Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Now it feels like she’s all skin and bones and not much else.
Mama sits at the table with me. She takes my hands and waits patiently until I get myself together.
“At least tell me he’s treating you well,” she says earnestly.
I almost laugh. How am I supposed to respond to that? I broke his nose during a game of weird, brutal sex last night, while his Bratva generals were sitting downstairs drinking his vodka.
“He’s treating me well,” I say and almost mean it.
“Good.” She pats my hand. “That’s good.” But she doesn’t look like she believes me. She gets up and returns to the stove, busying herself, mostly so she doesn’t get emotional. She’d rather avoid having the hard conversations where possible, but unfortunately, for once she’s going to have to face this head-on.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I ask her, and when she doesn’t respond, I push. “Why didn’t you tell me about Uncle Aram?”
“Don’t call him uncle,” she says, pausing with her spoon in the pot. Her shoulders tense. “He’s not a part of our lives. Not like that.”
“But you still should have warned me.”
“I wanted to shield you from them.” She shakes her head and begins stirring again. “Your papa and I left Baltimore to get away from that part of our lives. I never planned on contacting them ever again, but you remember the way things were.”
The desperate fight to save Papa’s life. Pouring all our money into one false hope after another. The devastating failure at the end.
“But now they’re back,” I tell her.
“Your husband will handle them, won’t he?” She sounds too hopeful as she looks back at me. “That’s why you married him, isn’t it?”
“That’s one reason,” I admit. “But maybe if I had known, we could’ve done something. We could’ve—”
“Done what?” she asks, her tone sharp. “We could’ve done what, Karine-jan? You were already working to make as much money as you could. Should I have sold my blood as well? It wouldn’t have mattered.”
“That’s not fair. They’re dangerous.”
“Yes, they’re dangerous,” she agrees and comes back to the table. For the first time since coming inside, Mama seems alive. “You have to remember that, okay? My brother is not a well man. He’s not sane, Karine. I don’t know what will happen from here, but no matter what, you can’t trust him, and you can’t get anywhere near him. Do you hear me?”
The fear in her voice is deeply unsettling.
“He’s really that bad?”
“Yes,” she says, nodding slowly. “He’s really that bad. I remember those early days before Papa and I ran away. Aram took control of the Brotherhood by killing a series of generals, one after the other, each more vicious and brutal than the next. The whole city lived in terror of him. People were dying all over. We ran because we were convinced we would be next, and if we weren’t, I couldn’t live with the thought of being a part of that monster’s family any longer. Some things happened… he pushed me into a bad situation, despite your father… Well, I don’t like thinking about it anymore. It was terrible, Karine, and I hate myself for bringing it back into our lives. I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry you had to resort to marrying Valentin. I’m so sorry for all of this.”
I sit with her in silence for a little while. She slumps and looks defeated as the stew simmers on the stovetop. I remember smelling khashlama as a little girl and feeling so excited for dinner, but now there’s nothing. No joy at the memory, no anticipation of a good meal.
Just a cold bleak acceptance that my life will never be the same, and might never have been what I thought it was.
Chapter 16
Karine
Ithrow my clothes into a hamper and drag it down the hall.
It surprises me how much stuff I have. In my head, the last few years really drained me of everything. I’d been selling anything with value on eBay just to bring in a few extra dollars, but even after getting rid of my laptop, my headphones, the antique dolls my grandmother left to me when I was little, and a dozen other trinkets, I kind of figured I’d be down to basically nothing.
Which is far from true. I’ve got so much stuff, and it’s a huge pain to lug it to the extra bedroom at the far end of the house.
Nikkita stands in the hallway with a pinched frown and her arms crossed over her chest. She says nothing to me as I get myself settled in my new little home. I arrange my clothes in the drawers and even place a few of the personal effects Valentin’s men had brought over from my room.
“He is not going to like this,” she says to me finally, standing in the doorway.