Page 79 of Anton

“Is she pretty?” Milo asks, somehow already back.

I groan, needing someone to just put a bullet between my eyes.

She beams up at me, placing a palm on my arm. “What you’re doing is actually really sweet.”

I glare at where she touches me, and she immediately withdraws.

“I’m not sweet.”

“No, definitely not.” Her voice grows tight. “You could make her a basket, throw all the things I mentioned in there.”

“A basket?”

That sounds…I don’t even want to say the word.

“Yes.” She chuckles at my discomfort. “Oh, you can even add some ice cream in there. Tea too, if she likes that. A soft blanket. Maybe even a stuffed animal.”

I jerk my head back. “A stuffed animal? For a grown woman?”

“Why not?” She shrugs. “It’s cute.”

Just do what she says. You’re not a woman. She is. We defer to her for this kind of thing. It’s why you dragged your ass here, isn’t it?

“What kind?”

“A bear is usually safe. Or maybe a dog, since you have Volchok.”

At the mention of Volchok, Lev climbs off his chair without a word.

Sloane turns toward him. “Hey, where are you going? You still have cereal to finish.”

But Lev keeps walking, disappearing into the hall like he didn’t hear her at all, which he does a lot.

I don’t know how Kirill did it alone before Sloane. Taking care of a kid is one thing, but adding in autism is something else entirely. Even I can understand how hard it must’ve been after his ex-wife left because of Lev’s diagnosis, especially when he was only around three.

I return my attention to Sloane, trying to remember everything she said to get. “Chocolate. Ice cream. Something salty. Tea. Heating pad. Blanket. Stuffed animal. Is that right?”

“You got it.” She grins, staring like she’s proud of me.

God, this is painful.

“Okay,” I say, already thinking through where I can get everything without having to ask another person for help and make this day more humiliating than it already is.

As I start to head back out, I turn to her. “Don’t tell my brothers about this.”

Sloane’s mouth curls. “I won’t.”

I hit her with a harsh stare, and she raises her hands in defeat.

“I promise. This stays between us.”

Before I can decide whether I believe her, footsteps sound from the hall, and Lev comes back into the kitchen carrying something pressed against his chest.

Sloane turns toward him. “Lev, honey, go finish your food.”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he walks straight to me and holds out a gray stuffed hippo with one missing eye.

I stare down at it, then at him, then back at the hippo. “What am I supposed to do with this?”