Page 132 of Queen’s Gambit

“You’re a far better man than my father. I’ll get my revenge on him one day.”

“You already are. It’s eating Vadin up that you won’t speak to him and that you keep Lilya away, but he’s too proud to admit it.”

“Yeah, well, in the meantime, he is missing out on seeing his granddaughter grow up. It’s his loss because Lilya is amazing.”

“She really is.”

Blinking away the emotions threatening to shatter me, I kept myself focused.

“We’re sneaking out tomorrow. I think my mother was trying to tell me that Dimitri is helping us. No matter what, I’ll let you know when we’re on the plane and on our way to you.”

“I hate this. It’s a lot more dangerous involving other people.”

“I know, but we don’t have much of a choice. I overheard Christov and Alina talking. They want me gone next week.”

Eddie would lose his mind completely if I mentioned what they planned for Lilya.

“Son of a bitch. He just couldn’t stand the idea of us happy. I should’ve fucking killed him.”

“It’s not you, Eddie. I’ve been too complacent. I didn’t want to rock the boat and push too soon and now everyone I love is in danger. I own that.”

“Ana, this is on both of us. I’ve made mistakes along the way as well.”

“Eddie….”

“No, Ana, we chose to wait together. We thought it was safest, and now I’m locked out of the country until I get it appealed. I agreed to take that chance. You cannot take all that on especially considering all of this could’ve been avoided if I’d just got Vadin to sign the contract in front of me.”

“Maybe, but it feels like my mess to clean up. I’m going to take care of this and get myself and Lilya out of here.”

“I know you will. While you’re doing that, it’s time I dropped the axe on the Ivankov family fortune. I’ve been holding off, but Wednesday feels like a great day to shatter someone’s world.”

I smiled. “Just not in the morning.”

Eddie chuckled. “Okay, no destroying souls in the morning. Check. I love you, Ana.”

“I love you so much more.”

“Impossible.”

Just as I hung up, I heard my bedroom door open and heavy shoes walk in before Christov yelled my name. I tossed the phone in the hole on top of my go-bag and put the board back as quietly as possible.

“Yulianna,” he yelled again, stomping around like an angry wolverine.

“In here,” I yelled back, loading my arms with some of Lilya’s clothes and walking out as he came into her room.

His eyes were furious as always like he’d been expecting a fight. Lilya looked up from her book, and I hated that her normally sweet expression was filled with worry. He wandered around the room, looking in the closet and outside the window.

“Hi Daddy.”

Christov tore his glare away from me to look at Lilya.

“Hi,” he said then looked at me, dismissing her.

“What are you doing,” I asked as I eyed him suspiciously.

“Nothing. What are you doing,” Christov asked, looking at my arms.

“Just organizing. Lilya has a ton of clothes she’s already outgrown. I was bored,” I said, dropping the pile on the bed.