Page 11 of Cashmere Ruin

When I took them away, I didn’t think it would be forever.

I thought April just needed a little time. A little space. To think, to heal. But the days turned into weeks.

I saw you fall apart. I saw you turn the city upside down looking for them, then the state, then the country. I saw you stop sleeping. I saw you start drinking.

But I couldn’t tell you where she was. I’d made her a promise. After forcing you to keep yours, how could I break mine?

I still thought she’d come around one day.

I hid her in a motel. Every time you ordered to sweep the area, I made sure it was me who handled it. I brought her food, clothes, medicine. I gave her a gun to keep herself safe.

I tried to give her money, but she wouldn’t take it. “You’ve already done so much,” she’d tell me. I wanted to scream.

I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t expect you to tell me I did the right thing. Hell, I don’t expect you to ever speak to me again after this.

But can you at least understand why I did it?

I don’t let Yuri get one more word out.

I slam him into a wall, hard. “You traitor,” I spit into his face.

“I’m sorry” is all Yuri says.

I clench my hands around his throat, trembling with rage. “You’re sorry?” I snarl. “You took my child away from me, and now, you’re fuckingsorry?”

“I didn’t know what else to do,” he croaks, voice shaking. “It was my fault. What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed tocome to me!” I roar. “You were supposed totell me!”

Yuri’s throat bobs up and down. I can feel the motion around my hands, can feel the rabbit-quick pulse of his blood against mine.Traitor, traitor, traitor.“You didn’t see her in that room, Matvey.”

“Damn right I fucking didn’t!”

“She needed to leave. She needed to get away?—”

“Shut up!” I bellow, making my grip tighter, tighter,tighter. “You don’t get to talk about her! You don’t get to?—”

“She was scared!” he yells. “She was scared ofyou!”

That stops me in my tracks.Scared.Is that how I made her feel? Scared of talking to me, of seeing me? Scared of letting me raise her baby?

Your baby, the possessive voice inside me growls.That wasyourbaby, too.

“You can hate me afterward,” Yuri chokes with the last of his voice. “She’s in danger now. They took her. They took both of them.”

My blood freezes.

April’s in danger. My child is in danger.

The second it sinks in, I drop Yuri to the ground.It doesn’t matter how badly I want to beat his face to a pulp. How badly I want to take revenge on the brother who betrayed me. Who betrayed his own blood.

Right now, only one thing matters. “Where?” I demand.

“I’ll take you,” Yuri gasps, clutching at the red imprint of my hands.

“Not a fucking chance.”

“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” he protests. “I don’t need to drive, but let me guide you there.”

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