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I wait until it’s Jeremy’s bedtime, then read him a story that makes him giggle. He hugs my waist, fighting the sleep from his metallic eyes as they droop. “Don’t leave me, Mommy.”
“Never, my angel.” I kiss the top of his head.
Soon after, he loses the battle to sleep. I gently pry his fingers from around me and tuck him under the blanket before I stand up. For a moment, I remain there, watching him and noticing how much he’s grown up.
It feels like yesterday that he was born and we had to flee for our lives. My baby boy has been resilient since the very beginning.
Abandoning him with a strange woman, even at the promise of reuniting with him, worsened my state of mind. I recognize that now. That’s why I used the information I learned from Winter about losing her own child and mixed it up with the emptiness I had for not having Jeremy with me. Then I came up with a completely different identity.
I need to pay Dr. Taylor a visit because I have to prevent that from happening again. Feeling like another person, astranger, in the company of my son and husband was the worst experience I’ve ever had to endure.
Worse than being trapped in the black box as a child.
Worse than the ending of my career.
At that moment, I saw myself as an imposter who was stealing another woman’s family, and God help me, I wanted to steal it.
I wanted this life. I wanted Jeremy and Adrian to be all mine.
It’s ironic, considering I spent a great deal of effort trying to escape from being me. I never knew how much I was attached to my life until I nearly lost it.
Until Jeremy and Adrian were no longer my family.
Turns out, they always were. Or at least, Jeremy is. I need to do something about Adrian so that he doesn’t treat me like a stranger.
And the best way to do that is to learn some information before facing him.
Thankfully, I know the right person for that.
After kissing Jeremy’s forehead one last time, I step out of his room and go downstairs. I throw on a coat and slip out of the main house.
The freezing air chills my bones and I tighten the coat around me as I cross the distance to the guest house.
Boris and another guard stand out front, smoking and talking in Russian. Upon seeing me, they toss their cigarettes and Boris hurries to block my entrance.
He’s about the same build as Kolya, but has mean features with thin lips and a pointy nose.
“Evening, Boris,” I say in my most welcoming tone.
“Mrs. Volkov,” he greets back in his gruff Russian accent.
A sudden frisson goes through me at that name. When I thought I was Winter, I hated it because I was jealous of her—me. But when I was Lia, I refused to admit how much I loved having that last name attached to mine.
“I need to see Yan, Boris.”
He clears his throat. “That won’t be possible. Boss’s orders.”
“Are you going to use force to stop me?”
His and the other guard’s eyes widen at the suggestion. “Of course not. Boss would slaughter us if we touched you.”
“In that case, let me in.”
“I’ll have to report it to him.”
“Do it then. Tell him to come and stop me himself.” And with that, I brush past Boris, slightly scared, slightly excited about the fact that Adrian might come to fetch me.
But before that, I have to get the information I need.
