But I say nothing, because my mother believes in Dad’s strong-man rhetoric. The one that says you can’t protect yourself or the people close to you if you’re notstrongenough.
And really, it’s not that Dad hates her. She gave him control over her father’s empire and plays the perfect role of his “traditional” wife. He probably likes her well enough if he didn’t get rid of her after she got sick.
But then again, he probably did it for the sake of traditional values as well, so people wouldn’t bad-mouth him for abandoning his sick wife.
At any rate, he still gets all the mistresses he can handleoutside of the marriage, not to mention the two illegitimate children who pose more of a threat to me, Mom, and Alina than anyone else.
They’d kill us.
They’d use Mom and Alya against me because they know I’d do anything to protect them.
Anything.
Mom coughs a few times, her chest quaking.
“Are you okay?” I try to sit up, but she waves me off.
“It’s normal.”
That didn’t sound normal.“What did the doctor say about the results of your latest treatment?”
Her expression remains the same. “We’ll discuss it later after you get better.”
That’s not good news, is it?
My heart constricts. I feel like I’m watching my mother fade right before my eyes, and I can’t do a damn thing.
It’s not like I can seize cancer by its throat and fight it to death.
She’s been battling breast cancer for so long, hanging on for dear life because, as she said, “I’ll be around to watch you grow up properly.” The cancer was initially treated a couple of years ago, but then it soon metastasized to her bones and lungs.
Sometimes, like now, she trembles because her bones hurt too much to sit up straight even if she’s pumped full of meds.
“Rest, Dusha moya. I’ll ask the doctor for painkillers.”
“I’m fine.” The pain in my side dulls upon witnessing her state. “Mama?”
“Yes?”
“How long have I been out?”
“About two days. You lost a lot of blood and had a fever. We were so worried.”
“Did anyone come to visit me? Or maybe try to?”
I don’t believe Vaughn abandoned me. Dad was just saying that to fit his agenda about declaring war on the Morozovs.
There’s no way Vaughn went through all of that to help me just to leave me to die.
Not to mention the whole attack is suspicious as fuck.
“Cyrus came by,” Mom says. “He should be around here somewhere.”
“No one else?”
She pauses, then releases a breath. “No.”
My heart falls, even as I try not to be affected. It’s not like I expect Vaughn to come all the way to a hostile territory in Chicago.
