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He’s not the only one who’s thankful to Ruslan for that.
“I do think I should start seeing him at least once a week,” she adds. “It’s important that he’s able to talk to an objective person about everything that’s going on. He doesn’t want to burden either you or Ruslan with anything.”
“But we want him to!”
“I understand. But for right now, I think you need to give him time and space, so that he can come to you eventually. Oh, and Emma?”
“Yes?”
“You haven’t screwed him up. Believe me: yousavedthat child. And you should be proud of it.”
It doesn’t get much better than a professional telling you you’re not a shitty mother. “You better get out of here now before I do something crazy and kiss you,” I warn her.
She laughs. “See you next week, Emma. I’m already looking forward to it.”
After she’s gone, I walk back to the pool and lean against the French doors. Josh is splashing his sisters, laughing louder than I’ve heard him laugh in a while.
I find myself wishing that Ruslan were here to hear this. I wish he were here so that I could tell him that Josh is gonna be okay.
Andhe’sa big reason why.
29
RUSLAN
I need to put some distance between myself and all this accountability I’ve been avoiding since Emma landed in my home. Kirill’s call gave me the excuse I needed to get the fuck out from underneath her pleading blue eyes. Those eyes are the heart of the damn problem, because they make a man want to do crazy things.
Like…forgive.
Likeforget.
Likeapologize.
My phone pings with coordinates for a location, sent by Kirill. It’s smack dab in the middle of nowhere. I get into one of my more understated vehicles, a black Range Rover, and load the location details into my GPS. Then I call Kirill from the car.
“Well?”
“We’ve got the place surrounded. It’s a fuckin’ dump.”
“Who zeroed in on the location?”
“Credit goes to Vadim here. Your unc really pulled through for us.”
Nice to know my uncle is more than just an outdated figurehead with a breeding fetish.
“Is he there, too?”
“Yup. He and his team are on the other side of the house. We’re trying to determine if it’s booby-trapped.”
I snort. “You really think Adrik has the resources for that if he picked a shithole to keep one of the most valuable assets he’s stolen from me?”
“There are cameras everywhere,” Kirill muses dubiously. “We’ve pinpointed at least seven around the perimeters of the property and the tech squad is still working on identifying any we might be missing. Speaking of, do you want me to take them down before we move in?”
“No,” I growl. “I want that fucker to see me take back what’s mine. Then I want him to watch as I burn down everything else.”
“Aye-aye, captain. ETA?”
“Seven minutes.”
