“Please,” I whisper, then louder when he still doesn’t answer. “Please say you’ll do it.”
“Milo?” He says the name slowly, like he’s trying to put the puzzle pieces together. “Your…your nephew?”
I shake my head so hard it hurts. “He’s not my nephew. He’s my son.Mine. And I would do anything for him.” My hand slams against my chest. “She took him from me, and there was nothingI could do. She swore to me that I could get him back if I had a place to live and money of my own. I begged her to let me have him when I started working here, and she said no.” My bottom lip shudders. “She always says no.”
“Who was the man at the park?” he asks, his chest rising harder now.
“Some stranger she hired to watch him. I’d never seen him before.” A bitter laugh slips out of me. “I should’ve known you’d have me followed. I was stupid. But ask yourself…”
My hand clasps his cheek and he flings it away, and that one move just about kills me.
“Ask yourself what you would do for Lev. What lengths would you go to if his life was at risk and you were the only one who could stop it.”
“I don’t like riddles, Eden…” He says my real name with such coldness, it’s like a wall slamming down between us.
I haven’t forgotten the photos. The deed. The fact that he knows more about me than he should. But I’m in no position to ask him anything. Not with the gun still in his hand and that look on his face that says he could kill me if he had to.
“I was looking for a ledger.” I start with the truth. “A man from my past, Eli, came to the diner and told me if I didn’t get it, my son and I were dead. And I believed him, because I know what he’s capable of. What my boss back in New York is capable of.”
A muscle in his neck jumps.
“My old boss, Barrett, ran a small crew of thieves, and I was the one who handled the safes. The last time they saw me, a job went bad and I ran. I started a new life with a new name and a new place to live.”
Your place,I almost say, the words catching in my throat. I don’t know how much he already knows, so I push on.
“When Eli found me, he knew if I got close enough to you, I could take what he wanted. That’s why he forced me into the auction. He was counting on?—”
“Ya yevo ubyu.”
I don’t know what he says, but the way his eyes flare tells me everything. Eli’s already dead in his mind.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” I whisper. “But I would do it again if it meant saving my boy. I don’t care what happens to me as long as he’s safe.”
My chin trembles, and he lifts it with the barrel of the gun, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Are you going to ask me about the house?” he says, a cold smile pulling at his mouth. “The photos?” His eyes go flat. “Go on. Ask.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to.”
“Why not?” The barrel presses into my throat. “Are you afraid of me?”
My body betrays me, trembling harder.
“You should be.”
My pulse pounds in my temples.
“Ask me, Eden!”
I flinch back from the rise in his tone. “How…how do you know my name?”
He chuckles. “Oh, see,thatis a long story, solnishko.”
His pause drags on as his gaze drops to my lips, and I can’t tell if he regrets ever kissing me at all…or if he wants to do it again.
“Years ago, when you were fourteen…you stole from me.”
“What?” My head jerks back. “No. I would remember that.”
