Page 95 of Ivory Ashes

“And you said you wouldn’t try to come between me and Dante anymore,” I remind her. “Moving him out of my house wouldn’t exactly bring us all together, would it?”

“So you’re not going to let me leave?” The words are little more than a whisper. Viviana can’t even look at me. She’s staring at the wall over my shoulder, her gaze far away.

I knew Viviana would leave if she could, but hearing her admit it out loud does something strange to me.

I shove the feelings aside. They don’t matter.

“We’re a family,” I tell her, the words ringing every bit as cruel and hollow as I intended them to sound. “Families stay together.”

34

MIKHAIL

Raoul and Anatoly are huddled together in the entryway. When I walk into the room, they split apart, looking guilty.

“Viviana just left,” Anatoly explains. “If you wanted to catch a ride to work, you missed it.”

“I’m working from home today.”

And maybe every day this week. This month. However long it takes until I don’t feel every inch of distance between myself and Viviana. When I stop thinking about closing that distance, maybe then I’ll head back into the office.

“Does that mean we’re going back to deal with the father and sons?” Raoul asks.

Anatoly perks up. “The idiots who stole from us? I wanna come!”

“You need to stay here with Dante.”

“It’s been so long since I killed someone. Weeks,” he complains. “Our reputation is becoming a problem. People are too afraid to cross us now.”

“That’s a good thing,” Raoul points out.

“Not for me.” Anatoly kicks his shoe petulantly against the seam between marble slabs.

“You can come next time,” I tell him. “Right now, you need to stay with Dante. Viviana is a flight risk, but she won’t leave without her son. I want you to keep him close.”

“This is all because I’m better with kids than Raoul. Charisma is my curse,” Anatoly sighs dramatically.

Raoul ignores him, focusing on me. “You think Viviana is going to make a run for it?”

I shrug like I don’t care. Like it doesn’t matter to me either way. “She wants to. She asked me if she and Dante could move back into her shitty apartment.”

“And you said…?” Anatoly prods.

“No, obviously. She can’t take my son away from me.”

Anatoly rolls his eyes, looking towards Raoul. “Glad he decided to take our advice and go easy on her.”

Raoul is deep in thought, which usually means he’s about to say something I don’t want to hear. Thankfully, my phone rings before he can. I pick it up without checking to see who is calling, grateful for the distraction.

“Hello?”

“Why am I hearing that you’ve been waltzing around town with some blonde bitch?” my father barks.

So much for a distraction.

“Nice to hear from you, too, Otets. How have you been?”

“I’d be better if you weren’t throwing away your future for some no-name bimbo.”

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