Page 76 of Bratva and Betrayal: Kirill

“Please, Daddy? Mommy’s not sick anymore.”

Christ.

“You can play with Mommy again tomorrow.”

Violet spins and cheers like she just won the Super Bowl. I’m outnumbered. This is how it’s going to be, but I don’t hate it.

I exhale slowly. “Now, go have your snack.”

“Come, Violet.” Nadia finally manages to coax her away.

Halfway out the door, my daughter twists around again. “Bye, Mommy!”

Sandrine smiles. “Bye, Violet.”

Violet beams, and they disappear down the hallway, her little voice fading into the distance.

The tension thickens with just the two of us left in the parlor. Sandrine’s confidence crumbles. She looks overwhelmed and emotionally drained.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, sitting in a chair.

“It’s all right. I only want what’s best for both of you.” I drift close to her. “But it seems you both knew what was best.”

“She looked at me like she already loved me,” Sandrine says on a choked sob.

The ache in my chest deepens. “She does.”

Sandrine’s eyes close briefly, like my words physically hurt to hear. “Thank you. For not letting her think I left her on purpose. Even though you believed I had.”

And how that dread metastasized in my heart over the years. What started out as a horrific, can’t-possibly-happen excuse grew teeth and bit away at my flesh more and more every day.

“I didn’t think…” Sandrine swallows hard. “I didn’t think she’d want me.”

“She’s waited for you her entire life,” I say.

Sandrine looks down at her hands. “God, I feel awful.”

The naked honesty in her voice shatters me.

An hour ago, this woman who’d not seen me in five years asked me if we would ever share a bed again. I had told her maybe because I was too proud and too damaged to admit how she completely owned me at one time, and that’s why her leaving wrecked me.

I make an impossible offer before I can think better of it. “Come out with me tonight.”

Her head lifts immediately. “What?”

“We never got to do things normally.” The words feel strange in my mouth. “We hid. We met in secret.”

She studies me with cautious hope in her gaze. “Are you sure?”

Now I want the entire fucking world to look at her and know she’s mine. “I want to find my way back to you,” I whisper roughly. “If that’s what you want.”

“I think what I really want is somewhere in here,” she says softly, pointing to her heart.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” She steps away. “I’ll go find something to wear.”

My heart pounds violently as I watch her walk away. Never had a one-word response terrify me more than any threat I’ve faced in years.