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Now, she’s standing in front of my desk, studying the evidence of exactly where I’ve been the last few days. My desk is strewn with work, but it’s the toothbrush, razorblade, and stacks of dirty clothes that are tough to explain.
Laila tucks a lock of blonde hair behind her ear, her wide, blue eyes looking everywhere except at me. “Polina would have a fit if she could see this room.”
“She knows not to mess with my space.”
“I think everyone has gotten that message loud and clear, actually.”
I look back to my paperwork, trying to ignore the draw I feel to stand up, walk around this desk, and fold her against my chest.
It’s the first time I’ve seen Laila since the hospital. The first time I’ve let myself be close enough to catch more than a passing whiff of her perfume in a hallway.
For all the damage Dominik’s fists did, being this close to Laila is enough to start chipping at my walls.
“Wow,” she breathes. I look up and she’s holding the scale model of the distillery. “I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful.”
Few people did. When I first started the project, people assumed I’d slap something together in a few months so I could start funneling money through it. But I always wanted Pobeda to be more.
“I wanted it to be perfect. It’s been years in the making, and we’re finally close to the finish line.”
“No wonder you’ve been so busy.” Somewhere deep in the house, an infant wails. Laila turns towards the door like she’s ready to abandon this conversation, but she stops herself. “My mom is with Nina. She’s got a set of lungs on her. Can you always hear her crying?”
I definitely feel it that time: the quiet rebuke.Do you hide away here and listen to your baby cry? Why won’t you come out?
I ignore the unspoken questions in favor of asking one of my own. “How is the baby doing?”
“Her name is Nina,” Laila corrects gently. “And she’s perfect. That’s what the doctor said at her first checkup.”
Which you missed.
Again, she doesn’t say the words, but the accusation is there all the same.
“I’ve had a lot of work to get through.”
“Business comes first, of course.”
The words feel like scalding water poured on my head. “If the business flourishes, so does this family.”
“What family?” Before I can say anything, she shrugs. “It’s alright. I went to all of the prenatal appointments alone, too. Why should anything be different now that she’s here?”
I’m used to physical blows—the kind of fighting that left me and Dominik both bloody and beaten. But Laila’s fighting is dirtier by far. If I wasn’t busy nursing the wounds her words leave, I might applaud.
“I’m— Look, I didn’t come here to give you a hard time. I came to talk about Charles.” She sighs. “He called me yesterday.”
I jerk to my feet, lips curling over my teeth. “What did he say?”
She blinks, surprised I still want to defend her. As if it’s a shock that I even care. “More of the same threats he’s always throwing my way—but you did offer to take care of him for me once and…” She exhales deeply. “I don’t have the energy to deal with him on my own anymore.”
Judging from the dark circles under her eyes and her gaunt cheeks, she’s not lying. Her body is practically skin and bone, wrapped in pretty clothes that can’t quite hide just how much weight she’s lost in such a short period of time.
“I’ll fix it,” I assure her. “Today.”
She gives me a thin smile. “I just thought I’d mention it. Just in case. No pressure.”
“I will take care of this, Laila.”I’ll take care of you. I swore I would.“That’s a promise.”
She studies my face like we’re long-forgotten acquaintances. Like she might see a flash of something familiar. But then her eyes glaze over and she turns towards the door. “I have to get back to Nina.”
“Laila…” I breathe as her hand meets the bronzed handle.
