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The terror on Archie’s face artificially clears away as he smiles at the misshapen sandcastle. He claps his hands. “Well done, kiddo. Amazing.”
Adam beams from ear to ear and goes back to his creation.
“You’re lucky that kid loves you,” I add. Even as I say it, I shake my head in disgust.
Fucking hell. I’m beholden to a kid. Every move I make from this point onward as the leader of the Zakharov Bratva is solely dependent upon this child.Mychild.
Soft. Weak. Fucking pathetic.
Screw it. My father and his advice can get fucked.
Archie nods. “It was my job to protect them,” he says softly. “My girls, my grandson. But in the end, they’re the ones who always end up saving me. Time and time again.”
He’s not wrong. Both Celine and Taylor begged for his life, and even though Adam doesn’t know it, he has, too. With his innocent love for the only grandfather he’s ever known.
At least for that, I can be grateful. The grandfather Adam would have gotten from my side of the family tree would have killed the little boy inside him.
Godfuckingdammit. Yet another thing I owe Archie for.
He shakes his head and pushes himself upright with a groan. “I’ll go finish up my packing. Will you watch him?”
I meet his eyes and nod. I’m not sure if it’s a gesture of trust or an olive branch or completely meaningless. But either way, it’s too little, too late.
And we both know it.
20
TAYLOR
I’m winded by the time I get back to the house. But what really knocks me sideways is the image that awaits me there: Ilarion and Adam, sitting at the sandbox, their heads put together like they’re hatching some sort of plan.
Adam doesn’t even notice me until my shadow falls over his lopsided sandcastle. “Mama!” he greets happily. “Are we having pizza for dinner?”
I frown in confusion. “Why would we have pizza?”
“Grandpa says it’s a special night because we won’t be here tomorrow. He says we’re leaving the house and we’re not coming back.”
I crouch down so that I’m at eye level with Adam. “What do you think about that?”
Adam considers it for a moment, then shrugs. I glance at Ilarion, wondering if he’s feeling guilty at all for ripping Adam from yet another home. It’s what I felt every time we moved towns, and that was before Adam was even aware of things.
“Will you and Grandpa be there?” he asks.
“Of course I’ll be there, honey,” I say with a surprised life. “But you’ll have to ask Uncle Illy if Grandpa will be.”
The pause that follows is damn near deadly. It’s like the invisible drawstrings of the tension between us got pulled to maximum tightness. I can feel my pulse in my throat.
Then: “Of course he will.” Ilarion says it lightly enough to be convincing, even to me.
Adam smiles, unaware of the drama roaring all around him. “Does this mean we’re going to see Auntie Cee?”
I nod. “Yes, we are.”
I try not to glance at Ilarion, but it always feels as if I’m seconds away from looking at him anyway. Like we’re two magnets with opposite poles. Like it’s inevitable.
And that’s what terrifies me.
That, even when I’m mad at him, even when I want to slap him and walk away, I don’treallywant to walk away. I want to walk away just far enough that he runs after me, stops me, and kisses me so hard that I forget how to put one foot in front of the other.
