“Moving on,” Dhawan said drily, “there will be an additional short answer question worth ten extra credit points for those of you who skipped ahead to the chapter on the neurolinguistics of bilingualism…”
Her voice faded into the background as I struggled to copy her notes off the board. She was basically listing every single concept that would appear on the exam, and I was grateful. I’d only missed a few days of classes when I’d fled to Springfield, but my timing had been awful. I knew I’d have to cram like crazy if I wanted to ace all of my finals. Unfortunately, with all the upheaval in my life and Stefan’s, I’d been having a rough time reacclimating to school.
I’d felt a whirlwind of emotions since finding out that Max wasn’t Stefan’s love child after all, but instead my half-brother. I had abrother. It was surreal. Three days had passed since the DNA results had come in, but although I’d been doing my best to catch up with school and help Gavin’s brother get all the information he needed to bust Konstantin and the agency, all I could think about was Max. He’d looked uncannily familiar to me from the first day I saw him. I just hadn’t realized it was because I’d been seeing my father—and myself—in his eyes.
And then there was the ugly side of it. The fact that my half-sibling had been conceived because my father had been in the habit of hiring the same sex worker and frequently refused to use condoms. Every time I thought about it, my stomach started to turn. I hadn’t been on speaking terms with him for awhile now, and this new development had only made my feelings of estrangement toward him grow even stronger.
Stefan and Anja hadn’t even discussed telling him about Max yet, and they still hadn’t broken the news to Konstantin, either. As far as my father-in-law knew, we were all operating under the assumption that Stefan was Max’s dad. For now it was better to have this card in our hands. Keeping Konstantin in the dark gave us an advantage. Anja had also asked for some time to adjust to the situation, and Stefan and I were happy to comply. We needed to process it all, too. But now it was Thursday, and I knew I couldn’t stand any more inaction, just sitting around waiting for everyone to feel better about Max’s parentage. He wasmy brother.
There was no way I could keep pretending that he wasn’t now a part of my life, my own flesh and blood. Stefan had gotten the chance to spend time with him already—now that I knew that he was actually my half-brother, why shouldn’t I get to see him as well?
I had to see him.
After class got out, I weaseled out of Diane’s tea invitation by promising her a lunch date soon, then made my way across campus with my phone pressed to my ear. I’d called Anja the second I was alone, and now I was anxiously listening to the ringing on the other end of the call.
“Hi, Tori,” she answered, her voice a little husky.
“Hey,” I said. “I’m just calling because, um…I guess I was wondering if I could see Max?”
She didn’t answer right away and I started to feel anxious, gritting my teeth as a stiff breeze blew through my knit hat. It wasn’t until that exact moment that I realized how desperately I wanted a chance to get to know my brother.
“I was thinking we could all have a playdate together,” I went on in a rush. “All four of us—you guys and then me and Stefan.”
“What did you have in mind?” Anja asked cautiously.
“Well, I don’t have classes this afternoon and there’s this really cool kids’ play area in the lobby of our apartment building. There’s a jungle gym and a ball pit and everything…”
“Max loves a good ball pit,” Anja said warmly. “Though they are little germ factories.”
“Then I’ll have to bring a bucket of hand sanitizer and a couple of plague masks,” I offered. “It’ll be tons of fun. Trust me.”
We both laughed and then worked out the details.
“I think he will like you,” Anja said, and I found myself grinning.
“I think I’ll like him too.” I was practically kicking up my heels with excitement as I waved down a taxi.
On my way home I called Stefan, begging him to leave work early and meet us at the condo. It wasn’t hard to convince him. Ever since our uncomfortable Zoric family dinner, Konstantin had been making life hell for everyone who worked at KZ Modeling’s offices. At least Stefan could take comfort knowing that his father’s reign would soon come to an end.
I hung up and tapped on the divider between me and the cab driver.
“Can we make a stop?” I asked. “I just need to run into a store real quick—you can keep the meter running.”
A few minutes later we pulled up to a curb in front of a toy store, and I tumbled out of the car and rushed inside, only to immediately find myself overwhelmed. What did one buy a seven-year-old? I had no idea, so I just started grabbing things willy-nilly. Board games, stuffed animals, Lego sets, a remote-control triceratops, a candy kit to make your own gummy worms.
Within ten minutes, I had a massive load of toys spilling from my arms. After the cashier rang me up, she paged an employee to go outside and help pack me and all my purchases into the cab. The driver laughed at all the bags, but helped me rearrange everything in the backseat before we got back on the road, heading toward the condo.
I’d probably gone overboard, but I couldn’t help it. The thought of giving all these things to Max, of showering him with all this fun stuff, gave me a warm feeling inside. I knew Stefan would probably be a little exasperated at the bill I’d just racked up, but I also knew he’d be happy that I’d taken so much joy out of spoiling the kid. Anja and Max had spent the last seven years under my father-in-law’s thumb, and everything they had ever gotten from him had probably come with strings attached. But these gifts had no strings. I just wanted my brother to like them—and me—and to be happy.
When I arrived, Anja and Max were waiting in the lobby. They watched with amusement as I staggered out of the cab, laden with bright colored paper bags and struggling to carry everything at once.
“What is all this?” Anja asked, her eyes wide as she helped me into the lobby.
Max was already staring at the toys spilling out of the bags, his gaze laser-focused.
“Things got a little intense at the toy store,” I confessed to Anja, lowering my voice to a whisper. “I just felt like…I’ve always wanted a sibling. I can’t imagine not spoiling him now. Plus, I’ve already missed so many birthdays and holidays, you know? I hope it’s okay.”
There were tears in her eyes and she flung her arms around me.
