Hearing voices, Semyon sat up in his bed and stared at the door, rubbing his sleepy eyes. Mama was angry. And she was angry at Papa. Slipping out of the bed very carefully so he didn’t wake Stefan, he crept out into the hall and crawled behind the sofa to play detective.  

“Stop giving me excuses, Yuri! Your boys need a father.”  

“Vera is pregnant, Sophia. Get used to it. I will not be coming over here every time you leave me a message. As far as I’m concerned, what we had is over.”  

Sophia glared at the tall, strong man standing in front of her. He was the love of her life, the father of her children. She had to keep him! “And what if I were to tell Vera the problem was her all along? What would she think about your nocturnal activities?” she said without thinking.  

“You will tell her nothing, Sophia.” His voice dropped low, deadly.  

Sophia backed away, realizing she had gone too far. “I would never tell her, Yuri. It’s just that I need you too, and so do our boys. You can’t just run out on them!”  

“Yes, I can. It’s very easy to do actually.” Yuri cupped the face of his mistress between his hands. “They’ll be going to an orphanage tomorrow after your death is ruled an accident.”  

Sophia’s eyes widened. “Yuri, no!” she whispered. “I thought you loved me.”  

“You’re right. I did love you once. But now you’re a liability. One that I can easily rid myself of.”  

Semyon covered his ears as a snapping crack! sounded, followed by a thud. He closed his eyes and scooted under the couch as the sound of his father’s footsteps passed by him. The front door opened and then closed. Semyon slowly came out from under the couch and crawled over to his mama. She was lying on the floor, completely still.  

Putting his hand on her shoulder, he shook her. “Mama,” he whispered. Nothing. So he shook her a little harder and raised his voice. “Mama.” She still did not move and he started crying. “Mama!”  

His cries woke Stefan, who ran into the room. He knew immediately what Semyon did not. Mama was dead.  

Rage engulfed the boy and he marched over to Semyon and jerked him up. “What did you do?” he shouted.  

But the child was now crying so hard that he said not a word.  

Letting go of his brother, Stefan knelt down next to his mother. Her head was at an odd angle, her eyes closed. They would never know it, but Sophia’s last thought had been to close her eyes so her children would not be frightened when they found her.  

Stefan put his hand on her face. “I love you, Mama,” he whispered. Then he stood and went downstairs to wake Mrs. Damirov, leaving Semyon sobbing into Mama’s lavender sweater.  

***

Frank’s shoulders shook as he dropped to his knees. He had witnessed the ultimate act of a parent’s betrayal that night. Just as he’d said, Sophia’s death was ruled an accident and the Gregov boys found themselves in an orphanage. Frank had withdrawn from everyone around him, most especially Stefan who blamed his little brother for her death.

“Mama” had been the last word Frank said until Fenton and Laura Hardy walked into his life. Frank was unaware of it, but Fenton guessed correctly what had really happened that night, and knew he would have to be extra careful if he hoped to fill the daddy-shaped void in Frank’s heart. The look of fear on the little boy’s face had given him away.  

As Frank sobbed over his mother’s grave, the tender way Laura had cared for him filled his thoughts. Laura and Sophia were very much alike in the way they treated him, encouraging him and drawing his naturally reticent personality out of its shell. As a boy, Frank had often dreamed that Sophia had picked Laura out just for him. And Joe too.  

Joe.  

Frank took a deep breath as his tears subsided at the thought of Joe. Joe was his best friend, his protector, his partner. His brother. Joe was everything Frank had always wanted Stefan to be. Since Joe was younger, Frank had molded himself into the big brother he’d always dreamed of having, and never even noticed when their roles would reverse and Joe would become the big brother Frank had always dreamed of having.  

That led him to think of Callie. They were so much alike, Callie and Joe. He was convinced that was why they so often did not get along, feeling that they each deserved the top spot in his heart- alone. Both of them deserved the spot, and in Frank’s heart they shared it. They just needed to figure out how to actually do it in real life.  

His thoughts flowed next to his friends. Vanessa, Phil, Chet, Tony and even Biff. His relationship with Biff had been strained at best to begin with. Biff Hooper had been a bully before meeting the Hardy brothers. He’d made the mistake of calling Frank “stupid” in front of Joe, who promptly attacked the much larger boy and gave him a bloody nose.

Biff had come around to their house later that week and apologized. Joe had forgiven him, begrudgingly at first, and then a close friendship blossomed between the two. Frank had kept his distance for a few years, unable to forget what Biff had said to him, Biff’s voice often mixing with Stefan’s in his head. It had taken Joe being kidnapped their freshman year of high school and Frank requiring Biff’s assistance to rescue him before Frank had finally forgiven him. Biff was the first of their friends to find out Frank was adopted.  

And then a new thought popped into Frank’s mind; a new way of looking at what had happened to him sixteen years ago today. Sophia had let herself die so he could have Joe. Joe was the reason Frank had so many friends, of that he was sure. Without Joe, Frank knew he would be a recluse, the kid that everyone felt sorry for because he had no friends but at the same time no one wanted to be his friend.  

“Thank you, Mama,” he whispered. “I could never make it through life without Joe.”  

A hand came to rest on his back and Frank smiled. As he started to turn to hug his brother, a voice whispered in his ear and he froze.  

“Miss me, Semyon?”  

Stefan.  

“No,” Frank answered. “I have a new brother now, and he’s better at it than you.”  

Stefan pushed his brother down, his right hand pinning Frank’s head to the ground and his left twisting Frank’s arm up behind his back. “Then where is he? Why isn’t he coming to the rescue?”  

Frank gasped as his shoulder started to pop, unable to answer.  

Stefan relaxed his grip ever so slightly and pulled Frank to his feet, pushing him in front as they walked. “Some brother, Semyon. He can’t save you.”  

Frank stiffened his body, forcing Stefan to a dead halt. “My name is Frank now. Get used to it. And Joe will save me. He always does.”  

Stefan clucked his tongue and shook his head. “By the time I’m done with you, he won’t want to save you. He won’t even want you as a brother anymore. He’ll see you for what you are, a stupid brat who destroys everything around him.”  

Frank tried to block out those last words…stupid brat…destroys everything around him…It wasn’t true!  

“They never really wanted you to begin with. You’re just a paper child, you don’t really mean anything to them and you know it.”  

“Stefan, shut up!” Frank hissed.  

“No.” Stefan pushed Frank forward again. “Remember, no one will want you.” His voice dropped, becoming lethal and sending a chill down Frank’s spine. “No one.”

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.