“My sister?” Anissa blanches as she turns to me, eyes wide. “I have a sister? What is she talking about?”
My mother looks at her, all fake innocence, just like Anissa herself. “She didn’t know? You really don’t know the reason Rafail hasn’t come after you?”
“Jesus,” I mutter. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, there’s no point hiding it.
“I heard he got remarried,” Anissa says, coming to the bottom of the stairs. She walks to an overstuffed chair and sits, tucking her feet up under my shirt like some kind of teenage brat. She’s fucking adorable.
I blow out a breath. “My brother betrayed our family. Did you know that?” My mother flinches.
Something like sadness flickers across her face, but it’s gone just as fast, replaced with that ice mask she wears so well. “I didn’t.”
“His betrayal involved a woman named Polina Romanova. Does that name sound familiar?”
She shakes her head, staring at me.
“My brother convinced Rafail he foundyou, after you ran. So Rafail took her—or who he thought was you. Turns out, it wasn’t you but someone who looked exactly like you. Because she’s your sister.”
For the first time since I started stalking her, Anissa actually looks shocked. Guilty, even. I don’t blame her. It’s a hard fucking pill to swallow. She stares and doesn’t respond. I think it might be the first time I’ve seen her dumbfounded.
There’s a lot more to that story, but I’ll tell her when we get there. Not now. Instead, I turn the force of my gaze to my mother. “That’s enough for now.”
“Why do I feel like everything you’ve told me might’ve been a lie, except this?” Anissa asks, her voice quiet.
“Because it’s not.”
She swallows. Vulnerable.
I hate my mother.
“And when do I get to meet my sister?”
“Tonight. When you meet Rafail.”
She blanches. I don’t blame her.
My father clears his throat. “So you’re all coming to the Kopolov house tonight? Zoya cooking?” he asks, always trying to score a free meal.
My mom’s jaw locked the second I mentioned Gleb’s name, and it hasn’t relaxed since. She’ll never forgive me for what I did.
Neither will I.
I take another sip of my drink and shake my head, watching Anissa’s reaction. “No. Rafail and Polina are coming here.”
Anissa stares at me but doesn’t say a word.
I turn to my parents. “I still don’t know why you’re here.”
“We can’t just come see our son?” my mom asks, voice sticky sweet.
“You could.” I shrug. “You don’t.”
My mother shakes her head and lifts her chin high, but something like sadness flickers across her face. “It would’ve been your brother’s birthday today. Did you forget so soon?”
A stab of pain hits my chest. I don’t want to look at Anissa right now. The memory of Gleb leaves me vulnerable, splits me bare, and I don’t want her to know. My voice is husky, affected, when I shake my head. “No. I didn’t forget.”
Unlike her, I don’t celebrate any of those dates.
I turn my back to all of them, suddenly gripped with the desire to be alone. Alone, just like I’ve been since the day I buried my brother’s mutilated, traitorous body.
