Page 101 of Under Control

“Stupid girl,” she grumbles and pushes me into the bathroom. “He loves you. That man is slaughtering an entire city for you, and you sit in here and sulk like a child.”

“Is this tough love supposed to work?”

“There is no love. Only tough.” She starts the shower and crosses her arms. “Get in.”

“Are you seriously going to just stand there?”

“I’ve seen tits before. Get in now.”

I glare at her. She glares right back. And all at once, my resolve fails me, and I strip down like a robot. I’m numb, and it doesn’tmatter if she’s looking at my body while I mechanically wash myself. It’s not like she hasn’t seen it before.

She leaves once I’m finished and dressed. I sit on the edge of the bed, already debating if I should get back under the covers, when my phone starts to ring.

I stare at the screen, expecting Valentin’s name.

Instead, it’s an unknown number.

Normally, I’d let it go to voicemail. It’s almost always spam anyway. But for whatever reason, I lift the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hello, cousin.”

His voice jolts me. I sit up straighter, my mouth hanging open in shock. “Arsen?”

“I’m guessing you didn’t expect to hear from me.”

“How did you get this number?”

“It wasn’t easy, but I have connections.” There’s a short pause, and it sounds like he’s speaking somewhere with an echo. “You know, I tried to warn him.”

“Warn who? About what?”

“Valentin. About my father. When he marched me out of that car, I knew what was going to happen. I knew my father would never give up anything to the Russians, even if it meant saving my life. I just fuckingknew.”

The bitterness is stunning, but I can’t blame him for feeling that way. “From what I heard, your father nearly blew you up.”

“Valentin saved me. Then he let me escape. Seems ironic, doesn’t it? That my sworn enemy kept me alive when my father was very much willing to toss me away like trash.”

My heart’s racing as I look around, hoping to see Valentin striding through the door. I don’t know what I’m doing right now and I need his help. He’d say the right thing, tip Arsen in the right direction, except Arsen didn’t call him.

Arsen called me. And I bet he called for a reason.

I just have to figure out what it is.

For the first time in a few days, since Valentin came back from the failed hostage exchange, I feel a glimmer of hope.

“We can’t really control who our parents are,” I tell Arsen.

“That’s very true, cousin.” He chuckles softly but there’s no joy in his tone. “Your mother seems like a decent person. I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been born her son instead.”

My heart patters wildly and sweat dribbles down my back. “You spoke to her?”

“She’s awake,” he confirms. “And from what I can tell, she’s doing rather well. The doctor my father hired to watch over her is basically a quack, but he’s failing in the right direction.”

My guts clench. I feel sick, knowing my mother is a prisoner, and now she’s conscious for it. “Help me get her back. Please, Arsen.”

“Slow down,” he says carefully. “I never said I’d do something like that.”

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