My gaze drops to the floor because if I look at him any longer, I might break. Everything is too much, but I don’t want to run. Not this time.
“You didn’t save me, Dad. I just needed you. Not your money. Not your random text messages. Do you know how many timesI actually thought you’d died?” My throat tightens, and the memories sting.
I sniffle and look back up at him. My chest aches for both of us now. He’s shattered, too. I can see it in the way his shoulders sag, in the way his eyes won’t quite meet mine.
“I’m sorry, mnya ochyn’ zhal.”
“Why now? Why are you here? Why are you demanding that I be here too? Uprooting my life yet again!” I throw my arms up, overwhelmed.
“Everything I’ve ever done is to keep you safe, Lily.”
I scoff. The words hit too close to home. He sounds just like Drago. I still can’t believe he is the kid Dad took in, the one I barely remember. But I know the day. I was only five. I heard Mom demanding that he keep him at another property, not this one. I felt sorry for him. He was a kid, too. And I thought it would be cool to have a friend. I was lonely in that big mansion with two parents who hated each other.
“Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing. Safe but not loved.” I brace myself against the kitchen island, needing the support.
“Always loved, Lily. I never stopped. I did this because I love you. Please don’t think otherwise.” His voice breaks as he says it. Like he’s begging me not to hate him.
My lip trembles. “Why now?”
“The specifics aren’t for you to worry about. There is no direct threat, I’m being cautious.” He grabs a cloth and crouches to clean up the broken mug and spilled coffee. “Drago hates mess.”
Despite everything, my mouth twitches.
I can tell. His house is immaculate. But, part of me is jealous that Drago knows my dad better than I do. That my dad knows all these little things about him that he wouldn’t know about me.
“Nice of you to take him in and keep him.” I don’t mean for it to sound so snappy.
I can’t help it. Deep down, it hurts.
He looks up at me. “Drago is like a son to me, yes. Just yesterday, he threw himself in the line of fire to save me. But that’s the difference. I’d do that for you and him. You are my daughter.”
The words land heavier than he realizes. But it also makes me look away, because he’s making it sound like we’re siblings. When we really aren’t. And thank God we aren’t. Cause I’ve had many thoughts about the things Drago could do to me. Really naughty thoughts at that.
“Funny, I haven’t seen my parents in years, and now I see them both in the same damn week. You couldn’t even write this shit.” I rake my fingers through my hair.
“How is your mother?” his tone turns sharp.
“Still as vile as always,” I joke.
He chuckles, and to my surprise, I smile too. “What happened to Maria?”
“Wasn’t she always a money-hungry whore?”
His eyebrow lifts. “What did she want?”
“Lunch. To apologize. It’s a long, traumatic story that I don’t want to talk about. But, it’ll take a lot more than food to make up for it.”
“That’s my girl.”
Warmth spreads through me despite myself. “I was taught my fire from somewhere, I suppose.”
Silence settles. I thought it would feel like staring at a stranger. That the love would be gone.
It isn’t.
“I can kill her if you want?” He suggests with a smile, tugging at his lips.
I blink. He was never one to be subtle.
