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I can’t turn to Ruslan.
It’s just me. I’m the last line of defense between Ben and those kids. And Iwill notlet them down.
I will not let you down, Sienna.
I swear.
73
EMMA
“A-Aunt Emma?”
“Hiya, Josh.”
I sound stupidly cheerful, considering I’m sitting in the middle of our broken coffee table covered in scrapes and bruises while fresh blood wells all along my arms and legs.
“W-what happened?”
“Um, I just—fell. I’m okay, I swear.”
He circles around slowly. His bottom lip is trembling but he’s trying hard to keep it together. Which is why the trembling is getting so much more pronounced. I can’t even try to comfort him with a hug because I don’t want any of the glass slicing him.
“You fell?” he repeats.
“Yep. Whoopsie-daisy!”
It takes some careful maneuvering to get up out of the glass pile. I end up using the coffee table’s frame to tug myself up onto my feet. Glass crackles around me and Josh’s eyes bulge wider.
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine. Nothing a little Neosporin won’t fix.”
“Aunt Emma.” Josh’s voice is trembling now, too. “You need to go to a hospital.”
“No! I just need to clean up and—
“If you don’t go to a hospital right now, I’m calling Ruslan.”
I freeze. Did I just get threatened by an eight-year-old? Better question: is the threatworking?“Josh, honey, there’s no need to involve Ruslan.”
“Then go to the hospital yourself,” he insists.
Stubborn much?He gets that from Sienna, too.
“Okay, okay, I’m going. But first, let me call Aunt Pheebs. She’ll need to stay with you guys while I go to the hospital.”
Josh doesn’t look appeased. “We’ll come with you.”
I walk gingerly over to the sofa where I left my phone. “No honey, it’s okay. Really—”
“Did he do this?”
Thankfully, my back is to Josh and he doesn’t see my cringe. I manage to compose it just before I turn back around with my phone in hand. “It was an accident, honey. You know how clumsy I can be.”
Josh isn’t buying it. His eyes fill with tears. “He’s amonster.”
My heart breaks. “Sweetheart…”
