The men walking past the door, watching us out of the corner of their eyes, freeze. The olive-skinned one who’s dressed for a board meeting looks familiar. I try to picture him in my childhood, but all that comes up is a fuzzy memory of a quiet teen who kept to the edges and jumped at Dad’s every order. The other one reminds me of a barbarian king, and I can’t imagine him as a youth at all.
Except as they tentatively cross the dining room, they look less like Bratva brawlers and more like kids summoned to the principal’s office.
“These two can fetch whatever it is for you. They seem to have plenty of time to wander around aimlessly.” Roman places his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his steepled fingers. “Any particular reason you wanted to interrupt my first family breakfast in fifteen years?”
The Suit swallows. The other man goes still, like a shark might before striking. Neither responds.
Damn, I’d forgotten how intimidating my father can be.
Working to not show my amusement, I describe the bag I put the photos in, and the two men hurry away.
Dad shakes his head and finally gulps down a spoonful of his cooling porridge.
“What about Dimitri’s mom?” The question escapes me before I can stop it, before I can decide if I really want to know the story. “What happened with her?”
His expression shifts from annoyed to confused. “You mentioned that yesterday, and I spent all night searching my memory. I don’t…” He stops, his eyes narrowing. “I had a girlfriend when I was sixteen. Marina. We were together for maybe six months, until her parents found out who my parents were. What my family did. They made her break up with me, and I never saw her again.”
I wait for him to say more, but he only shrugs. “She never told you? Never tried to contact you?”
“No. That’s the downside of being a man. If the woman chooses not to tell you, there’s nothing you can do. If Dimitri was mine and she reached out at any time, I would have welcomed him. Raised him here. My father would never have allowed a grandchild of his to be left alone and forgotten. I wouldn’t let that happen to my child either.”
Just like that.
If one woman had simply spoken up over thirty years ago, the family could have avoided so much pain.
A few minutes later, Kirill and Kolya return with the blue suitcase I bought to transport the keepsakes. I gesture to Dad, who glances at the luggage, then motions for them to set it on the table.
“They’re kind of dirty. I used one as a weapon, so it got a bit smudged up. Not what I would prefer, but needs must?—”
“When the devil drives.” Dad finishes the saying and smiles.
My heart stutters.
I must have adopted that specific saying from him considering no one else I knew, including Dimitri, ever said it. Even after all this time…I remembered that.
My chest tightens.
When Dad pops open the suitcase, his breath catches. Tears well in his eyes.
Kirill and Kolya turn, and this time, half-run out of the room. Two big, scary men, and they’re afraid of a few happy tears. Max shoots me a look that I respond to by rolling my eyes.
I packed the case, so I know what’s on top and why it hit Dad so hard.
The wedding photo.
His breath shudders out as he traces the protective plastic sheet with his finger. “I forgot how she looked. How she…” He keeps hold of that picture while looking at the next. And the next.
Setting them on the table, he goes through them all, his eyes widening and narrowing, his lips dipping and curling up in joy.
“I don’t recognize most of the people. I think that’s Uncle Mik there. And maybe that’s Alexei? MJ?” I shrug and scrape my fork across my plate.
“Would you…” Dad sets down Mom’s photo and pulls out the chair next to him. “If you want to go through it with me, I can tell you who everyone is. And I’ll reintroduce you to them after breakfast.”
“I’d like that.” I switch seats as Dad flips to the first page. “I’ve got so much to learn about my family.”
Chapter 41
Max
