“Especially about her sister... that foolish woman.”
He straightened slowly.
“I owe you no explanations.”
His gaze flicked toward me briefly — then back to Ruslan.
“What I do to my own blood is my business.”
“Why did you let Elena believe you were dead?”
Ruslan stepped closer as he spoke — unfazed by the bravado in the room, not giving an inch.
His eyes locked onto my father, unblinking and sharp.
“Why abandon a fifteen-year-old girl?” he continued coldly. “Your lawyer threw her out of the house like she was disposable property.”
His jaw tightened. “What kind of father does that?”
Vasquez’s face darkened instantly.
He slammed both palms down on the glass center table between them.
The impact cracked the surface with a loud, violent snap.
Spiderweb fractures spread across it like shattered ice.
“I will not sit here,” he spat, “and allow some foreign mongrel to lecture me on family.”
His chest rose and fell heavily.
“I didn’t claw my way to the top to be insulted by the likes of you.”
Ruslan didn’t flinch at the insult.
He simply tilted his head.
“I’m only asking questions.”
His tone was calm.
“You don’t like the reflection — that’s your problem.”
Vasquez’s fists clenched.
“No — you’re prying into matters that don’t concern you.”
His glare cut toward Ruslan like a blade.
“I don’t interfere in your filthy Greek affairs. Stay out of mine.”
Ruslan’s lips curved slightly. “Your affairs involve my wife.”
He corrected him deliberately.
“And my child.”
That shut my father up for half a second.
