Page 25 of My Ex’s Dad

Unlike you.

She didn’t hesitate to own up to crashing into the car. She still insists on paying for the damage. The contrast peeves me.

“She has asked if you’ll come back to the city immediately,” Viktor states matter-of-factly. “To resolve the situation.”

I shake my head. I have no interest in hurrying back just to make their lives easier. I’m sick of it. I’d rather be here with Liliana. I don’t want to admit that I’m not looking forward to leaving her. Committing to a woman is more than I can afford with my schedule. But now that I know she’s not a mooch or a needy fool like my ex and my son, I want to soak up every minute with her that I can.

“No.” I shake my head harder, then look at Viktor. “If she tries to reach me again, tell her I have no fucking time or patience for her bullshit. Or his. He needs to learn to clean up his own messes.”

Viktor nods, but as he makes the gesture, his phone buzzes in his pocket.

I grit my teeth. “That’s her again, isn’t it?”

He nods once more.

“For fuck’s sake…” I grind my molars. “I wish I never met her. Never made the mistake of knocking her up.”

Liliana looks anywhere but at me, but I can’t bring myself to care that she’s hearing a truth I don’t share publicly.

“I allowed her, I allowed that marriage and his birth so I’d have a goddamn heir.” I bark a harsh laugh. “Some fucking future he is.”

Viktor rejects the call and I exhale an angry breath through my nose, nostrils flaring.

I can’t escape it. Ever. “They’re supposed to be the family I should be able to count on,” I mutter. A clingy ex-wife who never respects boundaries and a son who only ever causes trouble for me to deal with after the fact.

I lift my gaze to Liliana again and catch her frowning at me.

The spell of privacy and getting to know her is over.

And that’s the worst crime of all. Reality is right here again, knocking at the door and reminding me that nothing is ever going to change.

11

LILIANA

“No, I’m not going to rush back to the city just because she thinks she has any fucking control over me,” Anton tells Viktor. He’s stern, letting every ounce of his authority bleed into the command he gives his assistant.

In other words, it’s icy in here.

I swallow more water, needing something to focus on while Anton’s anger fills the room. It’s different from Roman’s tantrums. Roman blamed everyone else for problems he usually created himself. Anton’s fury has a reason, but that doesn’t mean I have to get pulled into it.

And I’m not going to pity him. He helped create this pattern by cleaning up Roman’s messes for years. That part is on him.

Although I couldn’t fault Anton for being mad about this news, I’m not about to pity him, either. He allowed Roman to be raised the way he was and continues to fix his fuck ups. That’s on him.

Instead, sitting here on the sidelines of this bonfire of a situation, I try to think up the easiest excuse to slip away. To leave him to do whatever he needs to.

Viktor answers another call, this one seemingly from one of the Sokolov men, but a woman’s voice comes over the speakerphone. Elena begs and argues, trying to convince Anton to come back and clean up the mess Roman caused.

It isn’t my problem anymore. When Roman screwed up, he always said his father would handle it. Back then I wondered whether Mr. Sokolov was endlessly forgiving or just blind to his son. Now I understand the pattern.

Anton grows more furious while Viktor waits on the phone. Whatever this involves, it’s clearly enough to rattle him.

All I can do is stay quiet.

Watching Anton snap reminds me why I walked away from Roman’s world in the first place. I’m not afraid of Anton, but I don’t want to trade one Sokolov mess for another.

This is supposed to be my fresh start: my life, my choices, and the bakery finally climbing out of debt.