AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good.” Her eyes roam over me. I can feel my mom standing behind me. “You look okay.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“I don’t understand.” Her brows furrow together. “You smell like a man. Not like a man, but like you’ve been …” She narrows her eyes. “Mom, did you smell it too?”
My cheeks start to warm.
“I did.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” my sister pushes.
“I promise that what you’re both thinking didn’t happen,” I reassure them. I don’t elaborate and tell them that I’d been a willing participant in what happened between Sergei and me.
“Okay, only double checking. You might need to be tested or you know”—she licks her lips—“the morning after pill.”
Nowthatsucks all the air out of my lungs. I swear it feels like a punch to the gut. I hadn’t thought of those things.
“Let’s leave her be.” Mom comes over, taking my hand in hers. “Give everyone some time to calm down.” She gives my hand a squeeze.
“I’d actually love a shower.”
“All right.” Mom nods. I can tell neither want me to leave the room, but I really need a second alone.
It’s not until I’m in the shower, Sergei washing away from my body, that I start to sob. My mind starts to replay everything.
Sergei standing up against my brothers. He said he loved me and then... I close my eyes. Said he was done with me. I’d wondered if it was a game the whole time until the end. Was him even holding a gun on his brother a part of it all? I don’t understand it.
I turn off the shower and get myself together. For the benefit of everyone, I need to appear okay. Or maybe I need to appear okay to prove to myself that I am. I go about doing my hair and even putting on makeup. Trying to portray that I’m the same Olivia they have always known, but I’m not. I’ll never be the same after Sergei.
A knock sounds at my door. I know it’s my parents.
“Come in,” I call out. My mom enters first with my dad following, his hand on her lower back. I can tell they need to tell me something, and whatever it is is important. I can only guess it has to do with where I’ve been and what that means for our family and the Talettis. Is it war?
“What?” Dad closes the door behind him.
“I talked to your brothers. They told me the details.” Dad is the first to speak. My mom is wringing her hands. She’s always so calm and collected, but that’s the opposite of what she is right now, which makes me uneasy.
“I know. I was stupid. I thought—”
“It’s not that, sweetheart,” my dad cuts in. “There’s something you need to know.”
Oh shit. This must be big or we’d be having this conversation as a whole family.
“Only a few people know.” Mom finally speaks. “With all that has happened and Luca targeting you—”
“Because I look like you? I thought that might be part of it.” I roll my eyes.
“He’s always had a bit of an obsession with your mother, but I’ve let it go.” My dad pulls my mom in closer to him. “Because she begged me to in case one day things came to light.”
“If I remember correctly, I gave you an ultimatum.” She glances up to my dad with a soft smile filled with so much love. They’d do anything for one another. My heart starts to ache harder. I thought I’d found what they had with Sergei.
“True.” Dad leans down and presses his mouth to hers for a brief kiss. “But I would have sold my soul to get you to agree to marry me. So I took your conditions, but—”
“Things have changed,” she whispers.
“What things?” What the hell are they talking about?
“Vincent.” A tear slips free. My dad wipes it away for her, whispering something into her ear. She nods.
