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“No, I’m not,” he replies, completely stone-cold. “I’m fixing one.”
Maybe I could open the door and kind of cannonball my way out of this car? I glance towards the speedometer. He’s doing a casual eighty. Yeah, that’s definitely gonna kill me.
What if I just leap out and run the moment he stops driving? I bite my bottom lip, knowing full well that that would end terribly. I’ve never been the fastest runner. I joined track because Sienna joined track. After a couple of training sessions, the coach told me that I should consider going out for theater instead.
By the time he parks outside my Hell’s Kitchen apartment, I’m no longer surprised. I’m strangely resigned. Maybe it’s time to accept my fate. I’m not meant to be the guardian of those kids. It seems the universe is unequivocally opposed to it.
“Come on,” Ruslan orders once we’re parked.
I don’t even try to run. I just slink after him into the building and up to the fourth floor. I can hear Ben puttering around in there. My skin crawls at the thought of seeing him again.
Ruslan is about to knock when I stop him with a hand to his arm. “Wait!” He glances at me impassively. “What about the kids?”
He frowns. “The kids are fine.”
“You’ll look after them?”
His frown gets the tiniest bit deeper. “Of course I will. You don’t ever have to worry about them again.”
That’s good to know. I suppose there’s nothing left to do but to worry about myself now. I swallow my tears as Ruslan knocks on the door.
Ben’s footsteps thump closer. He rips the door open wide before realizing who’s standing there waiting for him. When he does, his jaw flops wide open.
“What the fuck?”
Yeah. My thoughts exactly.
Then Ruslan slams his forehead right into Ben’s face, sending him keeling backwards. If the coffee table had still been standing, he would have broken through the glass the same way I had.
I’m so shocked that not even a gasp escapes my lips. I just stand there, frozen to the threshold as Ben splutters up blood and half-formed expletives from where he lands.
Ruslan grips my wrist and pulls me into the apartment. The door slams shut behind us and he turns back to Ben, who’s still lying in a daze in the middle of the stained carpet. There’s a pungent stink that clings to the walls. I’m not surprised: Ben was never much of a housekeeper, even back in the ancient days when he was a half-decent father.
“What kind of person, what kind ofman,sells out the woman who’s been taking care of his children?” Ruslan growls as he circles Ben like a predator about to strike.
My jaw is hanging open.
Did I hear what I think I just heard?
“You saw how hard she worked for you and those kids. You saw how well she looked after them. And instead of being grateful, you decided to take fucking advantage. You joined forces with that lowlife piece of shit who masquerades as a reporter and you decided to put yourself first. Did you even think for a second about your children?”
Ben’s still gawking up at Ruslan with blood pouring out of both nostrils. He looks like what he is: a man who’s just realized far, far too late that he overplayed his hand and lost.
“No. No, of course you didn’t think about your children. You didn’t think about Josh when you were threatening the boy with violence, making him lie and steal for you. Why would you think of any of them now?”
Ben’s eyes veer to me. “E-Emma—”
Ruslan lunges between us. “Don’tyou dare. Don’t youdarefucking look at her. Not after how you betrayed her.”
I’m shivering from the weight of all this unexpected emotion. From the realization of what’s actually happening, too.
Ruslan didn’t bring me here to abandon me to Ben.
He brought me here for justice.
Then, while my brain is still reeling, Ruslan pulls out a stack of clean white papers and throws them onto the carpet next to Ben. “Try not to get blood on those when you sign them.”
Ben glances down distractedly. Then his eyes catch on the words. “T-these are custody papers.”
