Chapter 20 #3
The look she gives me makes me immediately regret saying that out loud. “Your dad loves you. He would never do anything to hurt you.” She taps the screen of her phone and holds it up to her ear while she says, “He’d at least hear what Damien has to say, and when he does, he won’t hurt him.”
I watch as she drags a hand through her hair while pacing the kitchen floor. “Volodya,” she says, her words coming out in a rush that I know will send my dad into an immediate panic. I’m right because the next thing she says is, “I’m fine, but we need your help.”
Her eyes meet mine before she sighs and says, “The boys took Damien and Sitka is really worried about him. She doesn’t know where they went.”
I’m not sure what my dad says, but my mom’s response is a hesitant confession of, “They were going to talk to you tomorrow. They’re in love, Volodya. I’ve already talked to him. I know he’s telling the truth. He loves Sitka and he wants to marry her. She feels the same way about him.”
There’s a heavy sigh and several minutes of silence before my mom says, “I was going to tell you.”
Guilt hits me hard. My parents are close, like the crazy sweet kind of close where they’re best friends and tell each other pretty much everything.
I know my dad must feel betrayed by this, and it’s all my fault.
I put my mom in an impossible situation, and my heart cracks open for the second time tonight when I hear how sad my mom’s voice is when she tells him bye and hangs up.
“Is he going to help?” I ask.
She nods and sets her phone down. “He’s on his way to them now.”
“I’m so sorry, Mom.” I look up at her, hating to see how distraught she looks.
“I should never have asked you to keep it a secret. It was selfish of me, and I’m really sorry.
I’ll tell Dad it was all my fault. I just got scared.
I was so afraid he’d forbid me from seeing him, and I couldn’t let that happen, not before I could find out if what Damien and I have is real.
I needed to make sure it wasn’t just a crush. ”
My mom squats back down by Nyx and me. “I know why you did it, Sitka, and when your dad calms down, he’ll understand too.”
“I’m so sorry he’s upset. He’ll understand why you didn’t tell him. Dad never gets mad at you.”
She huffs out a laugh that’s more disbelief than humor. “Trust me, he can get mad at me. I infuriated the hell out of him when we first met.”
They’ve always been vague about the details of how they met. I know my dad was tracking the guy my mom used to work for and she somehow got caught up in it. She ended up working as my dad’s housekeeper, but it didn’t last long because he quickly fell in love with her and married her instead.
“Well, it couldn’t have lasted long,” I say. “He married you pretty quickly.”
The corner of my mom’s mouth lifts at the memory.
“He did. I worked for these idiots I went to high school with. The guy got involved with drugs and then pissed off the Bratva. Your dad was supposed to kidnap his sister as a warning.” My mom looks over at me and gives me a small smile. “He accidentally took me instead.”
“What?” I ask, letting out a surprised laugh. “Dad kidnapped you?”
“He did, and he killed someone in front of me, so he couldn’t just let me go.
That’s why I started working as his housekeeper.
He wanted to keep a close eye on me, and I needed the money to help pay for your grandma’s cancer treatments.
I fell hard for your dad, but he fought me on it. That’s why he was always so pissy.”
“So he wasn’t really mad at you. He was just frustrated that you came along and knocked him on his butt, and he’s been on it ever since, Mom. I can tell how much you two love each other. He won’t stay mad. I don’t think he could even if he wanted to.”
She scoots in closer and wraps an arm around my shoulders while her fingers run through my hair. Nyx rests her head on my lap, and if it wasn’t for the two of them, I know I’d be going crazy right now.
“Damien will be okay,” my mom says after a few minutes.
“I hope you’re right, Mom. I can’t lose him.”
She hears the tremor in my voice and squeezes my hand. “I promise you he’ll be okay. We’ll figure out how this is going to work later. Right now, you just need to hang in there until your dad calls us back. Okay?”
“Okay,” I whisper, resting my head against her shoulder while she continues to stroke my hair.
I pet Nyx while we wait and text Talia to see if she’s heard anything. When I get her text, I’m not surprised to read that the guys left right after my phone call and she hasn’t heard anything since.
There’s nothing to do but wait. My mom and Damien might be right about them not killing him, but I know my brothers and I’d seen the look in their eyes. They’re going to want to hurt him. They’re going to want to make him bleed for daring to touch me.
With my heart and stomach in knots, I sit with my mom and dog on the floor, counting down the minutes and hoping like hell Damien can survive them until the others get there.