Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

now.
    'You didn't do anything wrong, Brian. Of all of us, you're the only one who tried to do the right thing. None of this is your fault. And certainly Dean's death isn't. That's on whoever killed him, and we don't know that it was Nikitin.'
    'Thank you for that, Joley,' Brian said.
    He went out the door, leaving her standing alone in the silence. In emptiness. Because that was her life. Empty.
    Having spent hours of happiness with Ilya, the sheer loneliness was that much harder to take. Maybe that had been Logan's downfall. When Tish stopped traveling so much with them, he couldn't take being alone. Maybe that was the reason Denny couldn't resist the groupies and Rick and Leo partied so much. She could understand how Brian, after so many years of emptiness, had turned to someone he thought it was safe to love.
    She flipped open her phone and called Jonas. When it came to her family, she knew they were rock-solid, could always be counted on, but he was going to go berserk on her. She told him the entire story. All of it. Including her downfall with Ilya. She skated over Brian, but she knew he got the gist of it, and one thing about Jonas was his absolute silence when she spoke to him in confidence - which she'd been smart enough to insist on before the conversation even got started.
    She had to hold the phone away from her ear until he got done swearing and telling her to get her ass home now.
    Tonight. On a plane. She stood for what seemed like forever before his rant stopped and she could speak again.
    'Jonas, I cannot cancel the rest of my tour. We're sold out at every single venue. In any case, if we did cancel, that would certainly tip off Nikitin that Brian told us everything.'
    'I don't give a damn. You get home to the house that eats people and I know you'll be safe. Bring the band if you need to, but get where we can protect you.'
    'It's not like I'm going to be poking around asking questions. I'm not stupid.' She made a face. 'Okay. I take that back, I'm stupid where men are concerned, but not about safety.'
    'Nothing can happen to you, Joley. I'll fly to Dallas with Aleksandr and Jackson and we'll help provide protection.

    Aleksandr knows a great deal about the mob, and once Jackson puts the crosshairs on someone, they're dead.'
    She sucked in her breath. 'You can't do that. I mean it, Jonas. First of all, I absolutely am not risking my family. You promised you'd be reasonable. Don't fly off the handle. If you all come down here, my sisters will come.'
    'Over my dead body.'
    'You know they will. Come on. Think with me. If you come to Dallas right now, my sisters will follow, and that would have the same effect as if I canceled the tour. Nikitin would know Brian gave him up and he'd have him killed.
    Tell me I'm wrong.'
    There was more swearing on the other end. Jonas finally sighed. 'Listen to me, Joley. Really, for once m your life, listen to me. Hannah, your sisters, your parents, and me, Joley, we wouldn't survive it if anything happened to you.
    You're like the sunshine in this family. Nothing would ever be the same. I'll gather as much information as possible here. Aleksandr will be able to tell us more about Prakenskii, but you stay the hell away from him. My gut says he's some kind of cop, but I've been wrong before. He's sided with our family numerous times, and between you and me, I know he's the one who took out the mobster threatening Hannah. He did it to make certain the feds didn't keep him alive where he could direct reprisals from a cell.'
    'That hit benefited Nikitin, though, didn't it? I heard you talking to Jackson about it.' Joley began pacing up and down the narrow corridor of the bus. 'You shouldn't have been listening.' There was an edge now to Jonas's voice, something that happened a lot with Joley.
    'Sorry, I find your whispered conversations so intriguing.'
    'That's not funny, Joley.'
    Her fingers tightened around the phone. 'If I don't laugh, I'm going to cry. I'm counting on you to figure something out. I'm doing the concert tonight, and I'm going to have Jerry announce that we have to leave right after so no one will have a chance to go to that party.'
    She could feel Ilya's presence now. He was close - very close - and her heart began to beat faster in anticipation of seeing him.
    'You just remember there's already been one murder, Joley. If it's about Brian, Nikitin won't hesitate to teach him another lesson.'
    'I'm scared enough, thank you very much. I've got to do the