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“What have you become?” Unshed tears turn into rage. “Why are you doing this? Mom is gone. Killing someone else won’t bring her back. You almost?—”
“These people are not innocent victims!” he scoffs bitterly. “They’re criminals. You’re not safe with that monster.”
“Nikolai isn’t the monster.” Frustration unleashes my tongue. “You used to be one of them, Dad. They used to beyourfamily. Or have you forgotten that?”
“Eden …” Dad’s voice softens just a fraction. “You’ve always been too trusting, too kind. They’re taking advantage of your naivety.”
“Naivety?” I scoff loudly. “They used me as bait, andyoufell for it. Maybe I wouldn’t be so trusting if you had told me the truth from the start. Because Mercy knows the truth.”
Dad laughs bitterly. “I didn’t want a daughter like her.”
“So, my innocence is a detriment that you blame me for? Don’t worry, it’s disappearing fast, Zakhar.”
His silence when he hears me use his old name is damning. There’s another long pause, but what’s unspoken is just as telling. Finally, he breaks it.
“Eden, has he touched you?” His voice cracks as if it’s too terrible to ask.
“Is that all you care about?” I almost shout.
“Answer me, Eden!”
“I’m just a pawn, aren’t I?” I blurt out. “A rope between the two of you that you’re both pulling, not caring how much it hurts me.”
“Eden. You’re my daughter. You’re not a pawn. Not to me.”
I want to tell him the truth, but I don’t know what this man will do. Would knowing I’m pregnant make him happy regardless of who the father is? If he knew I was pregnant, would he have pulled the trigger anyway?
He told the first lie, the biggest lie, that changed my life.
I don’t owe him any truth he demands.
“I know about the wedding, Eden.” He pauses as if he’s expecting me to deny it. “If you go through with it, you can’t undo what will happen.”
Is that a threat or a warning?
“No one can undo what they’ve done,” I reply defiantly. “You should know that, but you don’t.”
“Eden, tell me where you are.” He raises his voice. “Tell me now so I can end this!”
I can’t. I can’t do this. I won’t do this. So, I do the one thing I’ve never done before.
I hang up on him.
I can’t trust him to do the right thing. He is so driven by his desire to get revenge for my mother that he shotme—his own pregnant daughter.
How can I believe he’s doing all this for me?
How did Ieverbelieve he was doing all this for me?
I wake with a start.I must have fallen asleep after talking with my father. I wonder again if Nikolai was right all along about him. I thought Nikolai’s vengeance was fueled by a senseless fury. But it turns out my father is far worse in that regard.
Apparently, family means nothing as long as Zakhar destroys Nikolai.
Lying in my bed alone, I wonder where Nikolai is. There are no new notifications on my phone, so I stare at the ceiling, waiting for it to chime. He won’t call or text, and I wish Nikolai was here, safe in my bed.
The door creaks open, casting a sliver of light across the room. Larissa steps in, her eyes wide with concern as she takes in my disheveled state.
“Eden, are you well?” she asks. “It’s noon.”
