Page 44 of Ruby Menace

“Gone.” I shrug. “I confronted your father, and he was convinced that she was dead.”

Tiana’s mouth drops open. “And you believed him?”

“No. I knew he was lying, so I searched for her. But I found nothing. She had simply vanished. When I spoke to my employer, I told him that it had been taken care of because it had. She was gone. And I had found a way to control your father regardless.”

“That makes no sense.” She rubs her forehead, looking defeated.

“It was not my obligation to make sense of things. I was there to do a job.”

“Why should I believe you?” she asks. “You’ve lied to me, manipulated me, and used me. How can I trust you now?”

“Because your mother is alive.”

Tiana shoots upright, rising straight off the chair. Her eyes go wide and a strangled gasp escapes her lips. The blood drains from her face in an instant, as she shakes her head in disbelief.

“What?!” she blurts. “She- She- What?” She’s shaking her head, her eyes filled with tears. “How could you know that?”

“Because I found her,” I say simply.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me, you bastard!” Her chest heaves as she stares at me with eyes full of tears.

“I’m not, Ptichka.” I keep my eyes locked with hers. “I know this is important to you. So, I found her.” I purse my lips. Admitting this feels like a weakness, but it’s true. Her happiness warms some strange part of me that I thought was long dead.

Her eyes are still locked with mine, wide and incredulous. She shakes her head again, then runs both her hands through her hair in a gesture of agitation. I say nothing. Finally, she drops her hands, her arms hanging limply at her sides.

“I need proof.”

“I understand.” It doesn’t surprise me. I would demand the same thing.

“I want to see her!” Her words come quickly, her hands fluttering together.

“Right.” Again, it doesn’t surprise me. She looks around wildly as if I have her mother on call somewhere. Instead, I reach into my jacket pocket and extract my phone. The thing has taken several knocks, and the screen is cracked, but it powers to life when I swipe the screen. Pulling up an app, I hand the device to her. She stares at it for a long moment.

“Mom.” She finally breathes the word out, her throat working as she looks at a photo taken of her mother by one of Dima’s investigators.

“Keep swiping. There’s more.” I watch her face switch through a myriad of expressions; confusion, sorrow, joy, and nostalgia. More tears well, and catch on her lower lashes before tumbling down her cheek. She wipes the streak of tears away with the back of her hand before looking back up at me.

“It’s her,” she whispers. “It’s really her. I remember her… her smile. Her eyes. It’s her. My mother is alive.”

Chapter Seventeen

Tiana

I can’t believe my eyes.

The woman in the photos is older. Her features are softened and lined by time, her dark hair streaked gray. But it’s her. I’d know my mother anywhere. She’s been alive all this time. All these years that I’ve thought she was dead, she was out there.

I don’t know if that eases my pain or breaks my heart.

Why did she leave us?

Why did she leave me?

I clutch a hand to my chest, not caring that I’m crying now. My heart feels like it’s stopped and then started again with a lurch, and now it’s racing. There’s a lump in my throat that I have to swallow down before I speak to Kirill again.

“You found her,” I whisper. “She’s alive.”

“See?” He shrugs. “I would never lie to you, Tiana.” His dark eyes are so intense they make my breath catch, and my cheeks grow warm.

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