I feel Matteo take my hand while easily keeping Viktor secure with one arm. Our eyes meet, and I know he can read what I’m feeling without me needing to say a thing.
I’m okay.
Once Aunt Irina and Nadya are fully out of the dining room, my father continues to address the group. “I apologize, Jade. I understand why you thought…” he trails off, trying to find the right words. “This has been a sore spot for our family for a long time. I asked Dmitri and Ivan not to speak of the uncle they lost over a decade ago, and it never occurred to me to take that command back once the sting wore off.”
Leaning against Matteo’s side, I let my head fall onto his shoulder and look down at little Viktor. Part of me is hoping that being so close to such a cute little baby will help keep some of my obvious sadness at bay.
My dad looks over at his brothers, and then back to his daughter-in-law. “Our brother died when Anya was only a toddler. He took a bullet that was meant for me, and he died of an infection in the hospital two days later. The blood loss and the contaminated wound were too much, and there wasn’t anythinganyone could do. Viktor lived with us since I got married, and he did his duty for a very long time.”
“Viktor?” Jade repeats, eyes beginning to water.
“I told you that I had an Uncle Viktor. I only left out the circumstances of his death. I was always going to tell you,” Dmitri explains softly, taking her hand in his. “I thought it was poetic that we name our second born son after the last man to give his life to the tradition that we’re ending.”
“And for the record,” Dad speaks up once more. “I’m glad to see the tradition die out. I should have done away with it myself. If I could do it again, I would. I would have my children know that I love them all the same, and I’d never wish for any of them to live a life without every bit of happiness they can get their hands on.”
Dmitri looks completely bewildered by Dad’s words, but Jade almost bursts into tears of joy. She’s so relieved to hear him say what he’s just declared openly in front of the whole family.
But her smile falters as Ivan leaves the room without a word.
“I hope he’s okay,” I whisper worriedly to Matteo.
…
“He will be.”
Epilogue 2
Matteo
Not even three days after my sister and her little family fly back home, I receive a terrible phone call from our father. Distressing news that shouldn’t be relayed over the phone, and information I wish I didn’t have to tell Anya.
But I do.
Coming back inside from taking the call, she notices the change in my demeanor immediately. She’s standing at the kitchen counter, working on a few notes for her lesson plans. She’s going to start teaching her first ballet classes in a few weeks and has been working so hard on putting together the perfect program for her upcoming sessions.
And now I have to ruin her mood.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” She frowns, setting down her pen.
I don’t know how else to break the news, and the words just spill out of me before I can rethink them. “My brother’s wife is dead.”
“What? Who?” Her gasp is almost broken from how sharply it leaves her lips. Her eyes immediately well up with emotionand she clutches her stomach like she may be sick. “Ana? Rayna? Mel?—”
“Cleo,” I cut in, voice hollow. “Leon’s wife.”
I barely knew the woman, and now I’ll never get to know her further.
She spoke a handful of words to me in the years since she was arranged to marry my second eldest brother. There was never any love between the two of them. But Cleo wasn’t exactly a warm person who often sought people out for company. She didn’t really speak to anyone at all, aside from developing a new friendship with Melani this past year or so.
Despite her less than sociable personality, she was a good mother. Little Bastian and Leo have always adored her. She made my brother a father, and that’s something no one else can take credit for. And now she’s just gone. Dead and never to breathe another breath of air again.
If it were Jade, Ana, Rayna, or hell, even Melani, I know that I would be swarmed with immense sadness right now. Devastation even, where Jade is concerned. I feel connected to each of them in a way that Cleo never allowed, even when I tried to pull her tighter into the family.
Something like guilt burns in my gut, wishing I could muster up the proper emotions when faced with my sister-in-law’s death. Still, I don’t know what to feel other than grief for Leon and his sons. My nephews will grow up without their mom now—just like we did.
“W-was she killed?” Anya stutters, wrapping her arms around her middle with worry.
I see the fear in her eyes and immediately shake my head, wishing I’d given her more details faster. I didn’t mean to scare her. Today is a bad enough day without me adding to it by stressing Anya out without reason.
