Viktor
Later in the day, I arrange to see Katya and meet up with her myself. At first, she’s confused about why Millie wouldn’t be coming along, but
I explain to her that this is strictly business. She sounds hesitant on the phone, but she agrees to meet with me at the headquarters.
When I see her, we hug as usual, and as soon as she pulls away, she looks me dead in the eyes. “Is this about my father?” she asks, her tone impossible to interpret.
I feel caught, like I’ve been trapped somehow. “Yes, Katya, this is about your father,” I reply with as much sincerity as I can find within myself.
She takes a deep breath and pulls up a chair from the far corner of the old office where we’ve been working. While I can imagine she’s nervous to hear what I have to say, she has a resolve to her that gives me some reassurance that she’ll handle the news well.
“Just let me start out by saying that I did everything I could to prevent this from happening,” I begin. It’s a shitty way to start, but I feel a strong need to absolve myself before she can blame me.
“Just say it,” she says flatly.
“Your father is dead. He’s been dead for a week,” I reply.
She sits back in her chair a bit and sighs. “I fucking knew it. He always comes back. I just… why didn’t anyone say anything?” she asks, confused tears welling in her eyes.
“Well, the circumstances of his death would really shock you, Katya. Even after all you knew about him, I think you would have a hard time with the details,” I reply, trying my best to navigate my way through this minefield of a conversation.
“Of course, I mean, I knew he was involved in some bad shit, but I never thought it would actually happen like this. Was it that rival gang?” she asks, delicately wiping a single tear from her eye before it can fall onto her cheek.
“No, Katya, and that’s why I need you to listen to me very carefully. Your father was holding a gun to Millie’s stomach before I shot him. I had no other choice,” I say, trying to mingle empathy and ambivalence in my voice and failing.
First, horrified shock, just as I’d expected. Her face contorts into disgusted disbelief, and she runs her hands through her hair as if she has no other way to express the shock and anguish of the news.
“Why the fuck would he be doing something like that? Millie was gone. How did he even find her?” she wails, nearly collapsing to the floor with the weight of her grief combined with the polarity of her sickness.
“He was furious that I wasn’t marrying you. That was the beginning and end of it. Nikolai has led me to believe that Stepan was very likely using drugs, which explains why his disappointment became more of an obsession once he realized that Millie was here to stay,” I continue, carefully trying to lift her from the floor to comfort her.
“Goddamn it, he was such a bastard! He never cared about me or what I wanted. He would have put me on a leash and led me around like a poodle if he could. He knew I didn’t want to marry you, and he almost killed my best friend anyway,” she cries, her voice strained by her sobs as she holds them back unsuccessfully.
“I know, and it’s tragic. My father made a joke in passing when I was a kid, and Stepan took it seriously,” I say.
Katya straightens herself, wiping the remainder of her angry tears from her eyes. “Fuck him. Fuck him and his entire shitty legacy. My mother will be better off without him. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll get another job to care for her,” she says with determination.
“That won’t be necessary, Katya. I’ll be taking care of you and your mother. This was my doing, even though the situation was messy from the beginning. You two will never have to worry,” I reply.
At first, I expect her to deny my offer, stating that she’s too prideful to accept my money. But I can see in her eyes that she’s tired. She’s tired of the lifestyle her father brought her into, she’s tired of seeing her mother disregarded by her husband, and she’s tired of being used as a prop so that her family can advance in life.
“Okay, thank you so much, Viktor,” she accepts, and she stands up out of her chair and hugs me tightly around the neck.
“I know this might be extremely inappropriate timing, but if you don’t want to be alone tonight as the shock settles in, Millie and I would love to have you for dinner,” I say, knowing fully that she could either accept my invitation or slap me across the face at the very suggestion.
“I would love nothing more than to be with you two while I have to process this, as long as you’re alright with me occasionally bursting into tears,” she replies, half-jokingly. “I haven’t seen Millie in forever. I need one of her famous hugs.”
I’m overjoyed that she’s so adamant about seeing Millie in the face of such terrible and conflicting news. It feels good to know that Millie has someone like Katya in her life.
I laugh. “Just don’t hug her too hard.”