Page 52 of Lust and Honor

I exhale slowly.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to escape my father, his world, his people. I just wanted to stay with my mother. Far away from all that filth. When Sister Maria found me and saved me, I thought I was finally free of that life. But my father found me again. Maxim saved me, years passed, and then that bastard found me again…”

She cuts me off gently.

“And once again, it was Maxim who saved you, right?”

My chest tightens. I nod silently.

Emily pauses for a moment before speaking again.

“I’ve known Maxim for almost six years. There’s still a lot I don’t know about him, but there’s one thing I do know. He’s not like your father, Ava. When it comes to the people he loves, he’d give up his own life for them. He’s loyal to his family. And from what both of us can clearly see, he’s trying his hardest to be the best father possible for Aurora. He would never hurt her, and he’d never walk away from her.”

“Your husband said the same thing.”

“Because he’s right.”

I let out a heavy breath and take another sip of water.

“I’m not superstitious, but when fate keeps sending the same man to save you over and over again, maybe you need to consider the possibility that he was written into your destiny.”

That truth hits me like a slap in the face every single day. No matter what I do, life keeps leading me back to Maxim.

But that’s not what scares me.

What scares me is the question I can’t stop asking myself.

Do I even want to escape him?

It’s the kind of question my heart and mind are constantly at war over.

We change the subject after that, shifting to safer, normal girl talk.

After lunch, we head toward the kids’ room. Even before the door opens, Luca’s loud, excited shrieks spill into the hallway.

The second we walk inside I blink in disbelief.

Maxim, dressed in a white crew-neck shirt and black pants, his sleeves shoved up to his elbows, is dangling Luca upside down by the ankles while saying calmly,

“Say you were wrong.”

Luca shrieks with laughter. “No! I’m not saying it!”

Maxim gives him another careless shake. “Yeah, you are, little brat. Say, ‘I shouldn’t have pulled Aurora’s hair.’”

I glance toward Aurora, who’s standing beside Gabriel, both of them staring at Maxim with their mouths hanging open.

The kids’ new nanny, a middle-aged woman, stands quietly in the corner, wisely staying out of it.

Emily immediately walks over and takes Luca from Maxim.

“Maxim! What are you doing in here?”

She sets Luca back on his feet while he’s still panting with excitement, then says firmly,

“No more fighting, Luca. You’ll be nice to Aurora.”

Luca only shrugs before wandering back toward Gabriel’s Legos.