AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You look good.”
She laughs weakly. “Don’t lie to me. I look like a donkey’s ass.”
“Nonsense,” Dad chimes in. He clamps onto Celine’s wrist so the three of us form a tight circle. “Where is your mother? I’ve been asking about her, but no one seems to have an answer.”
I tense up. They’re both holding onto me, so they feel my fear ripple through them.
“Taylor?” Celine frowns. “Why did your face just do that?”
I have no idea what my face just did, and I’m not interested in asking, either. “Dad, why don’t you sit down?”
He shakes his head even as he goes pale. “I’ll stand. What’s going on?”
I open my mouth to explain, but instead of the calm, coherent lie I planned on telling, a broken sob comes out. “It’s… She…”
“She was hurt, wasn’t she?” Dad’s voice bristles with rage. “Your mother was hurt in the crossfire between two very dangerous families. Families that we should stay far away from!”
I haven’t heard him like this in a long time. Maybe not ever. I knew he wasn’t exactly a fan of Celine’s engagement, but something had been holding him back.
And I’m guessing that something was Mom.
“Dad…” Celine swallows and winces. “I’m sorry. I should have told you who Ilarion really was. But I just wanted you to get to know him first, before I—”
“Wait,” he interrupts. “Are you telling me…you…youknewhe was a Bratva don when he proposed to you?”
Her hesitation is all the answer he needs.
“Goddammit, Celine!” he cries, throwing his hands up in the air. “Did I teach you girls nothing?”
“You taught us only to be scared!” Celine hisses. “I didn’t want to be scared anymore.”
“Sometimes, it’s justified!” he yells back at her.
“Stop!” I interrupt, unable to take the fighting anymore. Don’t they both realize how lucky we are to be here at all?
“Sometimes, it’s more important to be safe than happy,” Dad snaps.
“That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Mom disagreed with that, too, you know. She would have—”
“Mom’s gone!”
The room falls deathly silent. Celine opens her mouth to ask a question I can’t run from. But then she closes it again. Finally, after a long moment… “What do you mean?”
I blink and a tear rolls down my cheek. Dad understands me before Celine, because he slumps into the chair and stares at me with blank disbelief.
“No…” he murmurs. “No. No.”
Celine looks at Dad, and then back at me. “Taylor, what do you mean?” Her voice grows frantic. “Where is Mom?”
I grab her hand. “She’s gone, Cee. I… I buried her over a week ago.”
“B-buried?” she stammers, her eyes trembling with horror. “No, no… That’s not possible.”
“If it’s any consolation, it was…”It was horrible.“It was her choice.”
“No!” Dad jumps back up on his feet. “How dare you say that? Howdareyou even suggest that she wanted to…to…”
But his words fade as he looks at me. He knows it’s true. She told me she’d been suffering for so long. I don’t doubt she’d told Dad even more than that.
