AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Me:No.
Maxim:And isn’t life much better for it?
His words should have hurt me, but they were true.
Me:Why do you always answer my texts, Maxim?
Maxim:I like to know you’re safe.
Me:I mean nothing to you. I’m no one.
Maxim:That’s not true.
Me:It isn’t?
Maxim:No.
I had no idea why I typed my next message, but I needed to get the words out. Had to. It was imperative.
Me:I want to go to college.
Maxim:Then go to college you will.
Me:You wouldn’t have a problem with that?
Maxim:Why would I?
Me:I’m not naive, Maxim.
Maxim:I think you are, but I do not see naivety or innocence as a curse. My childhood was stolen from me, katyonok, at too young an age. As someone who starved, who hurt, who bled to stay alive, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Certainly not you.
Me:What am I to you?
Maxim:I think you know this. Naive or not.
Me:Tell me.
Maxim:You are my future, katyonok.
That he sent that message to me so easily staggered me. My father considered women to be a weight around his neck, and that he’d been cursed with three daughters had been his biggest complaint. More than taxes or his tithes to Moscow—we were the worst thing that had ever happened to him.
Maxim:But you are young and I must wait until you see me in the same light.
Me:Why would you wait? You don’t need me to cement ties in the Bratva anymore.
Maxim:You know about The Forgotten Boys?
Me:I do.
Maxim:Are you sure you want to know the answer to your question?
Me:Of course.
Maxim:It is complicated.
Maxim:But I will explain it as well as I can. Your sisters have the O’Donnelly brothers. Through them, you have protection until you are of age, but afterward, you are a pawn in a game you cannot win.
That we’d used similar words to describe my situation made nausea swirl in my gut.
