Chapter 22 Ivy
IVY
All Ruslan had to do was flash that little card and the stranger agreed to come with us. Something that’s still so odd to me, but I suppose if someone were to flash a cop badge or something similar, then I’d do the same.
Different rules for different worlds.
He has his security team drive her to a safe house, a tucked-away building disguised as a tailor shop where no one bats an eye when we enter. Not that I’d notice. I’m too caught up in my anger.
She fucks my dad, destroys my parents’ marriage, and then dares to visit my mother? Never in my life have I been so angry. It consumes me like a fog, hot and smothering, so I end up plucking at my shirt while pacing back and forth in the room Ruslan leaves me in.
It’s small with a coat rack, a few couches, and a coffee station pressed against one wall. It must be some kind of staff room for those who work here pretending that it’s an entirely normal business.
Ruslan returns two minutes later with the beautiful stranger, and the sight of her makes my stomach turn.
“Sit.” Ruslan speaks tightly, like every word is being pried from his lips.
The woman obeys.
“Who are you?” he asks, watching her settle onto the couch while he remains by the door, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. “What’s your name?”
“Florence.” She speaks softly, placing her elegant hands onto her knees and folding them. “My name is Florence.”
“How dare you?” I snap, unable to stop myself as her voice grates at my ears. “How dare you visit her after what you did!”
Florence’s eyes widen in alarm and she swivels to face me. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? What good is sorry! How twisted are you that you’d even show your face, huh? What kind of fucked up ploy is this?”
Florence’s eyes dart between Ruslan and me, then she leans forward. “Are you… are you with the Suit too? Did I do something wrong? I didn’t know the Suit had anything to do with this.”
A tremble shoots through my body, like my skeleton is trying to free itself from my body, and my heart lurches up into my throat. “You… you don’t know who I am?”
Florence frowns slightly, shaking her head. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t.”
I can’t speak. Anger claws at my throat and my heart beats so hard that it doesn’t let any words past my lips.
Clenching my teeth, hot tears sting behind my eyes and I turn away from her while gathering my thoughts.
Did dad never talk about me? Did he never tell her that he wasn’t just breaking my mother’s heart, but ruining a family?
After a few seconds of measured breathing, I turn back and face Florence. She watches me with the same confused look on her face and then her lips part.
“If I’ve done something wrong,” she murmurs. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I didn’t know I’d broken any rules.”
The fury inside me stalls suddenly.
Florence is scared of me.
She hides it well but her fingernails dig into her knees and she worries her teeth along the inside of her cheek, causing her face to hollow slightly while she tries to maintain a calm facade.
My stomach churns violently. I’ve never had someone be scared of me before.
Slowly, I sit on the couch opposite her and sigh deeply. “You were sleeping with my dad.”
Florence’s brow twitches slightly, then a surprising warmth melts across her face. “You’re… Ivy?”
“So he did talk about me?”
Her posture relaxes slightly. “All the time.”
“But you didn’t know what I looked like?” I can’t keep the accusation out of my voice.
Florence shakes her head, moving her hands to her small leather bag. “He showed me a picture in his wallet, but you were just a child in that.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know he carried a picture of me, and the softness of the gesture hits my chest like a punch. I end up looking to Ruslan for comfort and his eyes are locked onto me, his face dark but his eyes warm.
“You know he’s dead, don’t you?” Ruslan says, clearly speaking to Florence, but his eyes don’t leave me. He’s like an anchor in the middle of stormy waters.
“Yes.” Florence’s voice quakes. “I know.”
With a steadying breath, I turn back to her and my heart lurches once more. Her eyes are flooded with tears and despite how delicately she dabs at her eyes, she can’t stop them from falling.
“You… loved him, didn’t you?”
Florence nods, giving a watery smile while still trying to fight her tears. “This is… odd. He never told me his daughter was part of the Suit.”
“I’m not,” I say as the anger bleeds out of me. It’s difficult to remain furious at a woman trying so hard not to cry.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I assumed because—”
“I am,” Ruslan remarks. “And given how fucked this situation is, I’m not leaving until I know the truth.”
“The truth?” Florence glances between the two of us and then her mouth falls open. “You think… you think I had something to do with his death?”
Ruslan doesn’t reply.
“I want to know everything,” I say, still trembling in my seat. “My dad… how did you two…” I can’t say it. Saying it makes it real, and I still can’t believe my family was crumbling before my eyes and I had no idea.
“How we met?” Florence smiles suddenly as if the memory is one of her happiest. “It was unintentional. I… I’d known Camden for years.
He was recommended to me by Kraven Sidorov.
He’d used him a few times for some offshore accounts and a little money trouble, and I used to date Kraven’s son, Alexei.
As terrible as that was, I ran into some issues with my mortgage and Kraven recommended Camden. ”
“They worked together?” Ruslan cuts in.
“Not exactly. At least, not in any prolonged capacity. I always got the impression it was a passing partnership that ended as quickly as it started. But Camden was always kind to me, and he helped me with my house, and then for the next few years, he was who I went to with questions.”
“Questions?” The word is strained to my own ears. “That’s not a euphemism, is it?”
“No.” Florence shakes her head. “It… nothing was planned. I…” She’s finally unable to stop her tears from falling and her hands return to her lap.
“It was all so sudden. When I dated Alexei, it was just for the sex. I met him when I was young and working in a hotel. My family is small fish compared to a family like the Sidorovs and I was so enamored that someone so powerful could take an interest in little old me. He would tell me he wanted an older woman, someone who was part of a normal life, but I learned later that he just wanted someone he could easily control. Anyone worth their salt in Mafia circles wouldn’t fall for what I fell for.
But I mistook his possessiveness for lust, his controlling actions for care.
I thought he loved me and he didn’t. He just wanted power over someone. ”
The picture she paints makes my blood run cold.
I hope I never run into this Alexei.
“Anyway, he broke things off a few years ago and I never thought I would date again. I felt so withered and hopeless. My family are either dead or in prison, and no one cares about a criminal family that isn’t bringing in the big bucks.”
“Not true,” Ruslan interrupts suddenly. “You know as well as I do that once you swear the oath, there’s no way out.”
“An oath?” Florence laughs wetly. “No one cares about the oaths of a family in the dirt. You know as well as I do that one toe out of line and someone bigger and brighter would have wiped us out. My time with Alexei was terrifying, but it was eye-opening to what the world was like for those with the money and power to do something. That’s why I stayed for so long and part of me craved to go back. Until Camden.”
It’s jarring hearing my dad’s name like that. All my life he’s been dad. Nothing else. Camden makes him seem like a stranger.
Given how little I know about him, maybe he is.
“Camden was always so sweet, so caring and so understanding to what I’d been through.
He didn’t know much about the Mafia world, but his brief time working with Kraven had shown him enough to keep him away for good.
” Her eyes slide back to mine. “We didn’t mean to fall in love.
It really just happened. He was the kindest, most respectful man I’d ever met, and before we knew it, we were in love. ”
“Respectful?” I choke out. “What kind of respectful man cheats on his wife?”
Florence wipes her tears with one curved finger. “He felt terrible for that.”
“Did he?”
“Yes! He really did. We tried to fight how we felt, tried not to see each other. I even moved banks, but it…” Her eyes flutter closed.
“It was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Being near him was intoxicating.
Hearing his voice excited me in ways I’d never felt, and all I wanted to do was to see him smile at me. ”
My attention briefly darts to Ruslan who is still watching me intently.
“And the fact that he was married didn’t deter you?”
Florence sniffles. “I was shocked, but he told me his marriage was already over. He was looking to divorce her and he wanted to be with me. He talked and talked about how difficult a decision it was, but that it was worth it for happiness.”
Bitterness grows inside me like a weed. “It was hard for him? It was difficult, was it? To be a decent, loyal man?”
“Love is complicated,” Florence replies. “It’s never simple. Never black and white.”
“Did my mom know? Did she know she was getting divorced before she…” Her face in the hospital bed flashes in my mind and I close my eyes.
“I don’t know,” Florence replies. “Camden would speak like it was already in the works, but he never told me how much she knew. And when I heard about—” Her voice cracks and she buries her face in her hands. “I can’t believe he’s dead. Who would do such a thing? Who would be so cruel?”
I should comfort her.
Part of me wants to.
Her upset sounds genuine and each soft sob from her feeds into some misplaced guilt inside me that rests like a rock below my ribs. She cared. She really cared.
But he was my dad. He was my mom’s husband. It was my family.
“How long?” I croak. “How long were you two together?”
Florence lifts her head, rapidly wiping at her cheeks. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” A lump forms in my throat. “Tears like that, you know exactly how long.”
She finally looks at me. “Nineteen months and fourteen days.”
I’m on my feet before she’s even finished talking, my legs moving with a will of their own and suddenly, I’m in front of Ruslan. His dark eyes are flooded with concern, but somehow, that look makes me want to claw my skin off.
I can’t breathe.
The room is far too hot.
“Let me out,” I gasp at him. “I need a minute.”
“Don’t leave,” Ruslan instructs as he steps away from the door.
As I pass, his fingers brush against my forearm and it’s a tender touch that almost makes me want to turn around and sink into his arms.
Almost.
Knowing I should stay inside doesn’t stop me from leaving. The walls are closing in with each step, the air grows thicker and my heart races like each step in a mile in a marathon.
How can this be the truth? Nineteen months?
They were together for that long and I never knew. Mom never knew. She couldn’t have.
I gasp as the heat at the back of my neck builds until hot sweat prickles down my spine.
I stumble past the security team, out into the store and make a beeline for the door.
I don’t stop until I’m out on the sidewalk, gasping in lungfuls of cooler air as a breeze rushes past and catches on my clammy skin.
Did I really know anything about Dad?
“Ivy?”
I lurch suddenly at the sound of my name and glance up as a face swims into view. Against the sunny haze of the street and a backdrop of cars rushing past with windows open against the summer heat stands Moira.
She lifts her shades to rest on top of her head and looks me over with wide eyes.
“Ivy? My God, what’s wrong? Why are you so pale? Are you okay?”