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“Yep!” He scooped her up again. “Do you like it?”
“I love it! But you said it was too expensive.”
He smiled. “I know I did, but you know what? Nothing’s too expensive for my girl.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Thanks, Daddy!”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I was actually thinking you could come stay with me for a while.”
“Until tomorrow?” She’d never spent a Monday night with her dad before.
Only Wednesdays. That was the rule: Wednesday nights and every other weekend.
The rest of the time she lived with her mom.
“Maybe even longer than that,” he said.
“What about Mommy?”
He set her down. “We’ll talk to Mommy later.” He reached into the back seat and shoved the Macy’s bag over to the other side. “Hop in.”
36
RUBY
It was almost eleven when Ruby stepped out into the cold morning to make her way to work. She was slightly hung over from all the wine she’d had with Brooke — Ruby didn’t usually drink much because of Olivia — and she slipped on her sunglasses and prayed the Advil would kick in fast.
Luckily for her, Henry had been slated to open, and for once, Josh hadn’t called out.
After she’d dropped Olivia at school, she’d taken full advantage of the extra couple of hours, standing under the hot shower and then turning it to cold, consuming multiple cups of coffee and forcing herself to eat some toast, and finishing it all off with the Advil.
Hopefully she’d be feeling more human by the time she reached Roasted.
She thought of Roman and had to breathe through the heaviness in her chest. She now had five texts and two missed calls from him, and she had no intention of returning any of them.
He’d lied. In the clear light of day, that was all that mattered.
He’d lied, and in doing so, he’d put her custody of Olivia at risk.
Part of her wanted one last conversation, wanted to hear his side of the story, to see him one more time.
Closure, she guessed.
But Adam hadn’t been bluffing when he’d issued the threat about custody, and nothing —nothing— mattered more than Olivia.
As soon as Ruby got to the coffee shop, she would block Roman on her phone. Then, if it ever became necessary, she could prove in court that she’d cut off all contact with Roman the day after she’d found out he was part of the bratva.
And he was. She’d done her own research just like Adam had suggested, scrolling through page after page online of news stories about the Kalashniks: Roman and his father Igor, Roman’s brother Eric, his mother Eva.
They were a kind of twisted Russian success story. Igor’s father had come over from Russia poor and with no skills, had risen through the ranks of the bratva as he’d increased the family’s wealth, had passed the torch to Igor.
Ruby had studied the pictures of Roman’s father, had been startled to see the ghost of Roman in his features but only hardness in his eyes where Roman’s could be kind and warm.
Finally, she’d shut her computer and gone to bed, where she’d dreamed of Roman’s hands on her body, his cock moving inside her as he looked down at her with something like worship, her name on his lips.
Ruby, Ruby, Ruby…
She shook the thought from her head. The less she thought about Roman Kalashnik the sooner she’d get over him.
