Then nothing.
I gathered my things and went back to my room.
My gut told me something was wrong, but my pride refused to let me question it any further. People around me were always gossiping.
And I wasn't about to add fuel to the fire.
??????
By the time I was showered and dressed Iskra had left to run some errands. I had a quick breakfast and left for work, still pondering how she had managed to get me so drunk that I passed out. That had never happened before.
I pulled my phone out and stared blankly at it as the screen lit up.
My black geometrical wallpaper was gone.
Iskra had replaced it with a selfie.
A selfie of me passed out on her bed.
My finger stuck in a nostril.
While she lay draped on one side holding the phone up. I placed two fingers on the screen and zoomed in on her face. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief—and that was the first genuine smile I had seen since—
I stared ahead at the road before glancing down again. I couldn’t remember the last time she had been happy.
Or when I cared.
All the women I fucked. I didn't remember them or their names. Even the ones that I considered for childbearing. There was nothing memorable about them.
Iskra was somehow more than others.
I stared at the picture a beat longer before I put my phone away, forgetting all about messaging her and demanding to know what took place last night.
??????
When I checked my schedule there were only two meetings set for the day. The quiet day left me room to think.
Instinct told me I needed to impregnate Iskra soon. I rubbed the back of the gold band on my finger.
In a moment of weakness I thought of my mother. She had found someone else and my father had punished her for it. He was not a lovable man in his lifetime.
He had given Sergei his dues. That business was concluded. The only motivation to remove my entire family was power and greed.
I glanced at the time.
Hours before my first meeting.
I messaged Tikhon to have the car ready.
It was time to revisit my uncle.
There was family history I needed to uncover.
Chapter 48
Iskra
I sat on the cold ground until I could feel the damp soil seeping through the seat of my jeans. There was a peace beside this little mound of earth that was slowly evening out against the flat grass around it—the ground settling, the way ground did, indifferent to what it held.
