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“Love you, too.”
She grabs the door handle and slants me a look over her shoulder. “Don’t be an asshat. You’re better than that.”
I stand in the foyer among all the boxes and think about her last words to me.
Am I really better?
A deep sigh expels from my chest and I walk into the kitchen where Larysa is cleaning the remaining eggs from the princess plate. She looks up from the sink and smiles.
“She loved them. Gobbled them down so fast, I had to give her breaks because I didn’t want her to choke. I guess you have the magic touch.”
I clench my teeth, my spine stiff as I glare at her. Anger bubbles in my chest, ready to spew like hot lava. This isn’t real. How the fuck can it be? And why the hell doesn’t anyone but me get that?
Either she doesn’t notice, or she chooses to ignore the big ass elephant in the room
“It was so generous of your sister to bring all that stuff for us. She’s really nice. And so beautiful, too. Her skin glows from the pregnancy. I miss that. I just feel pasty these days—"
“Stop talking.”
Larysa freezes, her lips still parted. She stares back, her eyes wide.
This morning, they look like clear green glass.
And as far as I can tell, they’re the only thing that’s real in this room.
No more bullshit purple fakes. She’s not hiding from me anymore.
The hairs on my arms prickle as Larysa’s scent hits my nostrils. I refuse to breathe it in…to let her inside of me.
Tori may be able to overlook the dysfunctional circumstances, but I can’t
I won’t.
I have a responsibility to my family.
“We’re not playing house, Larysa. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that this story will end well just because we’ve got a kid together. You’re here because I want revenge, not because I have any delusions about us being a happy family.”
She doesn’t respond for a few seconds, just shakes her head like she can’t believe I just burst her little bullshit bubble. I grit my teeth, a pang jarring my heart as my words hang heavy in the air between us like the stench of rotting meat.
“I think you misunderstood. You can’t possibly be a happy family unless you like each other.” Larysa’s eyes darken by the second. “And make no mistake, I despise you.”
“Good.” I dip my head low, her lips just within reach of my teeth. Fear glimmers in her gaze when I grab her arms and squeeze them tight. Tingles shoot up my fingers, her body heat singeing my skin. Sparks of lust ignite deep in my gut, crackling like fireworks. But I ignore every sensation, fighting against what I want most because I know that all rocky roads lead to a dead end, dead being the key word. “Because this ain’t some fairy tale, sweetheart. All my stories end the same way, and trust me, you don’t want to be a character in any of them.”
Chapter18
Larysa
Ipace the living room, the heels of my feet pounding the shiny white marble tile. My eyes scour the room, fury blazing in my shattered heart. Odd-shaped vases and metal sculptures decorate every table. A bunch of tacky crap I told him to get rid of.
It’d be poetic justice to pummel him with this pile of junk.
And dammit, he deserves worse than the most painful kind of attack I could execute.
The overhead light hits the side of a crystal figure, the facets glimmering tauntingly, daring me to pick it up. I grab one of the arms and pull it off the table, smiling at the weight. This could do some damage. My eyes wander over to the wall-sized plasma screen television.
Hey, Danil, know where this would look absolutely fabulous? Right in the middle of your goddamn television, you cocksucker!
The figure dangles in my hand, my gaze dropping to Daniela sitting in the middle of the plush ivory and black rug, surrounded by dolls that Tori brought her earlier this morning. I lost about a year from my life trying to extract the damn things from their boxes. String, wire, plastic screws. Jesus, I thought I might need a crowbar at one point.
