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“No, but Ruslan has. I saw how hard that was for him.”
“You were there for that, huh?” He shrugs and looks away. Something tells me he regrets bringing it up in the first place. “Did you know Leonid?”
“Not very well. Ruslan and I only really became friends after… it happened.”
I’m dying to ask more, to know more. But he’s shutting down on me already. “Kirill—”
“You should give your parents a call. We don’t need them stirring the pot,” he says abruptly.
I scowl. “Seriously? I can’t talk to Phoebe, butthisis allowed?”
He smiles like it’s just another day. “This is work. Damage control.”
“You’re really annoying, y’know that?” I stick my tongue out at him.
“Oh,realmature.”
“It’s the hormones,” I say prettily.
Laughing, he heads off towards the right and I go into the main living room to get the dreaded phone call done with it.
“Hi, Mom,” I greet without enthusiasm when she picks up.
“Emma? Emma?”
Obviously, yes! Who else calls her “Mom” anymore?
“Yeah, it’s me,” I say, weary already. “It’s Emma.”
“Emma Lorraine Carson. For God’s sake! What the bloody hell is wrong with you?”
Not exactly what I was expecting. But also, notnotwhat I was expecting, either.
“You want the short list or the long one?”
“Don’t make jokes. Not now!”
“When then?”
She ignores that. “Your father and I have been worried sick. Ben has been worried sick. For you to take those children like you did… He’s theirfather!”
She’s shrieking so loud that she’s hurting my ear. I do a quick check to determine no one’s around—no need to subject myself to shame on multiple fronts—and then I put her on speakerphone.
“Are you even interested in why I took the children?”
“There is no excuse. Absolutely none. We covered for you with the media, but Iknew. I knew the moment Ben called us, absolutely frantic over his children—”
“Oh, please, don’t tell me you two actually fell for that dog and pony show.”
“Emma Lorr—”
“Stop using my full name like I’m a daughter you have the right to scold,” I interrupt coldly. “You were never a parent when I needed one. There’s no point in starting now.”
There’s a beat of silence on the line.
“What has gotten into you lately?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
