AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Brooke! You have to be careful. The school will call the police.”
“I made sure I wasn’t seen,” Brooke said. “I just needed to see it for myself. And I know we can’t know for sure she’s really okay, but I needed to see her face.”
Ruby knew what Brooke was getting at: did Olivia have any bruises, anything to indicate she might have been physically harmed the way Adam had hurt Ruby when they’d been married?
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Thank you for doing that. How does she look?”
“From afar? The same,” Brooke said. “It’s not enough obviously, but it’s better than nothing. Dad hired a lawyer to see about our rights as her family, in case… in case…”
“In case I didn’t come home,” Ruby finished.
“Yeah,” Brooke said. “I’m so fucking relieved you’re alive.”
“I’m alive, but we might still need that lawyer,” Ruby said. “Roman told me he thinks Adam worked with his father to have me kidnapped.”
Brooke gasped. “No!”
“He can’t prove it, but the day I went missing? Adam picked Olivia up at recess.”
“So?”
Ruby didn’t fault Brooke for not putting the pieces together. She wasn’t a parent, had no desire to be a parent anytime soon. The world of school schedules and pickup routines was completely foreign to her.
“It was a Monday — not Adam’s day — and they took me after Adam picked up Olivia,” Ruby said.
“That motherfuckerknew,” Brooke said.
“That’s how it looks,” Ruby said.
“I wondered why he didn’t show for the press conferences,” Brooke said. “I mean, I just assumed it was because he’s a monumental asshole — I even wondered ifhe’ddone something to you — but it seemed mean even for him not to show up, at least for Olivia.”
“Yeah, it’s just all too much of a coincidence,” Ruby said. “And then he doesn’t let you and Dad see Olivia? He did this to punish me for seeing Roman, not because he cares about me or Olivia but because he thinks he owns us. Which is why we’re probably going to need that lawyer.”
“You think he’s going to fight you for custody?” Brooke asked.
“I can almost guarantee it, and he’s going to use my relationship with Roman to win.” Ruby almost couldn’t get the words out around the pain in her chest. Losing Olivia was unimaginable.
“Okay, but there is no relationship with Roman, right?” Brooke asked.
Ruby didn’t answer fast enough.
“Right, Ruby?” Brooke prodded. “Because I know you wouldn’t keep seeing the mobster — a leader in the fucking Russian Mafia — after you’ve been kidnapped and held prisoner because of his business.”
“Of course not,” Ruby said. “I’m just saying, once Adam finds out I’m back, he’ll tell the court that Ihada relationship with Roman.”
“And you can tell them that Adam worked with the head of the fucking Russian mob to have you kidnapped,” Brooke said, raising her voice. “He’ll never see her again. He might even go to jail.”
Ruby closed her eyes with a sigh, wishing she could block everything out and sleep forever. “Somehow I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.”
She’d thought if she got free her life would go back to normal. Instead it was starting to seem like there was no normal. She was trapped in the beautiful but sterile loft with the man who’d stolen her heart right before he’d ruined her life. She couldn’t see her daughter, and now she had to entertain the very real possibility of an ugly court battle to get her back.
“God,” Brooke said, “you must be exhausted and freaked out. We should talk about this later, after you’ve had time to rest and recover. Did they… did they hurt you, Ruby?”
Ruby opened her eyes, focused on the Freedom Tower across the water, tried to keep herself in the here and now instead of in the dark grain terminal when she’d been cold and hungry and alone. “No, although they talked about it.”
No fun. Not yet.
“Jesus,” Brooke said. “I’m so fucking sorry you had to go through that, Rubes. You must have been so scared.”
