“Am I? Do you want to test that theory?”
I can’t breathe. The room is too small, the air too thin. He’s threatening to take Mila and Alexei from me. Actually threatening to take them.
“You can’t,” I whisper.
“I can. And I will if you continue this war.”
“What war? I’m protecting my children!”
“From what? I’ve never hurt them. Never even raised my voice at them. You’re protecting them from a threat that doesn’t exist.”
“I saw you kill someone!”
“A business rival who threatened me. That has nothing to do with how I treat children.”
“It has everything to do with it! It shows what you’re capable of when people cross you!”
“Then don’t cross me.” He steps closer. “Stop keeping my children from me. Stop treating me like an enemy in my own house. Or I will take them from you entirely.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I won’t let you have them. I’ll fight you. I’ll take them and run. I’ll disappear where you’ll never find us.”
“And go where? You have no money. No resources. No way to hide from me. I have contacts in every city, every country. You wouldn’t make it twenty-four hours.”
“Then I’ll die trying. Because I will never, never let you take my children.”
“They’re not just your children anymore.”
“Yes, they are. DNA doesn’t make you their father. Being there makes you their father. And you’ve never been there. You’ve never been anything to them except the man who forced their mother into marriage.”
“That changes now.”
“The hell it does.”
“Anna.” His voice drops. Dangerous. “You lied to me. You hid my children from me. You married me knowing the truth and said nothing. You have no moral high ground here.”
“I don’t need moral high ground. I need my children to be safe. And they’re not safe with you.”
“They’re perfectly safe with me.”
“You kill people!”
“When necessary. For business. Not randomly. Not carelessly. I’m not going to hurt two four-year-olds.”
“How do I know that?”
“Because I’m telling you. And because, despite what you think of me, I don’t hurt children. Ever.”
“That’s supposed to reassure me?”
“It’s supposed to be reality. Which you seem allergic to.”
“Fuck you.”
“You already did. Twice this week. It didn’t improve your judgment then either.”
