“But there wassomerelation, and I’m guessing you knew that, and that’s why you changed your last name.”
“You didn’t pay attention to my attempts to teach you your family history, did you?” Her mother pinned her with a cold stare.
Adria’s voice was pure stone. “I was four.”
“You remember, you just don’t want to. Just like you remember that day with Maxim.”
Adria shook her head.
Her mother got up and moved towards her in two full strides. “Except for you won’t remember it, will you? You’re still too afraid to admit the truth to yourself. Same as you always were, only wanting to see what you want to see.”
Tears filled behind Adria’s eyes, but she refused to show emotion. Maxim had helped her remember in the car ride over. Turns out he worked with sex-trafficked children. His specialty being finding them and helping them put their assaulters away.
He asked her to close her eyes. To remember the smells and sounds in the room. She remembered Maxim standing over Alexey, knife in hand. Cutting him.
Except, with Maxim’s voice in her ear, the memory changed and when she looked at it now, it wasn’t Maxim holding the knife, it was her mother.
And it wasn’t her mother’s words that guided her away from the gruesome sight. That was Maxim.
Adria could feel his hand sliding into hers and his voice saying, “You don’t need to see that, let’s go find something to eat.”
“I remember,” Adria said, looking at her mother. “Why did you kill him?”
Her mother sneered, “He knew about me and Maxim, maybe even my escape. Maxim thought he would be on our side. Lexey always loved you. I just didn’t think it was worth the risk.”
“Why torture him?”
Her mother just shrugged. “It sends a message.”
Adria didn’t need to ask who the message was for. She already knew. It was for the only other person in that room.
Maxim.
“But you got caught, anyway.”
Her mother laughed. “Still haven’t figured that one out yet?”
Pieces fell into place, and Adria stared at the stranger in front of her. “You wanted to get caught. You already had Xander in your pocket.”
Her mother touched the tip of her nose. “In the Nine, we don’t ask for what we want.”
Adria watched, dumbstruck, as Sophia poured herself a drink.
“The Federovs stole that seat from us,” her mother said.
Sophia took a long drink. “Your eyes are not just green because of your father’s. They are also from Isadora Serra’s.This was hers.” Her mother pulled the silver locket from her neck. “Along with that fucking ring that I cannot find. I knew the moment you were born. The instant I looked into your eyes.Esperança, that you were the one.”
Hope.
“So, this whole thing is all one big play for a seat at the table.”
“IT WAS MY SEAT,” her mother yelled.
Her mother’s sudden anger should have unsettled Adria, but she was too busy trying to figure out the last piece.
“Why didn’t you bring me?”
Sophia looked at her with a placating look. “Adria, please, we’ve had such a great trip down memory lane. Can’t we just move on? You know now.”
