Page 20 of Breaking Hudson

“The birthmark on her collarbone,” she says, pointing to my neck. She pulls her scarf down to reveal an identical birth mark. “If I’m right, you’ll have a darker one to the upper left of your belly button.”

“Your sons raped me,” I say bluntly.

“They’re awful men, just like their father,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m so sorry they did that. Are you the one who killed Akim?”

“I didn’t mean to, but yes,” I say.

“They put a hit out on you,” she says.

“Well, someone blew up my home, so I assumed as much,” I say. “Tell me about them.”

“Vlad is the oldest and took his father's spot when he died. Dima is the middle child. There was a baby girl before you that your biological father killed. Akim was ten months younger.”

“He killed his child?” I ask.

“Yes. That’s why I gave you up. I found out she was a girl, and he beat me so badly that she died. When I got pregnant with you a month later, I waited until I knew you were a girl. I hid the pregnancy and just disappeared for a few days to have you in ahospital. I was told you might have heart issues, so I wanted to make sure you were with someone who could help you.”

“You didn’t want to give me up?” I ask.

“No. I wanted to take you and run away, but I knew they’d find us. I knew Boris would kill you and probably me too. It would have been a miserable life and if you needed medical care, you would’ve ended up neglected due to having to run so much,” she says tearfully. “Is your heart okay?”

“I had an arrhythmia for a while. I’ve avoided surgery and I’ve been fine since. I get regular check-ups to make sure my heart is still doing okay,” I say. “I went into the foster care system for a while, but I was adopted at nine years old. That’s when I met Hudson.”

“Are your parents good to you?” she asks.

“They’re wonderful,” I say. “I never would have been able to have the life that I do if it weren’t for you making that sacrifice. So, for that, thank you. I cannot imagine how hard of a decision that was.”

“It was an easy decision in the sense of me wanting you to survive, but it hurt,” she says. “All I wanted to do was run away with you. They convinced me to stay for two days, and I held you basically the entire time while they had you hooked up to all of the monitors. I knew that when I put you down that I wasn’t ever going to see you again, so I tried to soak in as many memories as I could.”

“Who named me?” I ask. “My name is Colette.”

“Oh, I’m so glad they kept the name,” she sighs. “I named you Colette because it has the meaning ‘people of victory.’ I wanted to leave a little piece of myself with you. I didn’t think I would ever get to meet you, so I knew you would never know, but I wanted you to know that I loved you so much.”

“And he never found out?” I ask.

“No. When I went home, he knew I was at the hospital. I was bleeding from giving birth, but I was able to convince him that I had a miscarriage. He was so angry and that resulted in him assaulting me frequently until eventually I got pregnant again with Akim. That ended in a c-section, and I had a hysterectomy at the same time due to the damage he caused after you were born.”

“That’s terrible,” I say.

“Colette, if they find you. Theywillkill you. They are cruel men, and it won’t matter that you’re their baby sister,” she says. “It’s only a matter of time before they find out I lied and kill me. Not until after they rape me too.”

“What?” Hudson asks. “You’re their mother. They raped you?”

“Frequently,” she says quietly. “It’s how their father taught them to control women. I try to keep my distance but sometimes I think they just look for a reason to punish me. I’m only allowedthe privilege of shopping because they want me to appear as their loving and supportive mother.”

“Huddy,” I say, looking at Hudson.

“Come stay with us,” Hudson says. “I have a pool house on a gated property. You’ll be safe there.”

“I don’t want to put her in anymore danger,” she objects.

“I’m already in danger,” I say. “You saved my life as a baby by sacrificing your own happiness for mine. This is the least I can do to try and repay you for giving me a chance at life. I would also like for you to meet my adoptive parents.”

“I don’t know if—”

“They’ll want to meet you. My mom told me yesterday that she always understood that you didn’t actually want to get rid of me. The new very minimal information about the situation, but they knew it was imperative that no one knew where I came from,” I say.

“We can provide you with anything and everything you need. You don’t even have to leave the property if you don’t want to,” Hudson says. “I will promise you now, Vlad and Dima Ivankov will die for what they did to my fiancée.”

---