Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
I blink away tears because I know she’d only wave them away and tell me to be strong, but hearing her say all that swells my heart with pride.
Arsen shows up a little while later. Mom flutters around him, asking if he needs anything, and even Dad manages to wake up from his nap long enough to shake Arsen’s hand. We end up back at the table, Dad snoring away, and Mom pouring more tea. Arsen seems entirely out of place in this normal townhouse, but he sits beside me and compliments my mother’s decor.
“If there’s ever anything you need, tell me,” Arsen says.
“You’ve done enough. You’ve done too much! I’m fine, we’re all fine. I just want to see my little girl more often.”
Arsen takes my hand in his. “Soon she’ll be able to come as much as she likes.”
“Good, that’s very good. I’m so happy right now, I can’t describe it to you.”
The conversation goes surprisingly well. Arsen’s polite and kind with my mother. She’s a little pushy and asks some inappropriate things, but Arsen handles it with tact. He even makes her laugh a few times, which is no small thing. After a half hour is over, we’re ready to get going when there’s a sound from the stairs.
Vadim appears. He looks disheveled. His eyes are red-rimmed, and his clothes are all rumpled. “Well, look at fucking this,” he sneers, coming into the kitchen. “My little sister’s home.”
“Hi, Vadim,” I say, frowning at him. “You look like shit.”
He flinches and grabs a soda from the refrigerator. “And you look like a rich guy’s toy. Because that’s what you are, right?”
I stare at him in shock. Arsen’s grip on my hand tightens. “That was disrespectful,” my husband says. His tone is low and menacing.
“I apologize for my dumbass son.” Mom gets up and lightly smacks Vadim. He glares at her, and I can tell he wants to push her away, but even he wouldn’t dare. “Sometimes he’s not so smart.”
“What, it’s stupid to call this what it is? This weird little farce?” Vadim stalks to the other side of the kitchen. “Lena got knocked up by rich dick, and suddenly we’re going to pretend like that’s normal?”
“Vadim,” Mom hisses. “Arsen’s helping us.”
“He’s throwing money at us. I don’t call that helping, more like bribing. And I see it’s working on you.”
“That’s enough.” Mom snatches the drink from his hand and slams it down on the counter. “Go back to your cave.”
“I don’t know why you’re being so rude right now,” I say, getting to my feet. “My relationship with Arsen isn’t your problem. He’s done nothing but help our family.”
“Your husband’s a fucking criminal. You know that, right? Yeah, I know who you are, Arsen Sarkissian. Patron of the Brotherhood.”
Everyone stares at Vadim in shock. It’s one thing to flirt with that idea, but it’s another to say it out loud.
Arsen slowly gets to his feet. I tremble, and a jolt of terror runs through me. He moves forward toward my brother, and the sneer on Vadim’s face slowly fades.
“I’m not going to kill you out of respect for your mother and my wife,” Arsen says, staring at Vadim with that cold ruthlessness. “But if you ever speak to me or to anyone in my family like that again, I will break your neck. Do you understand me?”
“I don’t—I mean, I’m not—” Vadim’s trembling. Fear’s making him freeze up like a scared animal.
Arsen leans closer. “You will be kind to Lena, or you will no longer receive my generosity. Do you understand?”
“Fine. Fuck this.” Vadim turns and leaves the kitchen. He hurries back upstairs, and his bedroom door slams.
I go to Arsen and put my hand on his arm. He gives me a worried look and leans down. “Are you okay?” he whispers.
“I’m fine. Thank you for not hurting him.”
He nods once. “If he weren’t your brother, he’d be dead right now.”
“I know that.” I kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
“And I apologize for that,” Mom says, sounding mortified. “Vadim’s been struggling lately. That boy has no purpose. Ever since you started giving us money, apparently most of his old friends are afraid of him and won’t spend time with him anymore.”
Arsen’s eyes narrow. “They know who I am?”
“That’s what he says.” Mom’s hands rub together nervously. “Vadim’s involved with some… unsavory people. Arsen, is there any way you can give him work? Something respectable? Just to help him feel like a man again with a reason to get up in the morning?”
“It’d mean a lot,” I say, leaning into my husband.
I can tell Arsen doesn’t like it, but he agrees. “Legitimate work,” he emphasizes, and my mother gives him a great, big hug, or at least as big as her little frame can manage.
We leave together after that. Out on the sidewalk, Arsen pulls me into his arms and kisses me. I smile to myself and breathe in his smell. It’s better than anything I’ve ever tasted in my life.