“You give back my girl and I give back your friend’s girl. See? I can be fair.”
“That’s all?”
“No.” His tone takes an icy plunge. “I want my son back, too. You have until dawn.”
Then the call goes dead.
“Yulian…” Mia reaches for me. “I swear, I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I would have told you. I?—”
“When?” I ask, shaking her off. “When we were married? When our daughter was born? When Eli turned eighteen?”
“Please,” she croaks. “You have to trust me.”
“But you didn’t trust me.” That word—trust—tastes like acid now. “Instead, you protected him.”
“Because I thought you’d kill him!” she cries out.
“And there it is.” I clench both fists. “He’s your choice. He’s always your choice.”
“My son is my choice,” she corrects. “And I will not take his father from him. Not again.”
A long silence falls between us.I need to calm down.The realization pounds against the walls of my skull.I have to clear my head. I can’t?—
“This is bullshit,” Maksim cuts in. “We need to think about Kalinda first. She’s been taken. She?—”
“I’m going to get some air.”
He looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. “Excuse me?”
“I said I need air.” I step out onto the balcony. “I’ll be back in five.”
“Yulian—”
But I ignore Maksim’s calls. I ignore Mia’s tears.
I just storm out and slam the window doors behind me.
55
MIA
I fucked up.
I fucked up so bad.
I fall to my knees and put my head in my hands. I want to scream so badly. Everything was going so well until Brad’s call. Why did this have to happen now?
Why didn’t I get a chance to tell Yulian the truth?
He told me he loved me. That he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. He was ready to make me the happiest woman on earth.
Now, he won’t even look me in the eye.
It’s all your fault.The guilt burns a hole through my heart.You should have come clean earlier. While you still had the chance.
But I didn’t. I lost my chance. And now, I might lose him, too.
Forever.
