“WHAT DO I KNOW?” Adria shouted into the room.
“Keep your voice down,” her mother hissed.
“Or what? You’ll paper cut another staff member to death?”
Her mother huffed. “You always had a flair for the dramatics.”
“Mom, you had this all planned out. Why leave me? You were married to him. You must have known what type of person he was.”
“Don’t do this, Adria, trust me. Get that dream boat Cole in here and let’s get our ducks in order.”
Her mother wasn’t going to answer, which could only mean one thing.
“You wanted to leave me behind,” Adria whispered.
Her mother glared at her. “I’ll go get Cole myself.”
She moved to walk out of the room, but Adria was faster. Getting into her path, she shot her arm out, planting her hand on the threshold.
“Why?”
“There isn’t always a reason, darling. Sometimes things just happen and we can’t help that.”
Her mother tried to move towards another door, but Adria caught her by the wrist. “But not with you. With you, everything that happens has a reason. You tell me right now or I call Eric and you will never find Cole.”
Her mother arched an eyebrow. “Threatening me now?”
“Tell me.”
Her mother was quiet for a long time. Adria could see her weighing every option. Anger bubbled inside her. Adria was sick of being a pawn in this game. This ended now.
“TELL ME,” Adria shouted into her mother’s face.
Her mother ripped her wrist away and shouted back, “HE WAS YOUR FAVORITE!”
Adria blinked, confused, but her mother continued.
“It wasn’t fair. I played the part. The doting mother, the Fedorov wife. You think you had a hard time; I had to date that piece of shit. Impress him. Marry him and have a baby with him.”
Her mother paced around the room, the words spilling from her now. “The plan was simple, have an heir and when he was old enough, we could kill Ivan together.”
Adria didn’t understand.
Her mother looked at her, and her face was tinged with a crazed expression. “But you loved him so fucking much. You couldn’t see him for the monster he was.”
Cold air prickled at Adria’s skin.
“My grandmother Inês. She said my heir would have the Serra’s green eyes. Except as you grew older, your eyes started to look like his.”
“He was my father.”
The sneer her mother held made Adria’s heartbeat faster.
“I knew if I stayed, you would always be his. You would grow up being a Federov, never knowing the monster he truly was. You would never side with me, and you would never be a Serra.”
Sweat broke out on Adria’s skin.
“What are you saying?”
