“My problem?” Ivan asks mockingly. “I assure you, I have no problem. In fact, everything is exactly where I want it, thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?” she asks, the anger in her voice tinging with worry.
“Well, thanks to you, kukolka, Robert is out of the picture, and you’ve reunited me with my son.”
My body tenses, wondering how she’ll react. Had he already told her, or was he waiting for this moment to see how we would respond to the news in person?
Watching her face carefully, I see a frown pinch her brows together in confusion.
She doesn’t know.
“What do I have to do with your kid? I’ve never even met him.”
Ivan’s smile is that of a man who has just been given the best news in the world. This is what he was hoping for. He was betting on the fact that I hadn’t told her my connection to him, and he could watch the shock and betrayal play out in front of him.
Is this why we were both here? So he could play out some sick fantasy of breaking my heart all over again, just like he did when he killed my mother.
“Hmm, are you sure about that?” Ivan asks her, almost mockingly.
She continues to hold me tight as she shakes her head. “What is this all about, Ivan? If you have something to say, just say it, stop toying with me.”
His amusement cracks a little; her unwillingness to go along with his little game clearly upsets him.
“I just thought you’d want to know who you’ve been spending all your time with,” he says a little more seriously now. “If it were me, I’d want to know if the person I cared for lied to me. In fact…” He slowly pushes his chair back and gets to his feet as he takes a few steps closer, watching me the whole time.
“I’ve been in the same position as you are in now, Wren. I loved a woman once, a long time ago. She betrayed me andran away to America. It took me a long while to find her, over thirteen years, in fact.”
Wren flinches in my arms, and I know she’s smart enough to sense where this is going now.
Ivan’s grin starts to return as he continues, his eyes bouncing between us. “Imagine how surprised I was when I showed up at her house to not only find her, but our thirteen-year-old son she hadn’t told me about.”
Wren’s fingers dig into my back, and I’m unsure if that’s a good reaction or a bad one.
“I don’t handle betrayal well, so I got rid of them both.” His eyes move to the scar on my neck. “At least I thought I had. Can’t say I wasn’t shocked to see my son not only alive, but clinging to the woman I was supposed to marry.”
I hold her tighter as Ivan watches her carefully. I know what he wants to happen, and I’m worried he’s right, that she will feel heartbroken by the news. I was stupid to keep it from her as long as I did. She was so kind and understanding; I should have given her the benefit of the doubt.
My fear of her rejection has landed us both in Ivan’s clutches, with him revealing my biggest secret to her in the most brutal fashion he could conjure up.
She shifts in my arms, her beautiful blue eyes turning in my direction with a look of confusion etched in her face. I hold my breath as tightly as I hold on to her, afraid that at any second she will pull away as everything between us comes crashing down.
CHAPTER THREE
WREN
Son.Looking into his deep blue eyes, I remember thinking they seemed slightly familiar when we first met…because they are the exact same shade as Ivan’s.
“Ivan is your father?” I ask in shock. He nods, a look of pain etched in his face. I hate seeing him look so upset, but I’m just so confused. Why didn’t he tell me?
“Did you know?” I ask, wondering if it was news to him too, but he nods, a look of guilt covering his face. My eyes drop to his chest as Ivan chuckles behind me.
“What you’re feeling right now, that’s how I felt when I found out my Elena had lied to me, too.”Elena, that must be Jagger’s mother. I didn’t blame her for running from this creep, and if he thought I could relate to him by comparing Jagger’s lie to Elena's, then he is sorely mistaken.
“He’s aliar, Wren. He’s been keeping this secret from you this entire time.” Jagger lifts his gaze to glare athis father.
Why had he not told me he was related to Ivan? Did he not think I’d understand? He knows me better than anyone; the things we shared in our letters gave us a connectionunlike any other. I’m hurt that he hadn’t shared this with me, but I know it comes from a place of self-doubt, not malice, as Ivan would have me believe.
“Jagger?” I say his name softly, and he turns his gaze back to me, his eyes turning worried as he searches my face for my reaction, his bound hands holding onto my upper back firmly, as if afraid to let me go. I don’t know what Ivan’s plans are for us, and I’m not sure what he’ll do when I don't give him the reaction he’s looking for, so I need to make sure I let Jagger know how I feel while I still have the chance.
