I rest my elbows on the table, leaning toward her. “What do you mean by my boundaries?” I ask, unsure.
“Well, I know you think I betrayed you. You were really angry with me. I understand that. I figured I was the last person you wanted to hear from… but Marlen, it wasn’t a betrayal. It was never that. I never did it to hurt you or offend you. I never wanted to push you out of my life.”
“What happened then?” I ask, frowning.
She smiles, light laughter spilling from her lips as she shrugs. “I fell in love.”
Her answer is so simple.
It’s so clean and to the point.
Those four words make all the time away from her seem pointless and childish.I fell in love.No underhanded scheme. No malice.
Just a girl who fell in love.
I’ve been staring at her for a while, thinking about the time that’s drifted us apart. Talia pulls her mouth to the side. “I didn’t contact you because I knew you didn’t want to hear from me… not yet anyway. I figured when you were ready, you’d reach out.”
“I wanted to…” I murmur, unsure of myself. I really did. There were so many times I wanted to call her, but how could I when I didn’t trust the people she was with? Yet now, I have my enemy sleeping in my bed, and I might understand her side a little better.
I sigh, smiling tightly and shaking my head. “I’ve missed you, too, Talia. The family dinners aren’t the same without you. We need your charming charisma to balance out all the macho bullshit that goes on,” I tease.
I reach across the table and take her hand. “I really missed you,” I nod, looking into her eyes.
Talia swallows away a lump of emotions sitting in her throat. She blinks away the glittering threat of tears and wraps her other hand over mine.
“Can we change how things are between us?” she asks. “Maybe you can call sometimes? Maybe I can come visit?” The excitement in her voice makes me smile.
“Yes, I think it’s time to put everything behind us. We’re family, kiddo. We should never have turned away from each other.” My heart is aching with guilt for pushing her away. It seems too petty now.She’s family. How could I have done that to her?
“How is Bardil?” she asks, sitting up a little straighter.
“He’s doing ok, considering,” I answer, my voice rougher than I intend, considering what her new family did to our brother. It reminds me of how this all started and shifts a layer of tension between us.
“Marlen, Bardil wasn’t honest with you when he told you what happened. He lied about the auction…”
“Talia, don’t do this,” I snap. “How can you talk about your brother like that. You know him. They accused him of human trafficking. This is Bardil for crying out loud. He can be a moron sometimes, but he isn’t a monster.”
“Marlen, there’s no reason for them to lie about it, and I spoke to the woman that he kidnapped, Angelika Shevchenko. She wouldn’t make up what happened to her. And now her sister is missing…” Her voice trails off as the pain of her friend being missing goes through her.
I clench my jaw. I haven’t even broached the topic of what Angelika claims she went through with Stefania. I don’t knowhow much they would have told her, but I’ve assumed from her reactions that she knows nothing.
Maybe they wanted to keep her safe from the worry or the fear. I don’t know.
Sighing, I shake my head at Talia. “They say Bardil tried to sell Angelika. Sell her. Talia, be reasonable,” I say sternly. Your new family is brainwashing you into believing horrible things about us. But you should know us. You spent your entire life with us.”
She sighs. “It’s not them against you, Marlen. It’s them against the thing that Bardil did to their sister, and to all the other girls whom they rescued from the auction.”
“This conversation is over, Talia. I can’t talk to you when you won’t see reason.” Huffing, I stand up, wanting to leave.
She stands too. Her face is sorrowful. “It’s you who isn’t willing to look past defending our brother. Why don’t you just come to one dinner? I’ll set it up. It will be a temporary truce. You’ll see that they are good people. It will be an incredible gesture from your side. And honestly, they need something good to happen. The whole family is going through hell right now,” she whispers the last part, and I know she’s talking about Stef.
And I know that I’m the reason they’re all going through hell.
Staring at my sister, I wish I could accept her dinner invitation. It would be a good opportunity to get closer to them and figure out what the hell this is all about. It could be a doorway opened that might lead to better things.
But I can’t accept it.
Not when I have Stefania.
