait, my Dad was killed in a car accident. The police told my babysitter the night they didn’t come home they were killed in a car accident. Lorcan, you said he died from a hit.”
“He did die from a hit,” he frowned. “Who told you it was a car accident?”
Backburner
“The cops and child protection services who took me into.
7/9
custody. They were going to a house party or something and I wasn’t allowed to come. I was with a sitter. When they didn’t come home, the police were called. My sitter was a teenage girl from the neighborhood. I got taken down to the precinct because she was supposed to have school in the morning or something. In forty–eight hours, I was with my first set of foster parents. She looked at the two men in the room, “if they didn’t die by at car accident like the police said, then how?”
“Mak was assassinated. He was getting out of his car to go to a meeting and as he was going around to help his wife from her side of the car, he was shot with by a sniper. It was a set up. Rumor has it, Yegor paid off the guy Mak was supposed to be making a connection with. They were supposed to be meeting at a restaurant to go over a new trade agreement on Nazar’s behalf. It was expected to be a friendly meeting between allies.”
“What changed?”
“Nobody knows.” Lorcan shrugged. “Anything happening in the Sokolov family is always kept quiet.”
“Why doesn’t this Nazar guy, who is probably my uncle, simply shoot Yegor and his son and be done with it?”
“Evidence. They have no evidence. This guy is good. Really good. He also has followers and friends. You don’t get rid of him. without proof.”
“He’s offing them one by one and Nazar is waiting for proof? What kind of pussy is he?” Genesis huffed furiously.
Backburner
8/9
Lorcan and Kiefer both looked at her trying not to laugh but Jerren failed and roared at his end of the call.
“On that note, tell Tadgh I’ll be there in thirty to get him.’
As the call ended, Kiefer gave his father a pointed look, “I’ll leave you to explain what kind of a pussy Nazar Sokolov is to Genesis. I’ll go update Tadgh.”
“The guys who got away in their cars, have them head straight to the compound outside of the city here. I’ll meet them there later.” Lorcan commented, “make sure they know I want a full debrief. Have Jerren send me the dashcam footage. I’ll go through it myself for any clues as to what is happening.”
Kiefer left the room with a curt nod and then Lorcan adjusted Genesis on his lap..
“I’m afraid looking into Astra’s murder is going to take a backburner today, Genesis. We had a crew of twenty on Laoise and it sounds like most of them are dead or hurt.”
“I understand.”
“However, once I sort this out, I’ll see if we can find a way to discretely contact Nazar Sokolov and see if he’s willing to talk to us. If there is anyone who can fill in the blanks it will be him. However, I need you to understand Genesis, this man is not a pussy as you said a moment ago. I’ve known him to walk into a meeting with twenty other people and be the only man who leaves it alive. When and if we talk to him, you’re going to need
Backburner
to be very diplomatic. I know he holds keys to your parents. and likely to Astra’s murder, but you need to get hold of your temper.”
She gave a nod and then stood up. “I’m going to go help Egan with the schoolwork. If you need help in here going through footage or anything with the guys, let me know. I don’t mind helping.”
9/9
He tugged her back and demanded a kiss which she obliged, and she cupped his checks and stared down at him.
“In his dreams, my dad told Egan you would keep us safe. I’m holding you to this, Lorcan.”
31
