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"At your wedding if you want." She returns my smile with a shy one of her own.
"That'd be wonderful." I hand her the Coke. "I'm going dress shopping tomorrow. You wanna come along?"
Lilyana glances at her brother. He's staring at me, his brows lowered, and she seizes her chance.
"Yes, please." She takes the plate from Vlad's hand. "Thank you for the sandwich, Vladi. May I go shopping with Morgana?"
"If you wish," he says. "Are you alright? Do you need anything else?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll eat and then go to bed. G'night."
She mirrors my coy wave as she closes the door.
11
Morgana
Vlad and I sit on our bedroom balcony, eating burgers and drinking La Croix.
I still think he's an asshole, but I'm dying of curiosity. He's such a contradiction. Which of his faces is the real one?
"I didn't expect to see that side of you," I say. "You're so gentle with Lilyana. Why?"
Vlad leans back against his chair and closes his eyes. "Is this the interview, Morgana? Because I'm not in the mood to spill my life story."
I glare at him. "How am I supposed to play along with this stupid situation you've put me in if you won't tell me anything about yourself?"
Vlad tilts his head, considering my point. "Alright, here it is. Lilyana and Avel are twins. My mother was too old to have more children, but my father never let her use birth control. She died from septicemia after they were born."
A touch of strain creeps into his voice. He struggles to talk about these things, despite his efforts to seem blasé.
"When Lili was five, she fell down a flight of stairs and smashed her head to shit. She was in the hospital for weeks." Vlad puts his burger down as though he's lost his appetite. "My father kept saying if she was hurt that bad, she'd be better off dead."
"That's sick. What is his problem?"
"It would be depressing to dig into why my father is like he is. He would have married Lili off, and he never spoke to her again when he realized no one would want her."
I phrase my next question carefully. "So, what's her situation, exactly?"
"She suffered a multi-site traumatic brain injury. As a result, she has a mild learning delay and some sensory issues. She's shy and self-conscious, and that makes her isolated." He sweeps his hair off his forehead. "Her piano playing went from tinkering to virtuoso within two years. She was playing Bach from memory before she was six."
I smile. "She seems sweet."
"I adore her."
Vlad's eyes are closed, and he looks peaceful for the first time since I met him.
Who the hellishe? This kidnapping, murderous criminal who speaks tenderly about his vulnerable little sister and makes her sandwiches just so?
"Anyway," he says, "my father considers Lili to be some kind of shameful secret and rarely even speaks her name. But you invited her shopping with you, just like that. Why?"
"She's struggling to navigate a brutal world," I say. "I understand how she feels. And because I'mkindto people, Vladi. It's this new thing the kids are doing now."
"Well, I don't know about that, but I appreciate it," Vlad says. "Her face lit up when you asked."
"No problem. I could use a cellmate. Lili and I can be prisoners together."
"Lili isnota prisoner," Vlad snaps. "I look after her. No one understands her like I do, and I'll die before I see the bratva life eat her alive."
