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“I got to eat lots of snacks,” Olivia said. “I even got to have soda. But then we went to a vacation in a hotel and it wasn’t fun like when Mommy took me to Disney.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, sweetheart,” Ruby’s dad said, kissing her cheek. “Maybe we can all take a fun vacation together soon, back to Disney, or somewhere else you want to go.”
A shadow dampened Olivia’s enthusiasm. “Maybe.”
She was noncommittal and it was clear to Ruby that she didn’t want to think about going anywhere new anytime soon.
“Ahem,” Brooke said, looking pointedly at Olivia.
Olivia smiled and threw herself against Brooke’s legs.
Brooke bent down to give her a hug. “I missed you munchkin. So much!”
“Are you hungry?” Ruby asked. “There’s food, thanks to Vera.” She turned to Vera, busy cleaning in the kitchen but clearly curious about Ruby’s family. “Vera, this is my family. My sister Brooke and my dad Doug.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Vera said formally. Her accent made the greeting seem like something out of an old Russian novel.
“Nice to meet you too,” Brooke said, eyeing the food spread out on the table. “Wow, this looks amazing.”
Vera lifted her chin, clearly pleased by the compliment. She sniffed a little. “It is nothing.”
“Nice of you to go to all this trouble,” her dad said stiffly.
Ruby could see that he was struggling. There were things he wanted to say, things he’d put aside in the spirit of their reunion. But they wouldn’t be able to ignore those things for long. Roman’s loft and Vera’s presence were part of Ruby’s new reality and her dad wouldn’t make a secret about the fact that he didn’t like it one bit.
“Let’s grab food and we can sit in the living room and catch up,” Ruby said, handing Brooke and her dad a plate from the stack Vera had left on the table. “Catch me up on everything. What have you been up to?”
Her dad filled her in on the latest in his ongoing feud with his super while they loaded their plates with sandwiches, fruit, and vegetables from the tray Vera had set out with dip.
Ruby was grateful for the small talk. She was still bracing herself for what was to come.
She took a seat on the sofa next to her dad while Brooke sat on the floor with Olivia. Olivia had only taken fruit from the lunch spread, and they both placed their plates on the coffee table as Olivia picked up one of her crayons and went back to work in her coloring book.
“I’m afraid to spill something in this place,” Brooke said. “Although I’m guessing from the look of it that Roman could replace any of this stuff with a stroke of his pen.”
It wasn’t entirely true. Roman had money — that was obvious from the loft, the cars, the private plane — but she knew he was worried about the financing needed to continue his coup against his father.
It was expensive apparently. He had to pay the men, pay for their cars, fund weaponry to keep them safe, line the pockets of people who could help him.
She’d heard him on the phone with someone talking about liquidating investments, reassuring whoever it was that it was a short-term investment that would pay big dividends in the long run.
She followed her dad’s gaze as he looked around the apartment and could almost hear what he was thinking: blood money.
She was glad Roman was out with Max (intentional to give her time alone with her family? probably). The idea of traversing the minefield between Roman and her dad was the stuff of nightmares.
She picked at her food while Olivia chattered next to them. Brooke filled Ruby in on the latest offenses of David Chang, her high-strong boss who made Meryl Streep inThe Devil Wears Pradalook like a kindly grandmother.
Finally her dad turned to Ruby. “I think you and Olivia should come home with us.” He cleared his throat. “Today.”
25
RUBY
Ruby’s heart sank. She’d known Roman would be a topic of conversation. How could he not be?
But she’d hoped her dad would opt for reassurances about her well-being, about the accommodations for Olivia, not a blatant demand for them to leave the safety of the loft.
“Dad…”
