Page 116 of Stolen Seconds

He grunted in annoyance. “I know.”

Yet his actions contradicted that.

“I’ll call you when I land.”

“Youcallwhen you need me, you hear?” He embraced me in a hug—a rare occurrence for us. “I’ll always be here, brother.”

I hugged him harder. We might’ve drifted apart because of my relationship with Irina, but no matter where we stood in our friendship, he’d never left me behind. That’s the kind of man Roman had always been.

Chapter 34

Irina

The first thing I felt when I woke up was the ache in my chest.

And it wasn’t from the phantom pain of the gunshot wound.

“Printsessa.”

I slowly peeled my eyes open until my father’s face came into view. He looked terrible, dark circles beneath his hollow eyes as if he hadn’t slept or eaten in days.

“You’ve been out for some time,” he said, stroking my face affectionately. “I’ve been so worried.”

My stomach sank.How long?

As if the emotions harboring inside my chest needed a breakthrough, it finally rushed to the surface in an unbearable release.

“Papa,” I sobbed, fear paralyzing me as I clutched my chest. “Please, please...” I cried harder, my voice failing me as images flashed through my mind. “Please, tell me he’s alive.” My vision blurred as tears soaked my face. “Tell meyou didn’t kill him,” I breathed, pulling at my hair to feel anything but this suffocating torment.

“Irina.” His arms came around me, stopping my movements.

My body shook restlessly, my lungs caving in from the loss of the person I wanted most. “I love him,” I chanted, curling in on myself.

The confession washed over me in blinding anguish and I felt like a little girl again, trapped with four walls closing in on me.

I hadn’t realized I’d passed out until I felt myself come to consciousness again as my father’s voice pierced through.

“Irina, can you hear me?”

I wanted to scream and tell him I wished I didn’t, that I’d rather die than face whatever this was, but nothing came out.

“I’m sorry.” My father’s expression twisted into guilt as he stared at me with regret. “I thought he was the one who shot you.”

I turned away from him, staring at the white wall in front of me. It took me a second to realize it was my old bedroom.

I was in Russia.

“Is he dead? Are they all dead?” I held my breath, my heart pounding as I waited for his answer.

One.Breathe.Two.Breathe.Three.Breathe.

“I don’t know.”

A lone tear slipped from my eye. “I’d always thought I’d never find a place to call home and the one person who made me feel as though I did, you took him away from me.”

I couldn’t look him in the eye after what he’d done to Luca, tome.

“I’ve stood by your side in everything,Papa, even after the isolation I endured when my mother was alive.” If there were pieces of me to break and shatter further, it would’ve happened in this moment. I loved my father, but it wasn’t enough anymore. “But I cannot forgive you for this.”

---