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I move closer, towering over the frail old man. “Listen here, Bogdan—”
“What in God’s name is going on?”
I look up as my mother appears from the sitting room. Seeing her in her dressing gown, bare-faced and flustered, forces me to see just how much she’s aged in the last year alone. Her cheeks are gaunt and there are lines at the corners of her eyes where they used to be none. Her hair, once thick and pearlescent, is grayer now. Thinning.
Life is chewing her away, bit by bit.
I’m guessing most of that is a direct result of Maksim’s death. But I have a feeling that a few of those newer gray hairs are my doing.
“Mother,” I say tersely. “I’ve come here for my wife.”
“Is that so?” she asks, striding forward regally and planting herself in front of me. She doesn’t blink or look away as she says, “Thank you, Bogdan. You are excused. I’m sorry you were disturbed at this hour in so rude a fashion.”
“Not at all, madam.” He slips out of the room with palpable relief.
She waits to make sure he’s gone before she speaks again. “If I’d known that rescuing your wife would have finally got you to visit, I’d have done it a lot sooner.”
“Is that what you did?” I snort. “Yourescuedher?”
“Paige was distraught when she arrived here this evening. She was in tears.”
“A result of her own behavior. I will not be blamed for it.”
My mother opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, another voice joins the fray. “Oh, wow. I’ll be damned.” Niki steps into the sitting room with us, amusement plastered on her face. “The prodigal son returneth. What a fucking day, huh, Mom? Has hell frozen over? Are pigs flying overhead like 747s?”
I glare at my sister, whose lips twinge with a wry smirk. “Where is my wife?”
“Your wife is sleeping, and she will not be disturbed on my watch,” Mother says icily. “She was exhausted, Misha. She told me that you both found out only a day ago that you are having twins. Right after she almost died from exposure to a bouquet of flowers that was apparently sent by me.”
“I already know you didn’t send them. It was Pet—”
“Don’t so much as utter that man’s name in this house,” she hisses. Then she sighs and composes herself again. “That girl is pregnant with your children, and yet you treat her this way?”
“I bet she didn’t even tell you what happened, did she? Of course not. She spun you a sob story, knowing you’d bend over backwards to help her. The truth is more complicated than—”
“To be frank, I’m not interested in your side of things right now,” she interrupts. “If you want a chance to speak your piece, you can come to family dinner this week. Then maybe I’ll make the time to hear your perspective. Until then… you can get the fuck out of my house.”
With that said, she marches out of the room, head held tall, bristling with a dramatic flair I didn’t even know she possessed.
Nikita watches her go with her hands crossed over her chest. She leans against the doorway, turning back to me with the same infuriating smile. “My goodness. Someone is introoouble.”
“You’re the one who advised me to be careful,” I snarl. “You warned me that Paige might have an ulterior motive.”
She shrugs. “That was before I got to know her. She’s sweet.”
“So is poison. But sweet doesn’t get you far when you’re also a fucking liar. She betrayed all of us for Petyr Ivanov. Does that strike you as ‘sweet,’ Niki? Does that come across as trustworthy.”
That gets her attention. “You’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t joke about this.”
Niki watches me for a moment and sighs. “She denies it.”
“I thought she didn’t tell you the whole story?”
“She didn’t. Or, she couldn’t,” my sister explains. “But she kept repeating one thing over and over again through her sobs. She kept saying ‘He accused me, he accused me… and it’s not true. It’s not true.’”
“That’s as much a lie as the rest of it.”
