Page 26 of Ruby Menace

“Then why show me?” My voice is shaking. I can’t help it. What I’ve just learned has shaken me to my core.

“Let’s just say… What would you Americans call it? Girl code?” She winks.

“You want me to believe you’re looking out for me?” I scoff.

“Don’t flatter yourself, child. I’m not. But as a woman, I can’t let an innocent child come into a world like this.” She splays her hands casually… while I’ve stopped breathing again.

I was right!

She knows I’m pregnant!

“What do you mean?” I blurt, shooting to my feet.

“You know exactly what I mean, Tiana. Do you want to raise a child with the man who murdered your mother?” She leaves the question hanging, and I’m speechless.

I shake my head. “How could you be so sure that I’m…” I croak out. It’s a feeble attempt at a diversion. She already raised my pregnancy once before, and I’d thought she’d planned to blackmail me with it. Now I know how she’d intended to use it as leverage.

“Are you really going to try to hide it?” Her eyebrow lifts. “Come on. We’re both women; let’s not play games like this.”

I don’t have the mental capacity to deny it right now. I’ve just been hit with too many revelations. “Why do you care about me?”

“Who said I do?” She gives a little sniff, nostrils flaring delicately. “You’re a grown woman. You do what you want with your life. But a child? I child needs a loving family, not the Bratva. I know what it’s like to be raised by the Bratva – my father was high in the ranks. And as for how Kirill has reacted to learning about Stepan… Do you want that for your child, too? Because I wouldn’t wish that on an innocent.”

I don’t say anything, because what would I say anyway. I just stand there staring at her with my mouth hanging open, watching her as she crosses her legs, eyeing me coolly. I have no words.

Jesus Christ, Tee.

What have you done to deserve all this?

I glance back down at the papers. They seem legit. Not that I know much about such things. But then again, barely a week ago, I was tied up in the back of an FBI surveillance van, so maybe I’ve been getting a crash course in the subject.

“So?” She aims those cold eyes on me, waiting for a response.

“So what?” It’s a stupid question, but I’m at a loss.

“What are you going to do?” She glances at the door back into the restaurant. I stare at it too.

My mind is racing and I sway slightly as I keep staring at the door. I think of my mother and all the years that I’ve lost. The childhood I never had. The long years I spent inside my room because my father locked me in there. I rest a hand over my belly, sensing the tiny life growing there.

This is too much.

It doesn’t matter how much I love Kirill and that he's the father of my child. I’ve been torn between staying with him and leaving him long enough. But this? This is the last nail in the coffin. If this is true, and he knew all along that he’s screwing the daughter of the woman he murdered, then he’s more messed up than I ever thought.

If this is true, then he has to pay.

For my mother. For making my whole life a misery.

Without another look at where Zoya is still sitting at the table, I stand on my feet and stride across the patio to where the paving meets the garden. Beyond it, the restaurant’s back exit glows through the evening gloom. It’s quiet out here now, with everyone inside.

So I walk away from Zoya, head toward the exit, and while nobody is watching, I run.

Chapter Ten

Kirill

I skim an eye over the gathered mourners, finally feeling like I can handle the overload this day has brought. Losing my mother has been one of the most difficult things I had to endure, yet being with Tiana helped me clear my head. That woman is a drug, and I can’t get enough of her.

But that doesn’t mean I can just forget about all the shit that’s hanging over me. I know my mind isn’t going to rest until I find out what the fuck is going on with my ex-wife. I have a feeling that somehow she is connected to the shitstorm that’s been is going on with Tiana’s father and that motherfucker Petrov. I know she’s up to something. I can feel it in my bones. And somehow I feel like she’s using the child as leverage.

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