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CHAPTER29
ISABEL
Rolling over, I reach out for him and am not surprised that his side of the bed is empty, again. Ruslan doesn’t sleep beside me. It’s become the new norm. He’s home now, which I should just be grateful for and keep my mouth shut about the rest.
There is something intimate about sleeping beside your partner and I’m missing that. Sliding out of bed, I go in search of his shirt that he discarded after work last night. It’s on the floor and I smile as I bring it to my nose, inhaling it deeply.
It smells like him, perfectly. Slipping it on, I make my way downstairs and wonder if I’ll even find him awake or if he’s snuck into the guest bedroom. He’s standing in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in his hand, his head tipped down as he looks at his phone.
Slowly, I make my way toward him. I’m sure that he can hear my footsteps. I’m quiet, but he has an ability to sense me when I’m anywhere near him. He lifts his head, then looks back at me, his lips curving up into a small smile.
“Luchik,” he rasps. “You’re awake.”
“I am, but you weren’t beside me again,” I say. I watch as sadness slides across his face, but he replaces the look almost instantly with one of just softness. God, this man. I love him, simplistically, just as he is. Even if he’s scared to sleep beside me right now.
We will get through whatever it is, we will move forward, because we have no other choice. There is love between us, and as silly as it probably sounds, I’m positive that we will prevail with that love.
“I am,” I say with a smile just as the doorbell rings.
Ruslan looks back at the door, then shifts his attention to mine. “Are you going somewhere with Zinaida today?” he asks.
Shaking my head, I slide my tongue along my bottom lip. “She’s just had the baby. She isn’t going anywhere. I am planning to spend the afternoon with her tomorrow and help her around the house, but nothing today,” I say.
He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around the back of my neck and squeezes gently. “You’re a good woman,” he mutters, leaning forward and touching his mouth to mine. Then the doorbell rings again, plus someone knocks. “Stay here.”
His demand falls on deaf ears, because I have no plans on staying in the kitchen. I want to know who is at the door just as badly as he does. Since I’m only wearing Ruslan’s shirt, I stick to the walls, hidden as much in the shadows as I can though.
The front door flies open, and I see two men standing on the other side. I don’t recognize them, but they are clearly Bratva. They’re in suits and they are very put together, very stylish as they smile at Ruslan across from them.
“What the fuck?” Ruslan shouts on a laugh.
My heart almost skips a beat, but I realize that Ruslan is happy to see them. I watch as the men hug, then he takes a step backward and lets them into the house. Ruslan closes the door behind them, and they walk into the living room, all three of them taking a seat before anyone says a word.
“Do I want to know why you’ve been sent here?”
The men look at one another, then swing their gazes to him. “It was too personal of a matter to just say over the phone, plus it’s only a few hours’ drive.”
“So, you drove all the way here to talk to me about Isa’s parents?” he asks.
My lips part and I lift my hand, covering my mouth. I am frozen against the wall, unable to move, unable to breathe as the men begin to speak. When they talk, they tell a story, one that I have never heard before.
It’s the story of me.
Of my family.
My parents, my sister and my brother.
And my heart breaks for the sixteen-year-old girl that I once was. These people, the ones that made me are evil.
Pure evil.
The angry teenager inside of me wants them to pay for what they’ve done. But the woman that I am now, the one who has found happiness, who has overcome everything that I’ve been handed in life, she wants to forget that it ever happened. She wants to pretend that they don’t exist.
“I want them in front of me on their knees. All of them,” Ruslan grinds out.
RUSLAN
“Easily achieved,”Danill says with a chuckle. “I thought that you may have that reaction. They’re in California, here actually. We’ve just seen them at the warehouse. Osip knows they’re here. He’s given us access to his building and he supports however this ends.”
