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Havoc can pretend he was the winner, I don’t mind. We each won a round so I know it was a tie. His sensitive ego can’t take a challenge even if he was the one to start it. Laney kisses me and I lift her into my arms. It’s only been a day since I’ve had her, but I already need more.
Truthfully, I think I need both of them. That thought used to scare me, but I don’t think it does anymore. We break our kiss, and my eyes immediately travel to Havoc as if I could sense exactly where he was.
“Let’s go, bro.” I wink at him and push open the door to the bedroom with our girl in my arms.
???
“Come on, Son. Let me help.” Boris’ eyes bore into mine and I grit my teeth.
“I’m not your son,” I bark, shoving his hand off of me before I take a seat.
Boris took me in and protected me just like Ma promised he would, but he keeps trying to act like my father. Maybe he should pay better attention to his actual son.
He sighs like a disappointed parent as he leans on his desk, which only makes me more frustrated.
“Alright then. How would you feel about a different position?”
“I don’t need your handouts.” We’re in his office because he tried to send me on a job in Santorini with his men. I said no.
He wants me to get experience with his guys, but I don’t like them. I have never been a team player, and I like it even less when I am expected to make decisions for everyone out there.
“It is not a handout. I need to hire a teacher to be my eyes and ears at a university. For the first five years, I need you to teach history and strategy. After that, my son should be there. If you are willing to stay on, I will elevate you to the position of Dean of the University the year he attends. I need him to be protected.”
I narrow my gaze because this feels like a trick. I started my master's degree in teaching before I left London when Ma passed. Being a teacher at a university was one of my dreams. I didn’t know if it would ever come true, but I’ve always wanted it.
“Do you know?” I ask him.
“Did Marta tell me that you wanted to be a teacher? Yes. You and I may have never been close, but she and I were.”
Boris lifts himself so he’s sitting on the edge of his desk, his spine perfectly straight and face as blank as ever. I bet he wipes the floor with people in poker.
“Alright, I’ll do it.” I lean forward in the seat. “On one condition.”
“What is that?”
“You only make me the Dean if you believe I have earned it.”
He takes his time to think before nodding. “Deal. Go pack.”
I stand to do as he asked. As I leave the building, I look up at the sky. There isn’t a cloud in sight. I kiss my two fingers and lift them in the air for Ma. I have no doubt she planned all of this, and I love her even more for it.
She may have left me, but she made sure she didn’t leave me alone. I may not like Boris because he never came to her rescue, but I know he’s trying with me—for her.
???
Chaos breaks out around me. I don’t hear the words but I feel their pain as if it’s my own. It pulls me from a deep sleep. Flashes of a battle play out before me and, all at once, I remember everything.
I must have been asleep for a while because when I open my eyes to see everyone fighting around me, I also see Laney’s things piled around the room. Havoc is in her face as she pushes at him, their voices raising to near shouting.
Then, Evie and Alexi start to argue. It all becomes so much that I can feel my heart rate kick up as alarms around me begin to go off. I clear my throat and open my cracked lips.
“Did I miss something?”
Everyone in the room freezes, jaws dropping to the floor as if they never expected to see me awake.
Maybe I’ve been asleep for longer than I thought.
“Arrow?” Laney questions. Her expression breaks my heart. She looks so tired and broken that my chest physically aches.
