AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mila!”
My whole body shook then, and my chin quivered. I wanted to fall into the sand in frustration. I was so close. If I had another minute, I could’ve escaped entirely and made my way to Kat.
“Damn you!” I cried as Nikolai approached, far enough away that I had to shout. “How did you find me?”
Nikolai held up his phone with worry stitched into his features. “The nurse had a tracking app for if her phone was ever lost, or if we needed to find her.”
Silently, I cursed my cracked skull, blaming that for having been so stupid.
Tears welled in my eyes, heart bleeding to see Kat again. It blurred my vision, causing Nikolai to turn into a mess of shapes and colors. As he got closer, I reached inside the nurse’s bag and found the hammer’s cool handle.
Squeezing my hand around it, I released a shuddering breath.
Rage and agony pounded against my skull, begging to be released in any possible way. It felt like madness, but maybe that was exactly what I needed.
I may have been injured, but I was a mother. Nobody takes my daughter and gets away with it.
In another moment or two, Nikolai would be a bit closer. Then, he’d be out of the way, and I could go get my daughter.
Chapter 21 - Nikolai
Mila was huddled in the sand by the ocean, the ends of her hair moving in the breeze. She was alone with a black bag by her side. The nurse’s bag. She had escaped in her white gown and without any shoes on her feet.
She looked exactly like the hospital runaway she was.
From my place on the road, the first thing I felt was anger. It hit me in waves until other emotions mingled with it, confusing me once more.
She didn’t trust me, and for that I was pissed. After everything we had shared over our time together, when we found our rare moments of solace, she still didn’t believe that I had her best interest at heart. She still didn’t believe I wanted to keep her and our daughter safe—that I would do anything to make it happen.
But then, that anger was turned onto myself. What did I offer Mila that proved she could trust me? How could she trust me with her past?
She went through a childhood that nobody should have to experience, and yet, she worked as hard as she could to make sure Kat didn’t live through that same reality. Mila did what was right, and I never treated her right because of it.
I wasn’t the husband she needed. I pushed her around, flinging my bitterness at her all because I didn’t get to know I had a daughter until several years in. But she didn’t do it to hurt me. It was to keep Kat alive.
I couldn’t even get past my stubborn pride to give her a half-assed apology. It was too much effort on my behalf to tell her what I was up to, and I left her guessing.
Above all, I was a hypocrite. I didn’t trust Mila either. I thought she’d let Kat go with the madman she called a father, despite all of Mila’s warnings. I let myself believe that she was in on it.
But it was clear then that Mila would never do anything remotely close to that just to gain something from my family.
Mila was a Morozov, and I’d be wise to remember that. She was my wife, and while I had accepted that reluctantly at first, I had my responsibilities to uphold as a husband and father. I had to care for her properly, not only as the mother of my child but as the woman I married.
Mila didn’t deserve my scrutiny or my anger, and every part of me wished I could go back and do things properly.
At that moment, I didn’t even care anymore that Kat was a secret from me. I didn’t care that Mila ran away and never told me about our daughter because it meant that she was brought into existence in the first place. She was alive, and I had the chance to be a father thanks to Mila’s decision.
I never showed her my proper gratitude.
There was no way to know how far Grigory would go, even with his own blood.
My heart ached at the sight of Mila slumped in the sand, staring aimlessly at the water. Then, she got to her feet and glanced in my direction.
“Mila!”
The despair littered her face immediately after realizing it was me, and I had found her. She had been caught at last, but I wasn’t there to ream her out. I was relieved to know she was safe.
Mila looked like an injured animal with her eyes filling with tears, head still bandaged. Her gaze was wild and was surely a sign of how distraught she was from it all. “Damn you!”
