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“Mylack of trust.” I hold the bundle of letters in her face. “What about yours? The evidence is right here.”
Mother flinches and refuses to meet my eyes as she moves quickly to the door. “Call me if you need anything, Andrei Vasilyevich.”
“I only need the truth, Mother.”
Eva hesitates and then leaves me alone in the room. I sit down heavily on a scrawny chair with daintily carved legs and a velvet seat. It creaks under my weight as I tear the rubber band off that holds the bundle together. The Fall River statements only go back a few years; she has to have more hidden, but the total amount deposited is over 1.5 million. It’s a joint account in Mother and Sonya’s names. Everything is underKuzmina, her maiden name.
No patronymic for Sonya. Mother has covered her tracks well.
My gaze scans the other bundles of papers on her neatly organized desk. I wonder if there could be a letter, a note, an address book, or even a birth certificate that would reveal Sonya’s paternity.
Suddenly, I’m distracted and pulling papers out, examining each one for a clue of other deceits and lies. But there is nothing past just a few years; she’s carefully hidden the most damning evidence. I’m debating flipping the desk over and searching it for a hidden drawer when I’m interrupted.
“Andrei Vasilyevich?” Viktor stands in the doorway, looking hesitant to speak as he eyes the messy piles of papers scattered at my feet.
“Chto?” I ask.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, but I want to offer to go out and look for Emma Reyes. Not for any other reason than to help Paige Geraldovna.”
“No, Viktor,” I reply. “If you are out there, it may be worse for you both.”
He nods thoughtfully, his eyes still on the papers scattered on the floor. “If you need my help …”
It takes me a moment to reply, but thereisone thing he can help me with.
“Come here and help me flip this desk.”
Chapter 46
Paige
“Andrei, please don’t treat Eva this way. It’s a slippery slope. Things like this start out small, and then they grow bigger.”
“Things?” he questions. “You mean abuse. I’m not like that. I’ve taken care of your father.”
“Against his will.”
“Should I turn off the machines?” he asks sarcastically.
It’s the hundredth argument we’ve had since Andrei arrived home. He spent the afternoon pulling apart Eva’s furniture before returning to our suite and grilling me about Kenney. I want to tell Andrei everything he wants to know, but I have no idea who Kenney is dating or where he hangs out.
I’ve tried to find out.
But it turns out we don’t know the same people anymore. I stare at the awful look Andrei is giving me. He looks like a tiger about to attack. I’m nervous around him again, as if the time we spent together no longer matters.
Has he forgotten everything?
“No, Andrei,” I tell him, collapsing onto the bed. I’m too easily defeated. “No, don’t do that. I admit it. I need the accounts too. For Emma’s sake.”
“Only for Emma?” he asks as if he can see straight into my mind. Andrei frowns at me, displeased that I won’t admit the truth. “Are you sure, Paige, that you don’t know where the information for the accounts is hidden?”
I don’t know anything else, and frustration gets the better of me. “If I knew, would I be here arguing with you?”
We glower at each other, scowling hard and narrowing our eyes in our standoff. Slowly, the ridiculousness of what we’re doing to each other dawns on us. Our anger melts away into laughter. I fall back onto the bed, holding my stomach while Andrei lies beside me.
I look over at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh this hard before.”
He smiles. “It clashes with the image.”
