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I spoke through the fumes burning my throat. “He’s not ‘our’ father. Don’t ever call him that again.”
She got up. “Regardless, I wanted to thank you. I know you don’t want me here. I know you don’t consider us family.” She laughed a hard laugh. “God knows I don’t even consider my own blood relatives as my family, so I can only imagine what we must look like to you. The golden senator and his picture-perfect family.” A bitterness had crept into her voice. “Except for his flawed daughter, of course. The black sheep he had to save by locking her up. Ironically, it’s the one thing that actually makes him seem more human and gathers him more respect and credibility, even though it’s all a lie.”
I noticed her scratching her wrist again. At this point I doubted she even knew what she was doing.
“You carry your feelings on your sleeve like a petulant child.”
Her head snapped up.
“Never show a predator your belly,” I continued. “Once he catches a whiff of your fear and desperation, he will chase you, catch you, and finally tear you apart.” No wonder the senator was winning in the polls. His wife was a pill-popping alcoholic, his teenage son a spoiled brat, and his daughter a mess.
Evie’s eyes narrowed. “Are you referring to him or you?”
The challenge in her voice couldn’t be missed.
I smiled. “He might be King Kong, but I’m fucking Godzilla. And I don’t lose.” This city was mine.
“What about our little brother?” she asked, not meeting my gaze. “Will you get him out as well?”
That annoying punk who tried to hit on my wife? “He’s not my brother.”
“Right. Just like I’m not your sister.”
I put my palms on my desk. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
She frowned. “I’m not sure why Katya brought me here.”
Sadly, I was. Not that I was about to tell her. Or perhaps I should. It might help to keep her in line, or better yet, make her want to leave on her own accord. If she left willingly, Katya surely couldn’t blame me, right?
I gave her a smile. Since she still looked wary, it didn’t seem to be helping.
“You are here as both a punishment and challenge to me,” I explained.
Her frown deepened. “I can see the punishment part,” she said to my surprise. “But I don’t get the challenge.”
“That’s because you hardly are one,” I said, earning a glare. Somewhere beneath that bruised look, there was a woman of steel. If she had been any other person, I would have respected and encouraged that. As it was, this young woman was not my business.
“At the risk of you wanting to bite my head off, once again, youdosound like he who shall not be named.”
Oh yes, she had claws, this one. I ignored that comment as I got up and paced around the room. Her nearness agitated me. I didn’t like surprises or the resurgence of bad memories in the first place, let alone in my own home.
I settled onto the edge of my desk. “Apparently, allowing you to be here shows that I’m capable of empathy.” An overrated emotion in my opinion. I had plenty of empathy for people I cared about. Granted, there were just a handful of them, but I never liked people anyway. I was willing to fake it for my Katya.
Evie’s hands clenched into fists, and I wondered if she would let her temper show. It was clear to me she had one bottled up inside of her. Where Katya would have kicked my ass, Evie, however, knuckled under. She got up, nodded at me, and left the room.
I didn’t know when or where, but one day that woman was going to explode. And I didn’t want to be anywhere near her when she did.
Evie had barely left the room before Katya entered. She was in her yoga pants and wore a smile on her face. My evening immediately brightened. I might live in the shadows, used to darkness and despair, but whenever she was near me, light and joy pierced my armor. It took away the cold.
How I wished I could make her understand that. Then she would never doubt me or our marriage again. Except, I couldn’t. It was three simple words I knew she was dying to hear, but they burned in my throat. The only woman I had ever loved had been brutally murdered, taking a part of me with her. Sokolov, for all his faults, was right about one thing—feelings could get you killed. Call it superstition or whatever, but a part of me feared that I would lose her the second I told her how I truly felt. Nothing else, no king, enemy, or government, could put fear in my chest like the fact that I could lose Katya did.
“And?” she asked, while walking over to me. She perched her butt on my lap and looked up at me expectantly.
“And what?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know why she had suddenly popped up into the room.
She rolled her eyes. “How did your talk with Evie go? Are you two starting to get along?”
Like fire and ice. “We are getting there.”
