I listen, I ask questions, I let him ramble about rocket ships and fire trucks, nodding like it’s all vital intelligence. Because in truth, it is. Every scrap of information about my son is something I’m starving for, something I’ve missed for six long years.
All the while, I keep watching Ivy from the corner of my eye.
At first, she sits guardedly, her hands wrapped too tightly around her bowl, her smile a careful, uncertain curve. But as the minutes pass, I watch her soften. Her shoulders ease down.
The tension bleeds from her face each time Leo makes me laugh, an easy, unrestrained sound I almost don’t recognize in myself. She’s watching me as much as I’m watching her, cataloging every interaction, testing whether she can trust me here in this ordinary moment.
This is what I want, what I never thought I’d have.
A family.
Then my phone buzzes in my pocket, breaking the moment completely. My free hand tightens around the device, pulling it from my pocket. Katya’s name lights up on my screen, stilling me instantly.
“Everything okay?” Ivy asks.
“I’m not sure.” I try to keep my voice neutral, but I know she sees the shift in me, the hard edge of my Bratva sensibilities snapping back into place.
I swipe to answer. “Yes?”
Katya doesn’t waste time. “You need to get back here now. Matvey found something about Mikhail. It’s not looking good.”
A curse slips between my teeth. “Alright. I’ll be right there. Tell the others I’m on my way.”
When I end the call, I see Ivy giving me a concerned look. While she couldn’t understand what I was saying, she recognizes the tone in my Russian all the same.
“I have to go,” I tell her. “I’ll be back to get the car later. You can take it.”
Her eyes flicker, uncertainty flashing there. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll let you know when I have more details. Until then, stay safe. I’m sending someone from myKrugto keep post outside your house.”
Ivy’s lips press together, the softness hardening again, wariness returning like an old reflex. Still, she nods. “Okay. You’ll call me, though, right?”
“Of course.” I brush a kiss against her cheek, a fleeting press that lingers with the weight of everything I don’t have time to say. Then I crouch beside Leo, who’s busy chasing melted chocolate down the side of his bowl with his spoon.
“I’ll see you soon, okay?” I tell him.
He looks up at me with a grin, lips smeared with syrup. He holds out a pinky toward me, wiggling it in the air. “Promise?”
I smile, hooking my finger around his. “I promise.”
34
IVY
Iwatch Maksim’s rideshare disappear down the road, the sound of its engine swallowed by traffic until all that’s left is the hum of the street around me.
For a beat, I just stand there. My hand lingers on the driver’s side door longer than it should, fingers curled around the handle like it might tether me to him if I hold on long enough. But eventually, I let go, drawing in a sharp breath before sliding into the seat.
Leo clambers into the back, still sticky-cheeked from ice cream, his lashes damp with sleepiness even as the sugar keeps his little body restless. He hums to himself while fumbling with the seatbelt, buckling it with a proud click before swinging his legs over the seat, oblivious and blessedly innocent to the storm that’s been brewing in my chest since that phone call.
Whatever had been said wasn’t good. Maksim’s face had told me that much. It worries me more than I want to admit. Ifhe’sunsettled, then it means the fight with Mikhail is coming much sooner than even he anticipated.
I grip the steering wheel, knuckles paling under the strain while I start the car.
Maksim’s cologne still lingers faintly in the car, threaded into the leather, clinging like smoke. It feels like him, a solid, unshakable anchor when my world feels like it’s catapulting into a downward spiral.
I believe him when he promised to keep this away from Leo and me.
