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“They short?” I ask.
He shakes his head.
Roman deflates. “Blyad.”
Viktor smiles at his obvious disappointment, then glances at me. “Fyodor is fond of your boy. Says he’s very bright.”
Something in my chest swells. Zhukovka Lyceum is the most exclusive private primary school in the country. All of mybratokswith families send their children there. Enrolling Leo there was an obvious choice.
“Does this mean we’re discussing it?” Roman drawls.
“No,” I snap, then walk away.
Until I sort out Leo’s and Lyla’s safety along with my ongoing role in their lives—which is looking as equally difficult as eliminating threats—I’m not going to be entertaining conversations about my son.
My Huracan is parked exactly where I left it, the six men stationed around it alert and aware. I nod at them and climb inside.
Leo jerks his hand away from the car controls he was fiddling with as I settle behind the wheel. I’ve never used the heated seats feature. But he turned mine on, and it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Warm leather instead of ice cold.
“Sorry that took so long,” I tell him. The apology feels clunky in my mouth. Unfamiliar.
Leo doesn’t look annoyed. I’m guessing Lyla will be another story.
“Nick?”
“Yeah?” My reply is absentminded, wondering how she’ll react to us arriving back much later than I planned.
“Are you my dad?”
Any thoughts stutter to a stop. This is a moment I’ve imagined ever since Alex called me. I’ve hoped for it and dreaded it.
I don’t know what I have to offer Leo.
The fact that Iama father is still a novelty to me.
Most people have months to get used to the idea of becoming a parent. They meet their children as babies who can’t walk or talk.
Leo is a fully formed person. He’s smart—smart enough to figure out what I never told him. It doesn’t really matter how he found out. If it was a kid gossiping at school or if he overheard some of the men talking. Me having a child is not a tiny, inconsequential revelation—for a whole host of reasons.
Or maybe he’s figured out we’re related the same way everyone else seems to have—by seeing the similarities.
I won’t lie to him, not when I’m not sure it’s in his best interest. “Yes.”
Leo nods, like the answer was expected. Like it wasn’t really a question, more of a test. A challenge tossed out to see how I’d react. It’s exactly what I would have done as a kid, using shock value and secret knowledge to establish if someone can be trusted, and I’m struck all over again by how much he reminds me of myself despite the fact we’ve only spent a sum total of a few hours together.
“Are you okay with that?”
I wish I could take the question back as soon as it’s spoken. What if he says no? What if he considered the tool Lyla was dating to be his father?
“Yeah,” Leo answers after some of the tensest seconds of my life. Quietly, he adds, “I’ve always wanted a dad.”
An iron fist squeezes around my heart. There’s a line of cars parked behind mine, all waiting for me to leave. Snowflakes have begun to fall, melting against the windshield and sticking to the frozen ground.
But I don’t shift into drive yet. I focus on my son. “I didn’t know you existed, Leo. If I had, I would have come to meet you sooner. There’s nothing I want more in this world than to know you. It’s important that you know that, okay?”
“Why didn’t you know about me?”
I tap my fingers against the steering wheel. “Um, I didn’t know your mom for very long. By the time she knew you were coming, I’d already come back here. We didn’t stay in touch. She had no way to tell me about you for a long time.”
