“Understand something. The second you arranged this,” Kaz said gesturing to the number stitched on his uniform, “was the very second you were dead to me. Did you think you were punishing me? Sticking me in here for a few months? Was this supposed to be my lesson?”
“Your actions have consequences, Kazimir—whether you like it or not,” Vasily retorted, that familiar fire entering his words. “You are not above my rules, boy, or have you forgotten your place? This was nothing new. Playing the victim will get you nowhere.”
“Is that what you think this is?” Kaz asked. “Me playing the victim?”
“No, I think you’re acting like a child that got his favorite toy taken away.”
It took great focus to keep his emotions in check, but Kaz had had a full month to prepare for this face-to-face, and he wasn’t ready to tip his hand just yet.
“I honestly believe that’s what you think, too. Violet was never a toy. She wasn’t a fucking possession that I fucked around with when I was in the mood. She meant something to me.”
“Meant?” Vasily questioned. “Does she not mean anything to you now?”
“Why did you come here, Vasily?”
“Is it such a foreign concept that a father would want to check on his son?”
Kaz smirked. “Only when that father was the one that did it to him.” Taking one last drag from his cigarette, he flicked the butt across the yard, watching it skip along the pebbles before settling. “You’re a fan of your warnings, no?” Kaz asked as he looked back to his father. “Here’s one for you. When you looked into the abyss, it didn’t stare back—it winked.”
Vasily shook his head. “What does that mean?”
Kaz tapped his throat on either side with two fingers, smiling even as Vasily glared. “Watch your back.”
Leaving him standing there, Kaz headed back into the building, holding his arms out so the cuffs could be put back on him, and he could be taken back to his cell. He didn’t doubt that he had gotten his point across.
Besides the meeting with his father, the rest of his night was rather uneventful, much of it spent counting down the minutes, first until dinner was over, then showers, and finally, when it was lights out.
Then there was always that hour in between that felt like it took the longest, that the money he’d been shelling out ultimately meant nothing. But just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps, then saw an arm appear in front of the bars, slipping the device through them.
Kaz had the small cell phone in his hand, dialing the only number added as a contact inside before the guard could even walk off.
His heart beating fast, his mind in shambles, he waited, listening to each ring like it would be the last, and then finally, after the fourth ring, the call connected.
The voice was soft, tentative, almost afraid, but the sound of it was enough to make him feel like he could breathe again. “Kaz?”
Smiling, he rested his head against the cinderblock wall, closing his eyes as he said, “It’s good to hear your voice, krasivaya.”