AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s gonna be okay, guys,” I tell them. “I promise.”
But I have no right to promise them anything.
I’m just as lost as they are.
49
RUSLAN
Forty-eight hours have passed. The alcohol and the hangover have both had their way with me. But the guilt…
That shit lingers.
I’ve never had to explain myself before. I’ve never had to apologize. But she deserves that much at the very least. They all do.
Except when I walk into our bedroom to do it, the air feels strange. The room looks different, too. It takes me a long, stupefied moment to realize that Emma’s slippers are no longer by the foot of the bed. Her favorite bathrobe is gone. All her books. All her clothes.
Dread rips through me as I turn towards the mantelpiece in search of the music box.
It’s gone.
I rush into the kids’ room and it’s the same story there. I can still see the indents of Reagan’s feet on the carpet. They’re gone—that much is undeniable. But who took them? Where? When? It’s not like she has a place to—
I twist around when Kirill walks in. One look at his face and I know something’s up.
“Tell me what you know,” I order. “Where the fuck are they?”
“They went back to the penthouse,” he admits. “They left about an hour ago.”
“Why the hell didn’t you stop them? Or call me?”
He fixes me with a glare that I’m not used to having aimed at me. “Is it true what you said to them?”
That guilt leaps up in my throat to strangle me from within. “I was drunk, Kirill. And stupid. And an asshole.” I sigh deeply. “I didn’t realize the kids were listening.”
“Why would you even say shit like that to any of them?” he demands.
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
He shakes his head sadly. “You love Emma and you love those kids. So why are you sabotaging your own happy ending?”
I don’t know how to answer that, so I just don’t even bother trying.
Kirill looks both crushed for me and disgusted with me at the same time. “You should have begged for her forgiveness a lot sooner than this.”
“I know that,” I rasp, chin falling to my chest.
“So why didn’t you?”
My hand is balled into a fist. Even though my anger is aimed at Kirill, I know that he’s not the one I want to punch. I’d need a mirror for that.
“Because… I know the damage I’ve done. And I didn’t want to face it.”
“Burying your head in the sand isn’t going to do shit, brother. It’s only gonna make everything worse.”
I nod and head for the door.
“Where are you going?” he calls after me.
