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This hostess act is throwing me for a loop. At the drop of a hat, Cora is operating with the nonchalant grace that most women earn after countless tutors and too many reprimands to count.
Whoisthis woman?
I’m still mulling over Cora’s possible origins when I realize what Anya is saying.
“I’ve been hoping Ivan would find someone nice for literal centuries.” She grins over at me. “He may not like to show it, but Ivan is a champion of love.”
Cora practically chokes on a cracker. She calms herself down and schools her expression. “Is that so?”
“It is! Ivan wants the people around him to be happy. He goes to great lengths to ensure they are.”
Shit. Anya thinks Cora and I are the real deal. She has bought into our lie so completely that she is about to spill our family drama to her. I’m trying to come up with a casual way to tell her to shut the fuck up and leave when the front door bangs open.
“Hello!”
Cora sits taller. “Are you expecting anyone else?”
“No, I—”
“Etot chertov dom morg?Where the fuck is everybody?”
My sister and I share a pained expression as my father’s voice rings through the house again.
I drag a hand down my face. “Guess it’s a family fucking reunion.”
26
IVAN
“Ivan?” My father’s voice echoes through the house, growing closer. “Ivan!”
Cora is staring back and forth between Anya and me. “What don’t I know?”
I hear his heavy footsteps on the tile and my chest clenches up with anger, same as it always does when the old bastard intrudes where he isn’t wanted.
Anya is the first one out of her seat. She meets him in the doorway, her arms around his middle. “Hi, Daddy.”
I bow slightly. “Hello, Fath—”
“What the fuck did I just hear about a shootout this morning?” he snaps. “You were in a shitty part of town taking down a mercenary?”
Anya pulls away from Otets and gawks at me. “You told me it was nothing!”
“I handled it. There was nothing to tell.”
“That’s not nothing, Ivan!” she gasps. “That’s a huge steaming pile of something!”
“This is why I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t almost killed. The sniper was going after Cora.”
If possible, Anya’s face pales even further. She turns to Cora. “You sat here and told me all about your meet-cute, but didn’t mention theassassination attemptyou dodged this morning?”
I slip between the two of them, feeling oddly protective of my pretend future wife. Anya takes a step back, catching the hint.
My father isn’t so easily defeated.
He doesn’t even have to look at her to cut her down to size. “Why were you even there, Ivan? I don’t understand what in the hell an attempt on the life of a waitress has to do with you.”
“Daddy,” Anya whispers, “she is Ivan’s fiancée.”
