Page 56 of Sinful Scars

“Nina’s been looking for you.”

My sister’s name has my body tensing.

I should have guessed that that’s what Pyotr wanted to discuss. Why else would he want to see me in person at this hour?

“Why?” I try to sound unbothered, but I know Pyotr doesn’t buy it.

“Because you’re her brother?”

“I haven’t been her brother for years Pyotr .” I rub at my jaw. “I can’t even remember the last time I saw her.”

Nina and I were close, once. But that was a long time ago. A lot has changed since then.

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to call her.”

“Why? After cutting her off like I did, I doubt that she’s wanting to call just to catch up.” I finish my donut and reach into the bag for another.

Nina and I always had a complicated relationship growing up. Being eight years older than her, it made it naturally difficult for us to have that close sibling bond that I know she craved. Not that being closer in age would have helped. My brother Maxim was only a year older than me, and I couldn’t stand the prick.

Though that was likely down to my father.

He liked to pit all of his children against one another, having us fight it out for his affection. He never hid the fact that he was disappointed that he had a daughter, which made Nina naturally jealous of Maxim and me.

So, she spent most of her time with her mother, at least until she died.

But our relationship grew stronger when Nina was a teenager. I started to reach out more, purely out of loneliness, and for a while, things were good between us. Almost…normal.

For years, she became the person I called when I was in trouble, which was often, and she would help me through the blackouts. She was the only one who could calm me down afterwards when I would panic at the gaps in my memory.

That was, until I learned the truth of what I had doneduring one of those blackouts and decided that Nina was better off not having me in her life.

“A lot has changed, Lev. She’s married now, with a kid.”

Nina has a kid? Since when?

The last time I saw her, she was dreaming of coming to New York to study ballet before joining the American Ballet Company. She wanted to spend her days on the stage, dancing to the music that she used to listen to with her mother as a child.

What the hell happened?

“Good for her,” I mutter.

It’s been years since we last saw each other. It’s likely she left her dream of being a dancer behind a long time ago, swapping it in for a new dream. One with a perfect family and a white picket fence.

What I wasn’t expecting was for the news to make me feel soempty.

Maybe that’s because life has moved on for everyone, except for me.

“Who’s the guy?”

I don’t miss the way Pyotr hesitates, and I brace myself for what’s about to come out of his mouth.

“Who is it, Pyotr ?”

“Anton Koslov.”

I almost choke on my coffee. She’s married to aKoslov?

“You’re joking.”

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