Page 60 of Under Control

His smile is enigmatic and frustrating. “Let me worry about that.”

Mom answers the door and ushers us inside. I can tell she’s tightly wound and clearly unhappy with the visit, but she makes all the right noises and is unflinchingly polite to Valentin. She makes tea, offers him small cakes and cookies, and sits us down at the kitchen table.

“Thank you for the hospitality, Mrs. Vardanyan.”

“Call me Miriam,” mother insists and sits across the table from him. “You’re my son-in-law now, aren’t you? We might as well skip the formalities.”

Valentin seems amused by this and nods. “If that’s what you’d like.”

“I will admit though, this marriage, it happened very fast. And it seems convenient as well, doesn’t it?”

“Mama,” I warn sharply.

But Valentin ignores me. “That’s exactly right, Miriam. Your daughter and I didn’t get married because we are madly in love. Our marriage is an arrangement.”

“Yes, I see, one which my daughter has profited from immensely.” Mama crosses her arms and gives Valentin a hard look. “I know something about your kind of marriage. What do you get from all this?”

“I get a beautiful bride,” he says and glances at me. I feel like the room might combust at any moment. Mama’s not charmed by him, not even a little bit, which is what I expected.

“We got money,” Mama snaps. “You paid our debts. You scared off my brother, at least for now. I suspect that won’t last. But what did you get from my daughter, huh?”

“I got access to your brother, first of all,” Valentin says, his smile fading away. “And now I get access to you.”

Mama looks surprised, and I don’t blame her. That comment took me off guard too.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him.

Valentin’s head tilts to the side. He drinks some of Mama’s tea. “Very good,” he murmurs, nodding to himself. “But what I mean is very simple. Miriam, you know your brother. You grew up in the Brotherhood for many years. I want you to tell me everything you know about their organizational structure, about where they live, who they’re married to, whatever you can think of, even the smallest details imaginable. I want it all.”

Silence falls over the room. I stare at Valentin in shock. He didn’t mention he was going to do this, and now I understand why.

Because I would never have let him come here had I known.

“Absolutely not,” I speak up before Mama can say anything. She’s pale and her hand trembles slightly as she takes a sip from her cup. “No, Valentin, this isn’t part of the deal.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” he agrees. “But your mother isn’t stupid. She knows that at this point, her best chance of surviving is if I win this war. Don’t you know that, Miriam?”

“Stop it,” I snap at him and push at his arm. It does absolutely nothing to move him. “You’re scaring her for no reason. This is ridiculous. I thought you wanted to get to know her.”

“I do,” he says, staring at my mother. “Only not in the way you supposed.”

Anger rips through me. Mama hates her past and never talks about it, and I don’t want Valentin to traumatize her all over again just to glean some tiny bit of information that might help. More likely, he’ll get nothing, since Mama hasn’t been back to Baltimore in such a long time, and it’ll only make her upset.

He doesn’t care though. The selfish asshole wants to win his little war, and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process.

“It’s fine,” Mama says, her voice sounding small.

“No, Mama, it’s not fine. Valentin, we’re finished here.” I shove my chair back and stand.

He ignores me. “You’re willing to talk,” he says to Mama.

“Not for you and not for myself.” Mama nods at me. “I’ll talk because you’re right, I want your little crime syndicate to win this stupid war. Once that happens, maybe then you can let my daughter go.”

Valentin leans back in his chair. A vicious smile spreads across his face. “I’m sorry, Mama, but that isn’t going to happen.”

“Miriam,” she says sharply. “You don’t get to call me that.”

“But you are Mama to me now, aren’t you?” He leans forward, and I take a step back from the table, deeply horrified and trembling with anger. “Tell me everything you can. You never know what might help.”

---