My hand runs up and down Lev’s back, his breathing hitching against my shoulder. I sit on the kitchen floor with him in my lap, rocking as I smooth my hand over his back.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I whisper into his hair. “I’m right here. I’m not leaving you.”
He buries himself closer, and I hold him tighter, blinking back tears. I don’t know how many more times I can choose between the child in my arms and the one I have to keep safe.
But right now, there is no choice. Right now, Lev needs me.
And I’m not letting go.
KIRILL
The meeting with my brothers is still running when the door opens.
The secretary steps inside with her hands clasped in front of her, and the second I see her, I know something is wrong. She would never interrupt a meeting like this unless it mattered.
Konstantin looks up from the head of the table. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry.” Her vision bounces between all of us. “But there’s a call for Mr. Kirill. It’s urgent.”
“Take a message.” I fling a hand. “I’ll call them back.”
But then she says the next four words, and everything inside me goes cold.
“It’s about your son.”
I’m on my feet before the sentence fully lands, shoving my chair back hard enough for it to jolt against the floor. Every man at the table stares at me, but I barely register any of it over the rush of panic tearing through me.
“What about my son?”
She hurries after me as I head out the door. “Katya wouldn’t say. Only that it was urgent.”
That’s enough. Down the hallway, I pick up my pace, and by the time I reach the front desk, the receptionist already has the phone in hand, holding it out to me.
I take it from her. “What’s wrong?”
“Sir?” Katya’s voice trembles on the other end. “I think Lev needs you to come home.”
My grip tightens around the receiver. “What happened?”
“He got very upset. He won’t stop shaking and crying. Miss Sloane told him she was going to the store, and he just…” She falters. “He had a meltdown. She’s trying to calm him, but he’s still very upset. He keeps saying ‘don’t go.’”
My eyes close as relief crashes through me. He isn’t hurt. He’s okay.
“I’m on my way.”
I hand the phone back, tell the receptionist to cancel the rest of my meetings for the day, and head straight for the garage the second the elevator doors open.
Once I’m on the road, I push through traffic, needing to get to him. If he’s as upset as Katya says, then something triggered it. Lev doesn’t have meltdowns like that without a reason.
Katya’s words replay in my head over and over. He won’t stop shaking. He keeps saying don’t go. Miss Sloane told him she was going to the store and he just?—
The store.
My hands cinch around the steering wheel as the realization hits. Those are the same wordsshesaid before she walked out of his life for good.
My palm slams against the wheel, my anger spiking. I hate that woman. I hate her with a passion I haven’t even felt for my worst enemy.
I thought Lev was too young to remember. I told myself he was too young.
