Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
SLOANE
The next day, after Kirill leaves for work, Lev and I stay out in the yard for a while, tossing a ball back and forth, enjoying our Sunday morning.
The pressure to find the safe hasn’t let up. If anything, it’s only gotten worse. I barely managed to sleep beside Kirill last night, lying tense in his arms and wondering if he could feel it: the strain running through me, the way my whole body seemed wound too tight after we had sex.
That’s why, before I even tried to close my eyes, I deleted every message from Eli and Mandy, emptied the trash, and then checked everything twice like some paranoid criminal trying to erase her tracks. I can’t risk him finding something and seeing anything other than the woman he thinks I am.
Lev throws the ball with surprising force, and it bounces past me.
“Whoa!” I laugh, jogging after it. “You’re good.”
He smiles at that, then wanders over to me with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Hide…seek,” he says carefully.
“You want to play hide-and-seek?”
He nods, already turning toward the house.
“Okay.” I rush after him. “We can play inside. You hide first.”
He giggles and disappears down the hallway the second we step in past the guard, and I turn toward the wall, covering my eyes as I start counting loud enough for him to hear me. This might actually be a perfect opportunity for me to look for a safe without making it obvious.
By the time I reach twenty, my pulse has already started to climb, especially with the guards posted through the house and that awful awareness of being watched no matter where I go.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
I start with the living room, calling his name as I move from one end of it to the other, opening doors and dragging it out so it sounds convincing.
“Hmm. Maybe he ran outside.”
A soft giggle floats down the hall.
My eyes land on Kirill’s study, the door cracked open.
“Lev?” I step inside, moving quietly past the desk.
Another stifled laugh answers me. He’s under there. I can hear the small scrape of a shoe.
I circle the room instead, letting my gaze move over the walls, the shelves, the ceiling corners. If there are cameras in here, they’re hidden well.
“Where can he be?” I pretend to check behind the armchair.
That’s when I notice the painting by the far wall of two men playing cards, one with a cigar in his mouth.
“I wonder if he’s even in here,” I say while my fingers brush the frame, and I feel it immediately: a large enough gap between canvas and wall that I hadn’t noticed at first.
Carefully, I slide my hand behind the painting, keeping my tone casual.
“Maybe he’s in the closet?”
Lev giggles again while I continue to examine the painting, unable to focus.
But I have to do this.
Gripping the frame with both hands, I lift it carefully from the hook, praying I don’t fumble it and send something worth more than my life crashing to the floor.
The painting is heavier than I expected, but not so heavy I can’t manage it, and after a tense second, I lower it gently against the wall without letting it crash.
That’s when I see it.
A safe.
I take in the reinforced steel, knowing right away that this is a high-end mechanical safe. This will not be easy to break into, but I’ve done it before, and with the right tools, I can do it again.
“Lev?” I call again. “I’m gonna find you.”
I lift the painting back into place and adjust it carefully until it hangs straight, then run my fingertips along the frame to make sure I haven’t left a smudge behind.
Standing there, I listen for footsteps or any sign that I’ve triggered a secret alarm.
But there’s nothing. Maybe I actually pulled it off.
By the time I get Lev home from school the following afternoon, I’m even more on edge than I already was.
Kirill was quiet at breakfast. Not cold exactly, but quieter than usual.
His answers were short, his expression unreadable, and the whole time, I had this awful feeling that he knew.
Like somehow, he could see it on me: the fact that I’d been in his study, that I’d stood in front of his safe and thought about breaking into it.
But if he knows, why hasn’t he said anything?
I can’t let myself spiral. I need to stay focused.
Last night, I texted Eli and told him exactly what supplies I’d need if he wants his goddamn ledger, but he never answered.
Across the kitchen, Lev sits at the island, lining apple slices into a neat row before dipping one carefully into peanut butter.
I try to act normal, to keep my nerves from spinning out, but my leg won’t stop bouncing beneath the stool.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I jerk at the sound, startling Lev.
“Sorry,” I mutter with a tight smile, slipping my hand into my pocket to check the screen.
My stomach drops the second I see Eli’s name.
Eli
Meet me at the park. The one by your sister’s. I have what you need.
I type back quickly.
Sloane
I can’t right now. I have the kid. I’m with him until his dad gets home.
Eli
Figure it out. I’m not waiting around all day.
My hand tightens around the phone.
Crap, what do I do? If I miss this chance, I don’t know when Eli will offer it again. If I go, I have to leave Lev. And if Kirill comes home and I’m not here…
Screw it. This is for Milo. I have to go.
“Katya?” I call for the housekeeper just as she walks in.
“Yes?”
“I just need to run to the store for a few minutes. Would you mind keeping an eye on Lev?”
The words are barely out of my mouth when Lev’s head snaps up.
“No.” It’s sharp. Immediate. His eyes are filled with panic.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I grab his hand. “I’ll be back in a little bit. I just need to buy a few things.”
“No, no, NO!”
His breathing changes fast, chest rising too quickly, his hand squeezing mine so tight it hurts. Then he lunges forward and grabs me, his entire body shaking.
“No. Stay. Home. Stay home. Stay home.”
My heart cracks. “Lev, baby—”
He shakes his head hard, tears already spilling over as he wraps his arms around my waist like I’m about to disappear. “No. No. Stay home.”
Katya sighs, her face crumbling as I glance over. “When he gets like this, we usually call Mr. Marinov. He does not calm down for anyone else.”
I drop to my knees in front of Lev, staring right at him. “Everything is okay. I’m right here.”
His fingers clutch the fabric of my shirt as he drops his face into my shoulder and cries, and I know in this moment there’s no way I can leave him.
“I won’t go if you don’t want me to. I’ll stay, I swear.”
I pull my phone out with one hand and type, my arm still wrapped around him.
Sloane
Can’t make it right now.
Eli
I’ll leave it behind the big boulder near the trees where you sat with him. If it’s gone when you get there, that’s on you.
Asshole. He knew exactly when and where I met with Milo. The thought makes me sick, but I try to focus on Lev now.
Sloane
Fine.
My hand runs up and down Lev’s back, his breathing hitching against my shoulder. I sit on the kitchen floor with him in my lap, rocking as I smooth my hand over his back.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I whisper into his hair. “I’m right here. I’m not leaving you.”
He buries himself closer, and I hold him tighter, blinking back tears. I don’t know how many more times I can choose between the child in my arms and the one I have to keep safe.
But right now, there is no choice. Right now, Lev needs me.
And I’m not letting go.
KIRILL
The meeting with my brothers is still running when the door opens.
The secretary steps inside with her hands clasped in front of her, and the second I see her, I know something is wrong. She would never interrupt a meeting like this unless it mattered.
Konstantin looks up from the head of the table. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry.” Her vision bounces between all of us. “But there’s a call for Mr. Kirill. It’s urgent.”
“Take a message.” I fling a hand. “I’ll call them back.”
But then she says the next four words, and everything inside me goes cold.
“It’s about your son.”
I’m on my feet before the sentence fully lands, shoving my chair back hard enough for it to jolt against the floor. Every man at the table stares at me, but I barely register any of it over the rush of panic tearing through me.
“What about my son?”
She hurries after me as I head out the door. “Katya wouldn’t say. Only that it was urgent.”
That’s enough. Down the hallway, I pick up my pace, and by the time I reach the front desk, the receptionist already has the phone in hand, holding it out to me.
I take it from her. “What’s wrong?”
“Sir?” Katya’s voice trembles on the other end. “I think Lev needs you to come home.”
My grip tightens around the receiver. “What happened?”
“He got very upset. He won’t stop shaking and crying. Miss Sloane told him she was going to the store, and he just…” She falters. “He had a meltdown. She’s trying to calm him, but he’s still very upset. He keeps saying ‘don’t go.’”
My eyes close as relief crashes through me. He isn’t hurt. He’s okay.
“I’m on my way.”
I hand the phone back, tell the receptionist to cancel the rest of my meetings for the day, and head straight for the garage the second the elevator doors open.
Once I’m on the road, I push through traffic, needing to get to him. If he’s as upset as Katya says, then something triggered it. Lev doesn’t have meltdowns like that without a reason.
Katya’s words replay in my head over and over. He won’t stop shaking. He keeps saying don’t go. Miss Sloane told him she was going to the store and he just—
The store.
My hands cinch around the steering wheel as the realization hits. Those are the same words she said before she walked out of his life for good.
My palm slams against the wheel, my anger spiking. I hate that woman. I hate her with a passion I haven’t even felt for my worst enemy.
I thought Lev was too young to remember. I told myself he was too young.
But he remembers. That has to be it. Even if he can’t explain it, even if he never speaks about it, he remembers what that bitch did.
The need to kill her overwhelms me, but I push it down. This isn’t about her. It’s about my son, and he needs me to be calm right now.
By the time I pull into the driveway, I’m already throwing the car into park and rushing up the steps.
Katya meets me at the door, lifting a hand before I can say anything. “He is okay now. Miss Sloane calmed him down. I have never seen anyone do that except you.”
The tension in my chest loosens a fraction. “Where are they?”
“In the den.” She smiles as I slip off my shoes. “He really adores her. She is very good with him.”
I move past her as I head toward them, stopping at the doorway and enjoying the view.
Lev is curled on Sloane’s lap on the sofa, his body tucked against hers, his head resting on her shoulder while she reads to him. One hand holds the book open while the other drifts gently up and down his arm.
She’s such a good mother.
I pinch the bridge of my nose when that thought hits, but I can see it so clearly now: the way it could be.
She peers up when she senses me, and when her eyes meet mine, she grins, a wide and beautiful smile that sets every inch of me on fire. Lev follows her gaze and turns his head.
“Papa!” He pushes himself up and scrambles off her lap.
I’m on my knees before he reaches me, pulling him into my arms and holding him tight.
“Are you enjoying the story?” I kiss his forehead, clasping both hands against his cheeks.
He nods.
“Good.” I brush a hand through his hair. “Why don’t you go read it on the couch? I want to talk to Sloane for a minute.”
He hesitates before returning to the couch, settling down with the book.
Sloane rises, smoothing her hands down the front of her leggings as she saunters toward me, and the more I watch her, the more the image of us as a family starts to feel real.
My heart beats harder as the urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her for what she did, for being exactly what my son needed when I wasn’t here, overwhelms me. And maybe, if I’m being honest…simply for being herself.
I take her hand and guide her with me toward the far corner of the den, away from the sofa and out of Lev’s hearing.
“You’re good with him,” I tell her, my thumb brushing slow circles over the back of her hand.
“He makes it easy.” She gives a small shrug.
I shake my head. “No. He doesn’t. Not with most people.”
Her expression softens, her eyes drifting past me toward the couch where Lev is still sitting before they return to mine.
“I adore him. You know that.” Her gaze drops, and she lets out a heavy breath. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have told him I was leaving. I just needed to run to the store for a few things, but I should’ve waited until you came home.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I tell her, and I mean every word. “I think I know why he reacted like that.”
Concern crosses her face immediately. “Do you want to talk about it? Is it something I could’ve handled differently?”
Dropping her hand, I drag my fingers through my hair, turning away before I face her again.
“His mother left when he was around three.” My attention dips briefly to the floor before lifting again. “After his diagnosis, she decided she didn’t want this life. One day, she told him she was going to the store…” I pause. “And she never came back.”
Her mouth parts. “You’re serious?”
I nod once.
“Oh my God.” Her hand flies to her mouth, then falls again. “I can’t believe someone would do that to their child.”
Me neither.
Her fingers curl gently around my forearm, and even though the touch is light, my muscles tighten anyway. “Then she didn’t deserve either one of you.”
My hand lifts almost on its own, the back of it brushing along her cheek. Her skin is warm, and she stills beneath the touch.
“You’re a very special woman. Do you know that?”
A faint, uncertain smile touches her mouth. “I don’t know if you’d agree if you actually knew me…but thank you.”
My brows pull. “What does that mean?”
A breath of laughter escapes her. “Nothing. I’m just saying I’m not perfect.”
“No one is. We do the best we can with what we have.”
“You’re right.” She exhales defeatedly.
Neither of us moves, her warmth pulling me in, and I realize I don’t want to leave her.
“If you still need to go to the store, you can go. I’m here now.”
“Are you sure?” she asks quickly. “I don’t have to.”
“I’m sure.” I bring her knuckles to my mouth and kiss them. “Go.”
She hesitates, studying me like she’s trying to decide whether I mean it. “Okay. I won’t be long.”
As she leaves, I tell Lev she’ll be back soon. And even as I reassure him that she’s only stepping out for a bit, a quiet part of me knows I don’t actually believe that’s where she’s going.