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Ruby hurried down the hall toward the elevator, her nerves giving way to excitement. She hadn’t seen Brooke in person since her visit after Ruby’s rescue from the grain terminal. She hadn’t seen her dad for even longer — since before she was kidnapped by Igor’s men.
Brooke had been his emissary with her single visit, making sure Ruby was okay at the loft, that she wasn’t being held prisoner by Roman.
She’d missed her family and she suddenly didn’t care about all the weird stuff between them — the Roman-shaped stuff.
She just wanted to see them.
She heard the soft whir of the approaching elevator car and a second later the doors slid open.
Then she was falling into her dad’s arms, closing her eyes against tears as he wrapped them around her. There was no trace of disapproval or disappointment in his embrace. It might come later, but for now he just seemed happy to be together again.
“My god, Ruby…” He pulled away to look at her, like he needed to see her face to make sure she was real. He looked older, the grooves in his forehead deeper, his blue eyes haunted with worry. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, Dad.”
“That’s okay,” Brooke said next to them. “I’m just here. Good old steady Brooke. Don’t worry about me.”
Ruby laughed and grabbed her sister for a hug. “You arenotsteady. That’s always been my job.”
It had been the dynamic for as long as Ruby could remember: Ruby seeking safety and control after their mother’s death while Brooke tempted fate time and again with a string of questionable lovers and an even more questionable string of decisions.
Brooke hugged her back. “Yeah? Well, you’re fired.”
Brooke delivered the indictment with her usual dry sense of humor, but it wasn’t like Ruby could have protested anyway. She’d been anything but safe since she’d met Roman.
Anything but in control.
“Where’s my granddaughter?” Ruby’s dad boomed behind her.
“In the living room,” Ruby said, pulling away from Brooke. “Come on, Vera made lunch.”
“Who the fuck is Vera?” Brooke asked.
Ruby turned around to glare at her. “Will you lower your voice? She’s Roman’s… housekeeper.” The label didn’t quite fit. Ruby knew Roman considered Vera family, but couldn’t exactly tell her dad and Brooke that Vera was Roman’s nanny, and she also cooked and cleaned. “And she’s like family, so don’t be obnoxious.”
“I thought the point of family is that you’re allowed to be obnoxious,” Brooke said as they spilled out into the living area. “Wow, I forgot how amazing this view is.”
“Grampa!” Olivia got up from the floor and ran to Ruby’s dad, flinging herself into his arms.
“There’s my girl,” her dad said.
“Second fiddle again,” Brooke said.
Ruby laughed. “She’s happy to see you both. Believe me, she’s been talking about your visit for three days.”
That was how long it took to convince Roman to allow it — not because he didn’t want Ruby and Olivia to see their family but because he was worried about the ramifications of his enemies seeing them coming and going from the loft.
Ruby’s kidnapping and Adam’s flight with Olivia to New Orleans weighed heavily on his conscience. He felt responsible and she understood why.
Hewasresponsible.
She wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t admit that. If Roman had never come into her life, she would still be working at the coffee shop, taking care of Olivia in their tiny apartment, living the carefully controlled life she’d worked so hard to build.
But it didn’t have the same appeal that it once had, and she was still trying to figure out what to do with that.
“I went on a long drive with my dad,” Olivia told Ruby’s dad. “A really reeeeaally long drive!”
Ruby saw her dad’s expression tighten, but he hid his anger well for Olivia. “Did you now? And how was that?”
