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“My mind is full of black spots, and I can’t focus if I have to worry about all of you as I ask the questions I need to. You either trust me and leave, or stay and lose this information.”
Alexi clenches his fists and Lev’s gaze hardens.
“It’s not you that we don’t trust, Lucky Charm. It’s him.”
I approach him slowly, laying a hand on his chest. “Trust me to handle him,” I say softly. “You believed I was strong once. Do you still believe that now?”
His hand covers mine as his wild forest green eyes bore into me, searching my soul. It takes him a second, but eventually he kisses my forehead and turns around to leave. Damien reluctantly follows him.
“We will be having a talk about your attitude later, Princess.”
He storms out of the room. It’s not until they are gone that Ivan chuckles. “You sure do have them wrapped around your finger, huh?”
“It’s called mutual respect. You should try it sometime.”
He raises his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t mean any offense, I was just impressed. They listen to you. That doesn’t happen often in this world.”
“In your world you mean. The one where you beat and oppressed women so that they believed they were below you.”
“I never once raised a hand to my Natalia. She was the light of my life.”
The way he says it with such sincerity in his tone makes it clear who he really is.
“Did Rostya kill your wife?”
Ivan closes his eyes and takes in a shaky breath. This is the information I need. I’m not going to beat around the bush, my heart is nearly ready to pound out of my chest as we stand here in silence.
It takes him a while to look at me, but the second our eyes connect, I already know the answer.
“Yes.”
Shit on a freaking stick, I wanted to be wrong.I wanted the whole thing to be one tragic accident that just happened and not some malicious attempt to hurt any of the men I love.
“He organized the whole thing so that he would look like a victim too, right?”
“I think so.” He sits as if that admission took every ounce of energy he had to let out.
“Ivan, tell me what happened?”
He runs his hands through his hair, leaning forward and covering his eyes.
“Natalia died and I wanted answers. I was so broken I didn’t know who to believe. Rostya tried to make me believe Boris was really behind it, but we all saw how much he genuinely loved his wife. Rostya convinced me over time though. It wasn’t until we had you, and he went on a monologue about how he murdered Boris’ wife that I realized the game he was playing.”
He looks up at me with tears in his eyes.
“He said Lev was manipulated by Boris and that he had Lev help send his mother on that trip. I was so blinded by my grief that I blamed him.”
A choked sob comes from his lips as I sit just outside his cell, the information feeling like it weighs a thousand pounds on my shoulders.
“I knew when I came to tell them where you were none of them would believe me. And I think in a way, I didn’t want to have to be the one to tell them why I left.”
As much as I can understand that, I scoff at him.
“Yeah, well, thanks for that. Now, it has to be me.”
Ivan wipes the tears away, getting up to come sit in front of me. “I know I fucked up, but please take care of my son. I will regret this for the rest of my miserable existence, but don’t let him suffer because of me.”
Ivan tells me more and more of the story behind what Rostya did. It takes no time at all to understand just how skilled that man is at manipulating the people around him.
