When she leans back against the counter, both elbows propping up on it, I’m reminded of Nadya.
I’m not the only one who’s changed.
“Nellie,” Driscoll wobbles.
“My name is Janella Yuri now,” she cuts clean through him, sharp as any blade I’ve ever wielded. “And here’s how this is going to work, Dad. You’re going to leave Boston tonight. And then neither I—nor my family—is ever going to see you again.”
“Orwhat?” he demands.
Driscoll doesn’t know when to quit, does he?
“I will have to make some calls I don’t want to make,” she says without missing a beat, as if she expected him to push back. “I’m not broken. I’m not weak. And I’m not a killer, you’re right, but I’m not the girl you raised either. That girl wasn’t loved. I am. And I don’t want to see how my love will make you pay for your sins.”
Driscoll, for an endless beat, stares at her. My heart stops when he lunges for her, scrambling to snatch the paper in her hand.
He’s fucking wasted, at least. Janella sidesteps him swiftly. By the time I’ve blinked, there’s a knife in her hand. She aims it between them.
“Dad.” The pain in her voice shatters me. She digs into her pocket without looking and pulls out an envelope, which she flings his way. It hits Driscoll’s chest with athwack.“Just take this and go. Justgo.Don’t make me do this.”
Driscoll is hypnotized by the cash. He isn’t even listening to her. He doesn’t give a shit about the agony in her voice. He just walks away, leaving her in his wake with all of the wreckage. He never even looks back.
That’s when my wife, my beautiful lioness, collapses against the counter with a relieved sob. She breathes hard, her white-knuckled fists beating against the counter.
I should have known.
I should have fucking known.
My hands shake as I dial her number. My vision is blurred. She doesn’t let it ring for long before her voice sounds from the other side—and through the CCTV audio, echoing.
“I know,” I tell her. “I saw everything.”
“Wh—what?” She tries not to swallow her tongue.
“There’s a camera in the clock,” I confess, and she looks up, looks right into the camera. Her eyes sear me down to the core. “I’ve been watching you since you transferred the money. I thought—I thought you were leaving me.”
My throat is raw.
“Iosif,” she sniffles on the other side.
“But you never were. You never would, would you? You were protecting us. My family.”
I watch her eyes shut, and a fresh round of tears rolls down her cheeks.
“Our family,” she corrects.
“I love you.” How could I have thought these three words would be hard to say? With her, they’re only hard to keep in. Saying them is easier than breathing. “I’m so lost and fucking in love with you, Janella. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
She’s crying hard. Every sob strikes me like a blow.
“All you’ve done is save me, and I’m why Nadya got hurt. I—I couldn’t live with myself if you knew that,” she whimpers.
“There is nothing you could do,” I say, hoarse with endless emotion. “Nothing that could make me not love you. That could make me notfightfor you.”
“I love you,” she weeps into her hand. I want to lick every tear away. “I love you so much, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. I couldn’t—”
She’s shaking all over, clutching at the nearest table for support.
I need her in my arms.
