Blinking fast, I glanced to Avto. “Who is the woman?”

Avto did not reply; instead he rocked on his feet, his hands clasping together behind his back.

“Avto?”

Shaking his head, Avto said, “I can scarcely believe it to be true, but his fiancée is…” Avto trailed off, his jaw clenching.

“Who is she?” I demanded, injecting an urgent tone into my voice.

Without lifting his head, he revealed, “Talia Tolstaia.”

I was sure the walls and floor of the apartment were falling down around me at the mention of that name. I shook my head, convinced I had misheard. “Can you repeat what you said?” I asked.

Avto shook his head. “You heard me perfectly, miss. Zaal, our new Lideri, our leader, he is betrothed to Talia Tolstaia, daughter to Ivan Tolstoi, one of the Volkov Bratva Red Kings.”

My legs weakened so much that Avto reached forward and guided me to the nearest couch. Once I sat down, I studied this picture with new eyes. This woman, this blonde, was the daughter of the family that betrayed my father. The family my brothers, the Kostava Clan, were set to hate, to inflict their revenge upon.

“I don’t understand, Avto. How could he do this to our family? How could he disgrace us and dishonor our Kostava name by being with this woman?”

“Miss Zoya, our source informed us that although he does not know the whys—no one can infiltrate their inner circle—the Volkov Bratva were responsible for the rescue of your brother. They found him in the clutches of Jakhua. They somehow freed him. It was under their protection that he fell in love with the Tolstaia girl.”

I stared and stared at the picture, and a war broke out inside my heart. My brother was alive, yet he had fallen for our greatest enemy. I could barely wrap my head around this impossible truth.

Avto placed an arm around my shoulders offering comfort. I melted into his side, and just as I had began to relax Avto added, “Lideri Zaal killed Levan Jakhua. With the help of the Volkov knyaz, Luka Tolstoi, he killed the man that massacred your family. The Jakhuas are no longer a threat, miss. We are no longer in hiding. Our people, you, are free.”

Startled by Avto’s words, I straightened and absorbed them.

“Did you hear me, miss? We are no longer in hiding.”

“You mean I can leave this apartment?” I whispered, not saying the words aloud, fearing they were false.

“Yes. And our people, miss. All of our people that have been in hiding—the lieutenants, the guards—every one, they are beginning to hear of the news as well. The fact that our Lideri is alive, in your brother, is traveling like wildfire among those in hiding.” Avto smiled and said excitedly, “Our clan can rise again. The Kostavas can take their place here in New York—at long last!”

My eyes dropped to the picture of Zaal and his Tolstaia love, and my heart fell. “What if he does not want to be Lideri? What if everything he has gone through under Jakhua has scarred his soul too much? What if he wants a life with his woman, and not to be leading our people?”

Avto’s smile faded. “He is Zaal Kostava, of the famous and noble Kostava Clan. He was born for this role.”

“Yet you said he has spent his days as a killer created by an evil man.” Avto’s mouth hung at my words, but I shook my head. “None of us are the people we were born to be. I have been in hiding all my life. Zaal has been fighting for his life since he was eight. And Anri? Where is he? What I do know is that none of us are the same. How can we be? All we knew was taken from us and destroyed.”

Avto reached for my hand and squeezed. “Our people have been hiding from Jakhua for over twenty years, some found and killed in the most horrific of ways. Our people need this; they need us to be strong again. They need Master Zaal to be our Lideri.”

Silence stretched out as I replayed Avto’s words over and over in my head. But he was correct. Our people had lived in fear for over two decades. Only the hope of my brothers’ survival kept their days filled with optimism.

“I have to see him,” I said, and felt the tension seep from Avto’s body. “I have to tell my brother I am alive. I have to know where Anri is.” My eyes filled with tears and I sniffed. “I need to have my family again. I need to see my sykhaara.”

“I understand, miss,” Avto said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper. He handed it to me and nodded his head. “Zaal’s home address is on there, as well as the Tolstois’. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, he goes to the Tolstoi household in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. We will decide on a day and take you there, soon.” Avto squeezed my hands tighter as I realized today was a Tuesday. “He will not be able to believe it. His sister, his bloodline, is still alive.”

Nodding my head, I leaned into Avto and kissed his cheek. “You’re a good man, Avto. Now go home and celebrate this news with your family. If all you have said is true, I am finally safe on my own. That is a blessing.”

Avto looked to me as a father would to a daughter, then got to his feet. “I’ll come by tomorrow evening. I’ll arrange a car to take us to Brooklyn, to the apartment Zaal shares with his fiancée.”

I smiled at Avto, and nodded my head as he left the apartment. I heard the door locks snap shut and I flopped back against the couch. When Avto and his family found me as a child, on the brink of death, under my deceased family’s bodies, our people had rejoiced. I was alive. The Kostava Clan, who had been a royal family of sorts to the people of Georgia, had a living heir. And Anri and Zaal were missing. Not dead, but missing. A hope that was diminished was suddenly reborn.

Like the proverbial princess locked in the tower, I had been hidden and treated like a goddess my entire life. We had moved around a lot, until I feared I would go crazy from the suffocating seclusion my life had become. I was treated more like a prized jewel than a human, too precious to lose to our enemy. The last pillar of hope for the Tbilisi Kostava dynasty.

Until now.

Jumping to my feet, I rushed to the heavy black curtains that were always drawn in my apartment. Pushing the curtains aside just a fraction, I stared out into the cold dark night, searching for any signs of life. People were walking past, going about their business, but other than that, I could see no danger.

Dropping the curtains, I closed my eyes. “There is no more danger,” I said aloud, convincing myself that the threat to my life was no longer there.