AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh great,” Declan groans, getting in on the passenger side.
“Where are we going?” I ask as I put the car in drive and peel out of the parking lot.
“Back to your parents' house,” he says with a smirk, reaching over and placing his hand on my thigh.
“Oh, this will be fun,” I say with a groan.
Chapter nineteen
Natalia
Coming to a stop in front of my parent’s house, I get out and follow Declan inside.
“Natalia, how did lunch go?” My mother asks, coming to stand in front of me. Her long brown hair lays neatly across her shoulders, and her makeup is perfectly done.
“It went well,” I say, a wry smile spreading across my face. Lifting my hand, I watch as my mother’s eyes grow wide and she all but screams.
“Oh, it’s beautiful, Natalia!” She gushes.
“He did a great job, didn’t he?” I ask, admiring the ring again.
Declan is standing beside me with a smile plastered on his face.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” my father says as he comes into the room and hands Declan a glass of bourbon.
My gaze switches between the two men and I raise my eyebrow. “You two are certainly getting along better than I thought.”
“Declan is a great businessman.” My father claps Declan on the back and smiles.
“Thank you, sir.” Declan raises his glass and takes a sip.
“This is very weird,” I murmur and look at my mother, who is smiling.
As I watch my father and Declan talk, I’m reminded by the way my father was before Dmitri’s death. Yes, he was still an asshole to me. But, it wasn’t until Dmitri’s death that he really started being tough. I absentmindedly rub my hip as I recall the day he shot me.
We had been interrogating an employee who had been caught moonlighting for another family. My father had me doing the questioning, but things weren’t going so well. I’m not sure if it’s because I knew the guy from him being around for years, or the simple fact that I hated torturing people. Dmitri had been right when he said torturing was a lot.
My father pulled me aside, yelling at me. The man we were interrogating started begging for us to let him go. Irritated by the man’s constant whining, my father pulled his gun and put a bullet between his eyes.
My eyes watered as I watched the man slump against his restraints.
“Natalia. What have I told you about being so soft?” He growled.
I tuned him out, as I heard Dmitri’s voice in my head. “Don’t let him make you hard.”
He must have known I was zoning out because the next thing I remember was excruciating pain in my hip. He had shot me.
My eyes went to him and he looked semi-shocked, but it was quickly replaced with indifference. After telling one of his men to call Eric, he walked over to me, placing his hands on the wound and applying pressure. That’s the moment that I knew his compassion for me was nothing like what he had for Dmitri. He would never ‘accidentally’ shoot his golden child.
Eric finally arrived and was able to get me into the operating room where he had to perform the partial oophorectomy.
Declan’s voice brings me out of the memory.
“Nat?” He asks, standing in front of me. “Are you okay?”
I glance around him for any sight of my parents, and then back at Declan when there's no sign of them. “Yeah. I was just thinking…” I whisper, trailing off.
Declan’s eyes fall to the hand that’s rubbing my side and frowns. “He is trying, Nat,” he whispers. “He told me when we were talking earlier about how he regrets how he has treated you.”
