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Gytha follows my gaze to the stairs, then we both look back at each other.
The sly smile tilting her glossy red lips is one of her forced smiles. A sign I’ve pissed her off.
“The guys said she literally looks like a princess. Maybe that’s what you’re into these days, regardless of whose daughter she is, or whose bride she almost was.”
I don’t give her the satisfaction of an answer. She doesn’t deserve it.
“Let’s not mix business with pleasure.”
“Okay, Desmier,” she adds with light laughter. “When you’re ready for the queen, you know where to find me.”
Lowering her head, she plants a kiss on my forehead and leaves.
I look at the stairs again, tempted to find Anastasia, but I stave off the urge.
Today was the longest day ever, and there is still one last thing I have to do. One more thing I’ve been putting off.
Meeting my father.
* * *
The beeping sounds of machines fill my ears as I walk into my father’s hospital room.
Not that I wanted to come before, but I might not have gotten past his guards at the door. Now that they’re mine, I have free rein of where I go and when I do it.
Dim lights create a heavenly glow in the room. I make my way to the bed in the center of the room, where my father lies motionless.
I stop at the edge of the bed and stare at him, finding myself fixated on his face. This is our first meeting. Him being kept alive by machines, unable to see me, and me full of vengeance.
Earlier, I noted how similar my brothers and I look. But seeing my father now throws me off balance.
I look just like him. Like a clone. Like his younger self. I’ve seen pictures of him, so I should have been prepared. But I’m not.
Mom told me who my real father was only days before she died. Prior to that, I didn’t know. I even had her surname. I suspected Leif was my father because he was always in my life. I’d never seen him show affection to my mother, though.
Leif was married and never had kids because his wife couldn’t.
I still assumed he was my father, especially because he always came to see Mom no matter what country she lived in. When we lived in Boston, Mom worked for a family called the Butyrskayas, as a maid. My mother came from a servant family who’d always worked for the founding families of the Knights. That’s how she met my father and Leif.
The house I live in now belonged to the Butyrskayas. I was practically born there and lived there until I was ten. At that point, Mom decided to move to Russia. It was in that house that I was hidden away like everything else the Butyrskayas kept secret as part of their job. They kept Mom’s secret, however, because they loved her like she was part of the family. They disappeared many years ago and have been presumed dead.
I came here tonight to meet my father before he dies.
It’s a fucked-up thing for a man like me to know his father ordered his mother’s killing and allow him to live. But this slow death will suffice.
Right now, I want him to hear my voice before he departs from this world and know he didn’t win.
Reaching out, I cover the cold skin of my father’s hand with my own. The gesture is almost loving, like I’m the worried son.
“Father, my name is Desmier. Desmier Volkova. I only took your name because Leif wanted me to have it.” I drag in a breath and lift my chin higher. “I needed you to know you didn’t kill me all those years ago, but it was a nice try. Now I live to avenge my mother. You took her from me. Now I will take everything from you and your family. Thank you for turning me into a monster. I won’t disappoint you.”
ChapterSeven
Anastasia
Irest my head against the wall and gaze at the clock on the desk across from me. The next few seconds tick by, heralding the start of another hour—eleven o’clock.
It’s been night for a while now, and I’ve been sitting on the floor with my back against the wall in the spot Desmier found me when we had our little encounter.
