Wish (8 page)

Found.

Dean Bello pulls me out of my math class. It
happens to be my least favorite class, so I can’t say I’m too
disappointed by this fact. All my bodyguards follow me as I walk
through the hallway.

I know I was kidnapped, but I think having
this many bodyguards is an overkill. I’m not anybody important. Not
like Damon is. Nobody even knows who my father is. He’s not a
politician. He’s just helping take down a terrorist group. A group
that he helped create.

When I follow Dean Bello into the office and
see that Tristan and Alik are both sitting inside. I take a seat in
a chair between them and Dean Bello takes the seat at the desk
across from us.

“
What’s wrong?” I ask. “Is it my
mum? Is she okay?”

“
She’s fine,” Tristan
says.

“
Good,” I say, feeling relief wash
over me.

“
Kat,” Alik says, his voice
sounding off. “They found Mum and Elana.”

“
That’s good,” I say, but nobody
says anything. “It’s good that they found them, right?”

“
Mum is fine,” Alik tells me. “But
Elana isn’t.”

“
Elana… is she dead?” I
ask.

“
No, but it doesn’t look good,”
Alik answers.

“
How is Dimitri?” I
ask.

“
He’s okay. He’s worried about
you,” he says. “Since Mum is okay, Dad is coming to America. Mum is
going to stay with Dimitri.”

“
Good,” I say, thinking Dimitri
needs her with him. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right
now.

“
They are doing what they can to
save Elana,” Alik tells me. “But they don’t think she can survive
the surgery that she needs. They’re going to try and hold it off as
long as they can, but they probably won’t be able to.”

Poor Dimitri.

I wish I could be there with him.

“
Katerina, if you need to take a
few days off from school, I would understand,” Dean Bello tells me.
“You have went through so much already, being kidnapped and now
this. I’ve already informed your teachers you won’t be coming to
class for a little while.”

“
Thank you,” I tell
her.

“
I’m also not going to be going to
classes anymore,” Alik says. “I guess I couldn’t pretend to be a
high school student forever. I’m staying on campus with you until
all this is over, though.”

“
So we can tell people you’re my
brother?” I ask. “I’m sick of people thinking I’m dating
you.”

Dean Bello laughs. “I think I heard that
rumor.”

“
Do you hear all the
rumors?”

“
Pretty much,” she says. “I also
heard a rumor that you set my daughter up with Salvador Grishin. I
don’t know what happened while you were kidnapped in Russia, but
what I do know is that you brought that kid back with you and the
president of the United States insisted I enroll the kid. Is he
safe?”

“
He’s fine,” I say. “He helped
save Damon and me.”

“
He’s Russian,” Dean Bello
says.

“
So am I,” I say, trying not to be
offended by her tone.

“
Me too,” Alik says.

“
Yeah, but my sister married a
Russian man, and he turned out to be a terrorist,” she
says.

“
My dad is a good guy,” I say,
defending him. “Maybe he has a rough past, but he’s working on
correcting it. He loves my mum and he’s never treated her bad. He’s
been a great dad to us.”

“
Our dad loves our mum. A lot,”
Alik says. “It’s why I’ve never had a girlfriend. I want a love
like they have.”

I grin at Alik’s words.

Who knew he was such a sweet, romantic
guy.

“
I bet you’ve broken a lot of
hearts,” Dean Bello says to Alik, then looks at me. “I want to make
sure my daughter doesn’t get her heart broken.”

“
She might,” I say. “She’s
fifteen. But Salvador really is a good guy. He has had a rough
past, but it’s only made him grow up faster. I thought he was older
when I first met him. He doesn’t act like a fifteen year old
boy.”

“
That’s what I’m scared of,” she
says. “But if you think he’s a good boy, I guess I can’t stop it.
Jade is a good kid. She doesn’t have any friends in school, so I
think having him as a friend will be good for her.”

“
I think so too.”

“
Why does nobody like her?” Dean
Bello asks.

“
Honestly, because of you,” I
answer. “You’re her mum and you’re also the dean. People are scared
she will tell you things to get them in trouble. But they’re just
freshman. I think things will get better as they grow up a little.
It’s always hard for freshman to make friends. Eduard and Raslan
were my only friends then.”

“
She looked like an eleven year
old until about halfway through being fifteen,” Alik says. “She was
so small.”

“
I was like Jade,” I tell Dean
Bello.

“
Your mum and I were the same
way,” Dean Bello says.

“
I hated it,” I say. “People
always thought I was younger than what I was.”

“
Dad liked it,” Alik says,
laughing. “None of the guys were interested in dating
her.”

“
Thanks, Alik,” I say, rolling my
eyes at him. “Not like I was interested in dating any of those guys
anyway.”

“
I always wished I would have had
a sibling for Jade,” Dean Bello says.

“
Why didn’t you?” I ask. “And what
about Jade’s dad? I’ve never heard her or you talk about
him.”

“
Her dad isn’t apart of our life,”
she says, her voice now cold. “I’ve got to get back to work now.
You three are free to go.”

Huh.

Now I’m curious who Jade’s dad is. But unless
Jade wants to know, it’s none of my business.

SIX

Scary.

The next day, Alik goes to pick up Dad from
the airport, and we meet him at the Russian restaurant in New Hope.
I wanted to go to the airport, but Tristan wouldn’t let me go for
safety reasons. He even sent a couple of my bodyguards with Alik,
just in case.

When I see Dad and Alik walk into the Russian
restaurant, I am relieved to see that they’re safe.

“
Daddy!” I run over to him and
give him a hug.

“
Katerina, it is good to see you,”
Dad says, hugging me tightly back. “I was worried about
you.”

“
Alik is a terrible bodyguard,” I
tell him, laughing.

“
Hopefully we can put an end to
all this so you won’t need a bodyguard anymore.”

“
I hope so too,” I hear Tristan
say. “I’m tired of pretending to be a high school senior. School
was torturous enough the first time around.”

“
But then you won’t get to hang
out with me,” I say.

“
Yeah, I will,” he says, putting
an arm around me. “I will always make time for you.”

Dad looks between us. “So this is… a
thing?”

“
Yep,” Alik answers, letting out
an annoyed sigh. “I kind of want to hate him just because he’s
dating my sister, but he’s a good guy. I couldn’t have picked
somebody better for her if I tried.”

“
And he’s going to be sticking
around a while?” Dad asks.

“
I plan on it,” Tristan
says.

I smile at his words.

I like the idea of Tristan “sticking around”
for a while.

Dad smiles too. “Wait until you meet Dimitri
to make up mind.”

Alik laughs. “Yeah, Dimitri is the oldest. And
he was always the most protective of Kat. He will most definitely
hate you on principle. But he will grow to like you. Maybe. But
only after you’ve been married ten years and have kids.”

Married.

Really?

Ugh… big brothers are so
embarrassing.

“
Alik, stop embarrassing your
sister,” Dad says, then changes the subject. “So, is food good
here?”

“
It’s totally amazing,” I
say.

“
You sound American,” Dad
says.

“
She does,” Alik agrees. “It’s
weird. I think your accent has even changed.”

“
You still sound very Russian to
me,” Tristan says. “You guys can speak Russia if you’re more
comfortable. I won’t be able to keep up completely, but I should
understand enough to get most of what you’re saying.”

“
Are you sure?” I ask.

Tristan nods. “It’s fine. I need to practice
my Russian anyway.”

We switch to speaking Russian. I miss speaking
my native language, and I know my dad is more comfortable speaking
Russian. We try to speak slower for Tristan, because I don’t want
to leave him out of the conversation.

When Tristan speaks, he sounds really good. I
can hear his American accent, which is pretty strong, but if I met
him in Russia, I would have no idea that he has only been studying
Russian for a few months.

I also like how well he fits in with my
family. I know my dad and Alik will probably joke around with him,
but I can tell they like him already. Dimitri will like him too.
Especially considering all Tristan has done to protect
me.

Since I moved to America about
three months ago, my life has changed a lot. I’m surprised at how
quickly I have adapted to an American lifestyle. The food still
isn’t any good, but I have grown attached to the people. I
will
always
be a
Russian girl at heart, but I really could see myself living in
America one day. And I mean for good, not just for
school.

“
You
really don’t want to go back to Russia with me
?” Dad asks, as we’re leaving the restaurant. He’s only
staying in America for a couple days, then he’s heading back to
Russia.

“
No, I
like it here,
” I tell him.

“
I don’t
think I would’ve sent you to school here if I knew you were going
to fall in love with an American boy
,” he
says.

“
Do you
like Tristan
?” I ask.

“
He’s a
good boy,
” Dad answers.
“
He’s got a good head on his shoulders.
He’s smart. And I can tell he loves you. I just don’t like that
America is so far from Russia and I don’t like his choice in job,
but I’m glad he’s protecting you. I think the two of you are good
together.
”

“
Thanks
,” I tell him.

After that, Tristan and I go back to campus.
Dad is going to come on campus and see me before he leaves. I wish
I could stay with him, but it’s not really safe for me to right
now. Alik is going to be staying with him some though, so at least
he won’t be alone.

On the way back to campus, Tristan and I
talk.

“
Do you think your dad likes me?”
he asks.

“
Yes, definitely,” I answer.
“Well, aside from your job. I don’t think he likes your job. He
also doesn’t like that you live in America.”

“
Because my job would put you in
danger,” he says.

“
My dad’s job puts me in
danger.”

“
Not forever,” Tristan says. “Your
dad is working hard to clean up this mess. He’s doing it to protect
you and your family. My job would just put you in more danger. Like
it did my family. That’s why the rest of my siblings don’t want
anything to do with me.”

“
I don’t care what the risk
is.”

“
I do,” he says. “To be honest,
I’m kind of tired of what I do. I want to see my nieces and
nephews. I want to see my siblings. I bet my oldest niece is
probably six years old. I’ve missed so much of her life because
I’ve been so obsessed with this.”

“
What are you going to do about
it?”

“
After this assignment is over,
I’m going to quit my job. I have all this training. I could do
something else,” he answers. “My sister sends me pictures of the
family every once in a while. They’ve all changed so much since I
left after I graduated high school. They’ve grown older. So have I.
I’ve wasted so much time being obsessed with this mission. I can’t
do it anymore, Katerina.”

“
So don’t,” I say.

“
After what happened, my family
moved away from Tennessee,” Tristan tells me. “I guess they didn’t
want to be anywhere near there. I can’t blame them for it. I hate
going back there, to see where we used to live. It hurts to know
that all those happy memories have been replaced with bad
ones.”

“
Where do they live now?” I
ask.

“
Georgia,” he answers. “Somewhere
close to Atlanta.”

“
Where is Georgia?”

Yeah, yeah. I still don’t know American
geography. I don’t have a class on it, so I’ve never taken the time
to learn it. I think they take geography classes when they’re
younger in American schools.