Page 187 of Sinful Blaze

My heart drops into my stomach. Something’s wrong.

“Daphne, dear, why don’t you come have a seat?” Asya pats the spot on the couch next to her.

I don’t ask what’s wrong. When I see the file folder on the coffee table, I already know.

Sofi flips it open, her face frigid, and reads. “Daphne Hamish. Firstborn daughter of Stewart and Ophelia Hamish, born May 14th. It’s all right here.”

I’m too scared to look up at any of them. Least of all Pasha. He stands the furthest away from me, his arms folded and a horrible glare etched on his face. The one glance I risk in his direction makes me feel sick to my stomach.

“I… I was going to tell you,” I whisper.

“When?”

I try not to shudder at the coldness in his voice. “So many times. From the beginning. I just…”

Asya rubs my back. “It’s okay, solnyshka. Take your time.”

I hug my belly and try to focus. “I hate them. I never wanted to say it out loud. It sounds so horrible. But I hate them. I hated being… I didn’t want to be one of them.” Tears choke my words. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”

Sofi sighs as she sits down next to me. To my surprise, she takes my hand in hers and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Other than your last name, is there anything else?”

“No! No,” I blurt, furiously shaking my head. “No, I never lied. I told you about my sister, and my job, and my ex, and?—”

“And your parents.” Asya holds my other hand. “She’s telling the truth, Pasha. The only thing she held back was her name. Her old name.”

“Which your parents—I mean, the Hamishes—didn’t hide as well as they thought.” Sofi picks up the file and hands it to me. “It took my best hacker less than five minutes to pull all this up. Honestly, that kind of pisses me off. They should have been protecting you.”

“Why?”

Everyone looks up at Pasha. He doesn’t seem as enraged as before, but he’s still glaring at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide all this?”

Sofi bristles. Asya draws in a sharp breath. Mak looks like he wants to swing at his brother. Even now, to feel this family wrap around me is… I don’t have the words.

I’m safe. I’m loved. I can tell him the truth, knowing that there’s someone here to support me through it.

“You did everything you could to ruin my sister.” There’s no vitriol in my voice. Only pain. “I don’t know what my parents did to you, and I’m sure it was something awful. But you didn’t go after them; you went after my sister. You didn’t even know her, and yet you used her to hurt them.”

Pasha shifts where he stands.

I finally feel some sort of courage, enough to look him in the eyes. “What would you have done to me? To my baby?”

I feel Asya wrap her arms around me. Sofi, too.

Finally, Pasha clears his throat. “I need some air.”

I manage to hold my shit together until the sound of the door closing behind him reaches my ears. That’s when the floodgates let loose.

Mak sighs and lowers himself to sit on the coffee table. With his mother and sister wrapped around me, he’s only got my head to pat. “We believe you, Daphne. I think that’s pretty much unanimous here, right?”

Sofi and Asya murmur their agreements.

“Pasha just… needs some time. He’s got a temper a mile long, but a drive to control it even longer. He’s not leaving you; he’s protecting you from himself.”

“I know you don’t like the silence,” Sofi adds, “and now, we definitely understand why. I just don’t think there’s much we can do to prevent it this time.”

I nod and sniffle. “I know. I’ll manage.”

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