Page 67 of Stolen Seconds

Nerves wound tight around me as I tried breathing through my next words. “I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t even know how to say it,” I admitted.

If my father knew I geared off track and exposed myself to Nicolai this way, he’d see it as a betrayal.

And maybe I was naïve and blind for believing that I was doing the right thing, but I wastired.

For once in my life, I wanted something for myself.

“You can trust me, Irina.” His brown eyes were warm as he gazed at me with care.

“It’s. . . it’s about your father.” The stillness after I uttered those words created a pressure in my ears until all I could hear was the thump of my heart.

“My father?” A darkness shrouded him, his face icing over in swiftness.

“Roman told me he’s dead.” I shook my head, my heart ready to come up my throat. “But that’s not true.”

“I don’t have a father,” his voice roughed.

“Nicolai. . . ”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stood abruptly, his hand raising toward me in defensiveness. “How would you even know that?”

I stood along with him, my body slightly trembling as I grabbed my chest in hopes of stopping the constant pain residing there.

Time ceased as we stared at one another.

His face appeared agonized, turning a pale color, while mine fell in sadness, eyes watering.

“Look at me,” I whispered, as if that answered his question. “I know you see the resemblance.”

He shook his head, eyes pinched shut, and I knew he was fighting internally. “No.”

“Nicolai. . . ”

“No.”

“I’m your sister.”

As if my words gutted him, he stumbled back, gazing at me in bewilderment.

“No!”I took a step toward him before his hand shot up again, stopping me from coming closer. “Don’t.”

“Nicolai,please,” I whispered, his rejection stinging. “Let me explain.”

“Explain what?” he spat out. “This sick joke?”

“I wouldneverdo that to you.”

“How would I know?” he raged on, his eyes rounding in a viciousness I’d never seen on him before. “You’re a fucking stranger to me!”

The scabbed wound inside my chest split open, blood rushing out and threatening to consume me—drown me in its misery.

It was hard to swallow that pill and put myself in his shoes. I understood his reaction, but I didn’t think it’d be like this. He was cruel and nothing like the man I’d come to know.

“I don’t want to be strangers anymore.” My eyes darted between his brown ones. “Hear me out, and if you want me to leave afterward, I will.”

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