Chapter 2 Stefan
STEFAN
My mother. Alive. That doesn’t make any fucking sense.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Mikayla rolls her shoulders, testing the chains that bind her to the metal chair. We’re down in one of the basement rooms now—concrete walls, no windows, a single bulb overhead. “Why would I lie about that?”
“To save your skin. To fuck with my head. Pick a reason.”
“I don’t need to save anything. I told you already—kill me and Olivia dies. Keep me here and… well, same result.” She shifts in the chair, chains rattling. “Your mother, on the other hand... she has her own plans.”
I circle her slowly. Mikayla doesn’t flinch, doesn’t look away. She’s not afraid of me. Never has been. That used to be an asset. Now, it just pisses me off.
“My mother is dead.”
“You sure about that? You see a body? Check for a pulse?”
The memory floods back. That night. The blood. The way she looked at me before I... before I thought I...
“She couldn’t have survived.”
“Couldn’t she?” Mikayla tilts her head. “You were sixteen, Stefan. Traumatized. Angry. Maybe you saw what you needed to see.”
“I know what I did.”
“You know what you remember doing. There’s a difference. In this case, a very, very important one.”
I grab the back of her chair and stoop down close. “If she’s alive, why wait until now? Why not come forward years ago?”
“Maybe she was scared of you. Maybe she was building her own power base. Maybe she just wanted to see how far her son would go.” Mikayla shrugs as much as the chains allow. “Ask her yourself when you see her.”
“Where is she?”
Silence.
“Where is Olivia?”
More silence.
I straighten up and walk to the wall, then turn back. “Who are you really working for, Mikayla?”
She smiles. “Does it matter? Iakov, your mother, the highest bidder—what difference does it make? The end product is the same. Your empire is crumbling and your precious doctor is gone.”
“She’s not—”
“Not what? Not yours?” Mikayla laughs, sharp and bitter. “We both know that’s not true. You branded her the moment you walked into her life. Might as well have put a collar on her.”
“That’s not—”
“Oh, please. The surveillance, the security details, moving her into your house? You think that’s normal? You think that’s love?”
“I was protecting her.”
“Don’t kid yourself, Stefan.” She straightens up as much as the chains allow. “Everything bad in her life right now is because of you.”
My jaw clenches. “Walsh was destroying her clinic before I showed up.”
“So? You were planning to finish the job. Don’t pretend you’re her savior when you were just another vulture circling.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Correction: You changed your timeline.” She studies me with those sharp eyes.
“You figured, ‘Hey, if I get her pregnant first, then take the clinic, I’m a hero, not a villain.’ You thought you could make her dependent on you for everything and then she’d give you what you wanted willingly, of her own accord.
That doesn’t make you a good guy. Not even close. ”
I gnash my teeth and turn my back on Mikayla.
But she sees me, knows what’s happening inside me, same as she always has.
So, sensing that my jugular is bared, she keeps going.
“You wanted something and you took it. Like the killer you are. Except this time, the thing you took had feelings. Opinions. The audacity to think she was a real live human being. Can you believe that? The balls!”
“Stop.”
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it? Almost as much as knowing she’s out there right now, probably hearing all about what you really are.”
“I said stop.”
“Your mother will tell her everything. Every bloody detail, every lie you’ve told.
By the time you find her—if you find her—she won’t even recognize you.
She’ll scream at the sight of your face, and all the poison your mother has poured into her ear will eat her alive from the inside out.
” Mikayla simpers out her lower lip. “Poor little Olivia. She really thought you cared about her. Can you imagine how bad that’s going to hurt? ”
Something snaps in me. My hand moves before I think and the back of it connects with Mikayla’s cheek. Not hard enough to really hurt—just enough to insult. To shut her up.
Mikayla’s head snaps to the side. When she turns back, there’s something in her eyes I’ve never seen before. Not pain from the slap—this is an inhuman gleam. Loathing and laughter mixed into one.
“Does hitting me make you feel better? Are you a big, strong man now? Are you in charge of the situation?”
I don’t answer. My hand throbs, but not from the impact. From the wrongness of it. I’ve never hit Mikayla before. Never needed to.
Taras shifts in the corner where he’s been watching silently. He catches my eye and nods toward the door. I follow him out, leaving Mikayla chained in the dim light.
“What?” I ask once we’re in the hallway.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Thanks. Really helpful.”
“I’m serious.” He leans against the wall. “You don’t see it?”
“See what?”
“She’s in love with you.”
I blink. “What?”
“Mikayla. She’s been in love with you for years.
Why do you think she hates Olivia so much?
” He lights a cigarette even though we’re inside.
“Think about it. Eight years she’s been with you.
Never taken a vacation. Never dated anyone.
Always there when you need her. Miss Fuckin’ Reliable.
And you never noticed because you were too busy treating her like furniture. ”
I think back. All those years. Mikayla always there, always perfect, always... empty. A lump of clay to be molded how I saw fit. Or so I thought.
“Even if that’s true—”
“It is.”
“—it doesn’t matter.”
“It does, though.” He exhales smoke. “You could use it.”
“What?”
“Her feelings. Use them. Make her think there’s a chance, that if she helps you get Olivia back, maybe...” He shrugs. “Women do stupid things for love.”
“No.”
“No? Your pregnant girlfriend is missing and you’re too noble all of the sudden to manipulate the woman who took her?”
“It would be a betrayal.”
“Of who? Mikayla? She already betrayed you.”
“Of Olivia.” I flex my hand and wince when the knuckles pop. “I won’t pretend to have feelings for another woman. Not even to save her. She deserves better than that.”
Taras gawks at me. “You really do love her.”
“I—” We’ll never find out how that sentence was meant to end, because I kill it before it can get that far. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. What matters is getting her back safely.”
“Right.” He drops the cigarette and crushes it under his heel. “So what’s the plan? Torture Mikayla until she talks?”
“She won’t break.”
“Everyone breaks eventually.”
“Not Mikayla. She’s...” I think of all the times I’ve seen her work and know beyond any doubt that I’m right on this one. “She’s different.”
“Then what?”
I look back at the door. Behind it, Mikayla sits chained and defiant. Somewhere out there, Olivia is with my mother. If my mother is even alive. If any of this is real.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you better figure out a plan fast. Every minute she’s gone is another minute for them to poison her against you.”
He’s right. I know he’s fucking right. But for the first time in my life, I’m paralyzed.
“What if Mikayla’s telling the truth?” I rasp. “What if my mother is alive?”
“Then you’ve got bigger problems than a missing girlfriend.”
“What could she want after all this time? Why stay dead until now?”
“To meet her grandkid or to get revenge, maybe. Maybe she drew a Tarot card and it told her the stars have aligned for her to return from the grave. Or, shit, I dunno—maybe she’s just as fucked up as the rest of your family.” He shrugs. “Does it matter?”
It does. It matters because if my mother is alive, everything I believed about myself is a lie. Every choice I made, every justification for becoming what I am—it’s all built on something that might not even be real.
“Stefan.” Taras grabs my shoulder. “Focus. Olivia first. Everything else can wait.”
Once again, he’s right. I take a breath, force myself to think clearly.
“We need to find them. Fast.”
“Agreed. How?”
“I don’t know yet. But Mikayla’s the key. She knows where they are.”
“And she’s not talking.”
“Not yet.” I look at the door again. “But everyone has a breaking point. Even her.”
“You just said—”
“I know what I said. I was wrong.” I straighten up. “I need time to think.”
Taras nods and heads off. I stand alone in the hallway, listening to the silence. Somewhere, Olivia is wondering where I am. If I’m coming for her. If she wants me to.
I will find her. I will bring her home. And then...
Then I’ll tell her everything. No more lies. No more games. Just truth, even if it destroys us.
Because Taras is right about one thing: I do love her. And that changes everything.