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“Where do you think? I’m gonna go get my family back.” I stop abruptly at the threshold and turn to Kirill. “Oh—and as for Adrik, you can release him.”
Kirill’s eyes pop open with shock. “Say that again?”
“I’m not gonna kill him. But I’m not gonna protect him anymore, either. He can fuck off wherever he wants—sooner or later, the Rabid Wolves will find him. Word is, they’ve already started looking.”
* * *
The guard behind the security desk gives me a tight frown. “The security code was changed forty minutes ago, sir. But I can call up to the penthouse and request access for you.”
I nod. “Do it.”
Request forgiveness while you’re at it.
He dials in the connection number and hands me the phone. Then he has the good sense to fuck off while I put the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
It’s Caroline. My heart is beating fast. Is this what real nerves feel like? Because it’s goddamn awful. “Hey Caro, it’s me. Ruslan.”
For a moment, I think she hung up on me. But then I hear the sound of her breathing.
“Caroline,malyshka, can you let me in?”
There’s a beat of silence. Then: “No.”
“Caroline—
“You weremean,” she says emphatically. “If you didn’t want to be our dad, then you should have just said.”
I’m torn between laughing and falling to fucking pieces. Raked over the coals by a child—I deserve nothing less.
“You’re right. But we can’t talk about this through the phone. Can you please put your aunt on? I need to talk to you guys in person, face to—”
I hear the phone change hands, but the voice on the other side is not Emma’s.
“I’m mad at you.” It’s Reagan now.Even the little one is pissed off and as much as it hurts me that I’ve hurt her, I’m also proud that she’s speaking up about it.
“You have every right to be.”
Her little voice quivers. “You made us all cry.”
I must have a heart after all,I think to myself. Because I’m pretty sure it’s breaking right now.
“Rae, please let me explain. I never meant to hurt any of you—”
“Then why did you?”
Except I’m not speaking to Reagan anymore. The phone has changed hands once again while I was speaking. Now, the voice is slightly lower, slightly deeper, but still just as pained.
“Josh.”
It took so long to earn his trust. We spent months forging a bond that I managed to screw up in a matter of seconds.
“You lied to me.” His voice feels suddenly so much more mature. It feels like I’m talking to a teenager. A man in the making. “You lied to all of us. You told me you would never be like my dad. You promised me.”
Crack, crack, crack,go the last pieces of my heart.
“Can you please let me up there so we can talk about this?”
