Page 164 of Emerald Malice

“How can you?” I argue as Mila shifts uncomfortably at my side. “You’re only fourteen. You’ve faced a lot in your life, but you don’t have to anymore. You can be a kid now.”

His jaw flexes with all the teenage angst he’s been bottling up. “I’ll do what I want.”

“Not while I’m taking care of you.”

He whirls on me, red-faced. “What gives you the right to tell me what to do? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Your mother!”

Mila sucks in a breath, but Misha and I are frozen, staring at each other as the words ricochet between us. I open my mouth to take it back, but… I can’t.

No—I won’t.

Instead, I kneel in front of him. “I know I’m not your real mother, Misha. But I do sometimes feel like I am.” His face is blank, unreadable. I have no idea what he’s thinking, so I speak the truth. “You are mine to protect. Mine.” I blink back tears. “You may hate me for it, but…at least you’ll be safe.”

Without warning, he throws his arms around me and hugs me tight. As soon as I hold him close, some missing piece of my heart clicks into place. Things feel right in a way I’ve never felt before.

When Misha and I finally pull apart, Mila’s dabbing her eyes with the corner of her blouse. Pretty sure Misha’s eyes are wet, too, because he grunts something about taking another walk around the pool and darts off without meeting my gaze.

Mila takes my hand once more and we sit like that. Neither of us move for a long, long time. Remi pants, Misha does laps around the pool, and nobody breathes a word.

I don’t know how long we’ve been still as statues before my phone shatters the silence. “It’s Andrey.” My hands are shaking so badly that I almost drop it. “Hello?”

“We’ve got her, lastochka,” Andrey’s voice is restrained but triumphant. “She’s shaken but unharmed.”

“Oh, thank God!” My lungs expand with the first real breath I’ve taken since the moment we opened Kat’s apartment door.

My phone starts beeping with an incoming call. It’s Aunt Annie. But I swipe it away and concentrate on Andrey’s voice. Mila is standing now, too, a smile on her face.

“Did they put up a fight?”

“They—”

The steady beep-beep-beep of another incoming call has me pulling my ear from the phone, losing Andrey’s answer.

Aunt Annie again.

I decline the call a second time and put the phone back to my ear. “I’m sorry—what were you saying? Were there a lot of men?”

“Only four, it turns out. She wasn’t as well-guarded as we thought. We were in and out in under twenty minutes.”

I can hear the concern in his voice. He’s questioning why the rescue mission was so easy.

Beep-beep-beep. Okay. Now, I’m worried.

“Andrey, I’m sorry, Aunt Annie’s calling. It’s the third time…”

“It’s okay. We’ll talk when I get home.”

Home. He’s coming home.

I hang up and call Aunt Annie back. The call connects.

“Hello, Natalia.”

I go cold, goosebumps rippling down my arms because…

That’s not Aunt Annie.

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