Chapter 34
Ren
Iwas tired today, and not just because Myles and Blake had kept me awake, which they did. I couldn’t get the look in Nora’s eyes out of my head. The gym had been busy, and she was chatting with the new evening manager she’d hired when we arrived.
She had been so happy to see me until I showed her the photo, then her face fell, and her eyes filled with pain that she didn’t shed in front of me.
At first, she thought Liam had sent me, but once I explained what Theo and I had witnessed and that Liam knew nothing, she thanked me, packed up her stuff, and left.
Myles’s arm was warm around my shoulders as we walked outside from Wayside Hall.
“Should I have stayed out of it?”
“Yer gonna have to be more specific. Stay outta what?”
“Nora and Merlin.”
“Ah…I dunno. Ya said it yerself, if Ivy or Lizzy, or whoever, knew that some shady shit was goin’ on and didna tell ya, you’d be hurt and pissed. So, I think ya did the right thing even if it hurt her.”
“Yeah. Why does doing the right thing feel like crap a lot of the time?”
Myles shrugged.
“I guess cause doin’ the right thing isn’t supposed ta be easy. Tests from God and all that. Not that I’m gonna end up in heaven for the shite that I’ve done. But at least I have you, my piece of heaven on earth. I’ll happily spend all eternity roasting in Hell to keep ya for however long I live.”
I stopped walking and looked up at him.
“I hate it when you talk like that. Like you could die tomorrow. Like you’re not a good person. Like you’re not worth God’s love and forgiveness, if there even is a God.”
“Snowflake, death is inevitable. That’s why every time I open my eyes, I thank the big man that I get to spend one more day with you.
That’s all I ask for—just one more, and I can die a happy man.
” His knuckles trailed softly down my cheek.
“And I know he exists, cause he sent me you. Aww, don’t be cryin’ all I mean is that I’m happy, and I’ll take whatever punishment I deserve for the crimes I’ve committed. ”
I tried to hold them back but tears slipped down my cheeks. Myles wiped at them and then licked his thumb with a soft groan.
“Yer tears taste as sweet as the rest of ya,” he whispered, before he kissed me.
His lips were warm and soft and always just right. Never too much or too little, and I kissed him back, feeding on his tenderness.
A year ago, I never would’ve guessed that this was where we would end up.
Now, I couldn’t picture my life without him or the way he made everything feel like it was going to be okay.
Rising on my toes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him harder, earning a groan.
Myles’ hands were hot where they touched me and licked a fire up my spine.
“Ya drive me wild, Snowflake,” he said as we broke the kiss, breathing hard.
Before I could respond, someone cleared their throat. Myles yanked me behind him when we saw who it was.
“What the hell do you want,” Myles asked Vadin. “Did getting thrown out the first time not tell ya that yer not wanted here?”
“It’s okay,” I said, stepping out from behind Myles and rubbing his back.
Anger flowed off him in waves, and I kept my hand where it was to keep him from leaping on Vadin.
We did not need two scenes on school property involving my grandfather.
I looked him up and down, and other than a different suit, he appeared the same as when I met him in Dean Henry’s office.
His hands were folded in front of him, displaying the polar bear tattoo that had become a staple in my nightmares.
“Myles does have a point. I didn’t call or text you. So why are you here?”
Parked behind Vadin was a Mercedes with two guards standing beside it.
“I was hoping that we could have lunch. Despite Edmundo’s outburst, I still want to get to know my granddaughter,” he said, with his thick Russian accent.
How had my mother masked hers so well that I never picked up on it?
“You want to have lunch with me, even though I’m not Christov’s daughter?”
He tilted his head as he stared at me.
“Does that make you any less my granddaughter?”
“It makes me the less desirable option. I know you wanted me to be Christov’s child, and I know that, for whatever reason, you hate my father and basically shunned my mother. So yes, it makes me wonder why you’re here.”
He let out a long sigh and then turned to face the school.
“I have been here only twice before, and both times, I’ve had confrontations with your father.
The first was the beginning of the end of my relationship with your mother, and it was my fault.
I can see that now.” He looked back at me.
“I only wish to tell you my side of things, and if you never want to speak to me again, I will leave and never return.” He held out his hand toward the car.
“We can go for a drive and have a nice meal—.”
“Over me cold dead body are ya takin’ her off property. If ya want to talk, then ya talk right here,” Myles growled, balling his hands into fists.
I agreed with him. There was no way in hell that I was getting in that car.
“Alright. Here it is then. Do you have a good spot we can talk,” Vadin asked.
Sucking in a deep breath, I played Liam’s words over in my mind. He was right. Vadin’s words could never change the past, but I wanted to hear what he had to say. Not because I didn’t believe my father, but because I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
“Fine, I know where we can go. But Myles is coming with us, and your guards remain outside,” I said, knowing that I held the power.
Vadin gave a little nod.
Holding hands with Myles, we walked toward the front doors of Wayward. Vadin trailed behind us.
“Can you grab us something to eat and meet me in the chapel,” I asked Myles.
“I’m not leavin’ ya alone with him,” he whispered under his breath.
“Then text one of the others and ask them to,” I said, and he pulled out his phone.
The chapel was the perfect spot. It was small, private, and maybe the holy location would compel Vadin to speak the truth. Although somehow I highly doubted that he cared where he was going when he died.
Dean Henry stepped out of the main office as we passed. I nodded to him that I was fine, but it helped settle the bundle of nerves in my chest knowing that he was aware Vadin was on the property and keeping watch.
Myles pushed open the door and stepped inside, waiting until Vadin entered before taking up guard duty.
There were a few pews, but also a table with chairs set up for talks.
That was where I took Vadin. I’d only been in here a couple times since arriving, but more recently, after Ella died.
It was not the place to come for answers, because I only left with more questions.
Still, it was quiet and gave us space away from prying eyes and ears.
We sat, and I stared at him, face void of all emotion. I wasn’t giving anything away.
“You look so much like your mother, it’s…incredible, the resemblance.” His eyes searched my face. “And I see you have her fire and tenacity as well.”
My lip twitched, and Vadin shifted in his seat.
“As I said, I want to explain.”
“I’m not sure there is any explanation that can justify betraying my father, forcing my mother to marry a man she hated, and then making her stay in an abusive situation.
You stood by, watching her life crumble to the point that she ran and hid us from you.
Did you hit my grandmother? Is that why you didn’t care what happened to your only daughter? ”
My anger burned like an out-of-control wildfire in my chest with each word. It took all my effort to sit perfectly still, not raise my voice, and act unaffected by his cruelty.
He sucked in a deep breath, his finger tapping on the tabletop.
“Well, I see your father has wasted no time filling you in on our sordid past.”
“Is it not the truth?”
“It is, but—.”
“There are no buts. I will listen to why you did those things. But if you try to paint my father or my mother in a negative light while you play the victim, you will find yourself outside the Wayward gates very quickly,” I said, seething. “Choose your next words carefully.”
“Alright. You’re right, I did all those things. I would like to explain why, and even if you don’t feel the reason was justified, it was my reason.”
There was a knock at the door, and Nash walked in with a tray of food, coffee that I could smell a mile away, and a stony expression that told me he wasn’t leaving.
He placed the tray, loaded with my favorites, down on the table.
Then picked up one of the three coffees and sat down beside me, arm draped along the back of my chair.
Vadin looked at Nash, then Myles, and I could see him ruminating on the kiss he’d witnessed earlier and Nash’s behavior now. Let him wonder.
“Vadin was about to explain why he did what he did,” I said to Nash, and then took a sip of my coffee.
It was warm, perfect, and just what I needed.
“Well, then I didn’t miss the entertaining part,” Nash said.
Vadin pointed between the boys.
“May I ask…”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. “You haven’t earned the right to know or understand the inner workings of my life. Now, say what you want to say or leave.”
He picked up the last coffee, tasting it before leaning back in his chair.
“I was a very stubborn, focused, and unemotional man in my youth. The only thing that mattered to me was proving to my father that I deserved to lead the family by any means necessary. Your great-grandfather died when Yuliana was a child, but he made me swear to him that the family name would remain strong and prominent. I was to do whatever it took to achieve those goals. He, too, was not the warmest man.”
Some cycles just loved to repeat themselves, but Nash chose change, and so did Myles. There was strength in breaking the mold that most people never fully understood.