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14
Olga wrote a few things down on her pad, then looked up. “You have proof of this?”
He pulled out a cassette tape recording, handing it to her. “This is the story in her own words. She recorded it before she went to Moscow, just in case,” he said. Then he pulled out a smaller cassette, along with a player that was about the size of a pack of cigarettes. “She got a meeting with Yevgheny, and had this hidden in her purse when she went to see him.”
I listened to the meeting in horror. “Miss Klishnina, Mr. Zubkov will see you now.”
“Mr. Zubkov, thank you for seeing me.” I started to cry, she sounded a lot like I did.
“My pleasure. Please, sit. Would you like a drink, Ekatarina?”
“No thank you, sir.”
“Very well, what can I do for you? Do you need a job again?”
“No sir, I no longer dance. It’s about my daughter, Natalya. Our daughter.” I heard her purse moving. “I don’t mean to cause you trouble, sir. I wouldn’t have dared given your name as her father, but you are. I was a virgin when you took me, I’ve been with no other man. I am here only to ask for help.”
“I see. What kind of help do you need?”
“My savings have run out, and I can’t make enough money as a waitress to cover the cost of child care and my home. I have no family left to help me. I’m begging you for assistance, sir. I will never reveal her father to anyone, but I have to live.”
“I understand. You have nothing to worry about, Ekatarina. Your struggles are over, I’ll take care of everything.”
“Thank you, sir. Thank you.” He reached over and turned off the recording.
“Is there more?”
“I don’t think you want to hear more, Natalya. She was told she was going to a lawyer’s office to set payments up, instead his guard broke her neck and stuffed her into the trunk of his car. I saw them unload the body and make it look like an accidental fall.” He pushed the recording over to Olga. “Of course, we will be happy to supply DNA for testing that will prove Yevgheny was her father.”
“Of course. It will be difficult, but it can be done,” Olga said. “From what I have read in the papers, you are correct, he has no direct heirs. The courts are trying to determine how it should be split among his more distant relatives.”
I looked at her. “He was my sperm donor, never a father. I want to be his heir not to carry on his legacy, but to allow my Mom to have a final revenge after all these years. All she wanted was a little money to live on.”Material © NôvelDrama.Org.
“And you’ll end up with everything,” Olga said. She was fully aware of the value of his estate, and even her 5% of net proceeds fee would be a fortune. “You have yourself a lawyer,” she said as she shook my hand.
*****
Olga smiled a little as she considered my case. “You may be lucky. From what I have seen, no valid will was in place for your father when he was killed. Therefore, the Court has to determine how the estate is to be liquidated, and who inherits it. If he was still married, it would default to his wife; since his wife is already dead, it becomes more difficult. His brother Yuri is expected to inherit the majority of his estate, since he is the closest living relative until you showed up.”
Father Kempechny shook his head. “Yuri is as bad as his brother, he is leader of the Russian Mob in St. Petersberg. Nasty man, he is known to be involved with smuggling, prostitution, slavery, drugs- you name it and they are probably doing it. Even if you didn’t touch the money, keeping him from getting it would be a public service.”
Olga nodded. “This will be very delicate, because right now you are all that stands between Yuri Zubkov and an estimated three billion rubles.”
“He’s a dangerous man, that’s why we need to keep you well hidden,” the Father agreed. “Olga, you may use Natalya’s name because she goes by another one, that trail will be almost impossible to uncover.”
She nodded. “That’s fine with me, I don’t want to know.” She handed us each a card, an email address and a phone number on the back. “These are my private lines, not the firm. If you have any questions, call me, and don’t use Natalya… use Natalie.” I nodded. She turned to an intercom. “Svetlana, bring tea and come here please.” Turning back to us, she reviewed her notes. “The recordings and the birth certificate are easy. I can find employment or tax records for you mother to prove she worked at your father’s club. The rape doesn’t matter, only paternity does. To prove that, we need your DNA results and a comparison with his.”
The door opened, and a young blonde came in with a tray containing a tea service. She poured us each a cup as Olga called a medical testing company, directing them to immediately send a person to their office to obtain a blood sample for DNA analysis. “They’ll have someone here in thirty minutes,” she said. “We will take two vials, one I will have analyzed myself, the other we will submit to the Court for their own testing. We have to work fast, the probate case will close soon unless we intervene. The first step is to file a petition to establish paternity; once you are declared his daughter, then we can enter into the probate case.”
“How long will that take?”
“It could take months to get the court to recognize you as his legal daughter. The DNA helps, but we also have to address any other issues that arise. Did you change your name?”
“No, I was adopted,” I said.
She wrote some things down, then looked at the Father. “I take it Yevgheny never was notified of the adoption or gave up his parental rights?”
“Correct. She was declared an orphan after her mother’s death and then adopted.” He looked at me, then her. “It was the best way to keep her alive, Zubkov had already killed her mother and was actively looking for her.”
“That’s good, we can argue the adoption wasn’t enough to remove his claim to paternity.” We talked more about the process; I would not be required to be present, and she would be requesting I not be required to be in attendance due to the risks to me of being identified. “Even if we weren’t worried about Yuri, which we are, your father was a powerful man with many enemies. You are better off if no one ever knows you are his daughter.”
There was a knock on the door, and the secretary let a man in with a lab coat and a small black bag. He quickly took two small vials of my blood, packed one of them away and was gone again. “Are you staying in town overnight,” Olga asked.
“I’m afraid not, we need to return home.”
She looked at her watch. “There are some forms I need Natalya to sign, but it will take a few hours. Can you go get some dinner and return after?”
“We can, Olga.” We rose and shook hands, and her assistant Svetlana showed us out.
Svetlana’s POV
I listened with one ear to the microphone I’d placed in the conference room. I smiled, my brother would be pleased, and this information could be worth a lot of money. I knew as soon as I saw the priest that there was something more to this than a simple will. I could tell the meeting was coming to an end, so I ended the recording and removed the jump drive it was being recorded on from my computer. It went in my pocket.
Olga beeped for me and I came to the door, escorting them out. I made sure my phone got a good picture of the two of them in the process. Once they were out, Olga was waiting for me with the papers. “I’ll be in my office getting these forms ready,” she said. “Start a client file, here is the representation agreement and the other background.” She handed me some papers, I didn’t show any surprise that she didn’t give me the recordings. That was all right, I’d have what I needed.
I texted my brother, telling him I had information for him and needed to see him soon. He was in St. Petersburg; his boss and almost everyone else above him had been picked up in a police raid, and he was switching crews if the new bosses would accept him. He was meeting with a potential boss and would be back in the morning. He asked me to email it to him, but I’d have to do that when I got home. I couldn’t risk doing it on the work network.
I worked for another couple hours, leaving right after the young woman and her priest returned and met with Olga for ten more minutes. I popped my head in the office when they were gone. “Anything else, Mrs. Alexandrov?”
“I’ll be here half the night getting this written up, but it doesn’t have to ruin your night. See you in the morning.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.” I closed the door, grabbing my purse and making my way out of the office and down to my car. In thirty minutes I was home, the jump drive in my laptop, and Mikhail had the information he’d need to secure his place in the St. Petersburg Mafia.
Patrick’s POV
My father had purchased the ticket to Moscow online and dropped me at the airport, the flight left only three hours after I had found out she was gone. I spent most of the flight sleeping, the rest worrying. When I arrived, I picked up my bag and was met outside by two big guys holding a sign with my name. Both were werewolves from the Kstovo Pack, sent by Alpha Viktor to help me protect and return Jessie to America. “Dobryy vecher, Beta Patrik. Good evening. I am Sergey, the quiet one here who doesn’t speak English is Ivan. Did you have a good flight?”
I shook their hands. “It was twelve hours locked in a tube with smelly humans, and I’m glad to be on the ground again.” Sergey laughed, most wolves felt the same. We would much rather run than fly. “Do you have any other luggage?”