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4
Mikhail
four years later
Ilooked left. Nothing. No one. Then, I looked right. Also deserted.
And yet the stoplight remained red.
The town of Smythe hadn’t changed at all.
I tapped the steering wheel of the Tesla with my fingers, impatient. If I’d bought the Lamborghini instead, I could’ve revved my engine. Like that would’ve done anything.
After what felt like ten minutes, the light turned green. I could’ve sworn I heard the creak as it changed. Maybe the Tesla didn’t have the roar of a sports car, but flooring the gas pedal gave a satisfying lurch of acceleration.
Until I had to slam on my brakes at the town’s second stoplight.
An empty plastic shopping bag blew across the road. Between me and the litter, this was probably the most traffic this intersection had seen all day.
“Ebat,” I growled. “This is bullshit.”
I was already here. There was no need to be in such a hurry. Except that it had been ages since I’d been in town — or been with the people I’d counted as family for years.
Ages since I’d been with Sadie.
The light changed and I zipped out of what passed for downtown Smythe. There was nothing there, of course. A gas station that didn’t even have a charging station for a Tesla. A fast food restaurant. And then nothing but trees and a climb up a mountain.
I slowed down, even though I knew the road by heart. I was passing by Tides Academy, my home for years. Where I’d met the Ware family who had changed my life so completely. It was an imposing building, creaky and historic and all that. The gray sky chose that moment to start drizzling, and the fog began to roll in from the sea beyond the pines, making everything look haunted as shit.
Not that I had any particular ghost stories from Tides. Or Smythe, if I was being honest. Just regrets of what I’d left behind. And time wasted while I was there.
Because if I’d had it my way, I would’ve had Sadie from the beginning. None of the hiding and sneaking around — as hot as it had made everything.
Keeping our mutual attraction a secret once we’d fallen in together after we’d graduated Tides had been a waste. I’d only had the opportunity to taste her sweetness once before I’d had to leave this place.
And once was nowhere near enough.
Mamachka’s house was perhaps ten minutes from Tides. I pulled into the gravel drive. The house had always been somewhat shabby from the outside, the woods surrounding it encroaching more and more every year. But there was warmth and love there, overshadowing whatever flaws the building might have had.
I could have a contractor out here in a heartbeat, though, making improvements. Shoring up the home’s weaknesses. Or even tearing it all down and building a mansion in its place. Mamachka deserved that, but she’d probably kill me if I tried to do it.
Still. I fired off a quick text to my assistant with the address. “Find out what you can on this place,” I said. “Titles, mortgages, valuation, the works.”
This family had given me a place to call home both literally and figuratively over the years. I would find some way to repay their kindness.
I got out of the Tesla and froze just as the front door was opening. It was a strange reaction — I was here to see the Wares, after all. But if Sadie just came out and surprised me like this, I wouldn’t be ready for it. That was ridiculous. I’d had all my nerves for meeting people practically beaten out of me by virtue of having to stroll in to hundreds of boardrooms and immediately own the place, no matter who was sitting around the table.
It wasn’t Sadie, though, I noted with relief. It was her brother.
“What the ever-living fuck?” Jonathan said in wonder, staring at me like he was seeing a ghost. “The hell are you doing here, man?”
“Can’t I get a ‘hello,’ bratan?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “What a way to greet your brother after—”
“Four damn years, Mikhail.”
I grimaced at his use of my real first name. He never called me that. “Come on, Jon. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through to get back here.”
“And you wouldn’t believe what’s been happening here since you’ve been gone.” He eyed me briefly, fiercely, before sighing and opening his arms. “Well, give your bratan a fucking hug, then.”
