Page 15 of Embracing the Dark Side

Chapter eight

Trust

Jolie watched Adrik manhandle Katia, taking her to the side. It gave her belly a queasy feeling. She didn’t like to see him angry like that. It was a part of Adrik she hadn’t witnessed, and she didn’t want to. She leaned into Alexei, about to ask him what was wrong, when she felt Vincent’s stare. She tried to break the awkwardness. “It’s, um, good to see you.”

Vincent stuttered on a response. He couldn’t believe she was here. Out of all the places, how was it possible she ended up in this house, surrounded by these people? A desperation forced him to move, latching onto her arm. “What are you doing here?”

Alexei responded on instinct. He flattened his hand against the man’s chest and shoved hard as he took his place in front of Jolie. A guard nearby flinched toward him, but Alexei held up a finger. He didn’t need help with garbage.

Vincent stumbled but caught himself on the table. He quickly fixed his suit, glancing around, clearing his throat of the terrible embarrassment.

Jolie had a hand on Alexei’s intimidating biceps. “It’s okay. He’s a…” Jolie was going to say friend, but that didn’t sound right. “I know him.” She smiled softly in reassurance. Jolie stepped around Alexei and stood next to Vincent at the table. “I’m working for them as a tutor for Mr. Morozov’s daughter.”

Vincent glanced over her shoulder. Alexei’s glare made words in his throat sticky, and he had to clear his throat once more. “A tutor? Why isn’t that surprising? But here? With”—he gestured—“them?”

“They aren’t so bad.” She shrugged.

Jolie’s gaze shifted. Adrik had Katia by the face in a harsh grip. Would Adrik hurt her? Had Adrik hurt her already?

Alexei’s attention was also shifting, catching the fight between his brother and his wife out of the corner of his eye. He had no intention of letting Jolie be alone with her ex. The fact that Vincent was dangerous-looking, with arms as big as himself, confused Alexei. If Vincent was the kind of man Jolie dated, then Adrik wouldn’t be out of character for her. But then, what did that say about her? Was she not as innocent as he assumed?

Could Gil actually be on to something?

Alexei regrettably excused himself when whispers came from their family. He couldn’t let Adrik cause a scene.

The moment the giant Morozov left her side, Vincent closed the gap. “Your parents know where you are?”

Jolie snapped her attention back to Vincent. His nearness surprised her, and she shifted uncomfortably. He smelled like cigarettes and expensive cologne. “Yes.”

Vincent stared silently for a moment and shook his head. “It’s so crazy you’re here.”

“You too.” Jolie took the time to study him. He was always good-looking, but small tattoos now decorated his cheek and underneath his eye, taking away from hisattractiveness. She wanted to wipe them away, like dirt off his tanned skin.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again. You never answered my phone calls or wrote me back.”

Her brows knitted. “I didn’t get any phone calls.”

There was a pause in his reaction as he tried to figure it out, but then it hit him, and he nodded. “Your parents,” Vincent realized, shaking his head. “They never did like me.”

Jolie didn’t want to believe her parents would do something like that. She had gone into an insanely deep depression, waiting for Vincent to call her, and he never did. Her mother had held her as she mourned. Had she kept Vincent from contacting her?

“So, then, everything I said to you in those letters, you don’t know about.” He chuckled awkwardly. “That’s good, I guess.”

The eighteen-year-old girl inside of her, who had never gotten over their destructive end, wanted to know. “What did they say?”

Vincent shook his head. “Stupid shit. Doesn’t matter now.”

“No, tell me.”

He bowed his head, shifting his feet, his gaze flicking everywhere else but her face. “I put you in a bad position. I didn’t blame you if you felt that way. And mostly, I was sorry it happened.”

Jolie was speechless. She had wondered what Vincent thought of her. If he hated her for turning him in. And here he was, sorry she had been a part of it. If she had felt anything for him anymore, it would have been there at that moment. But thankfully, her gut was empty. She was over him. And the realization brought on closure. It was everything she needed to let the guilt of those years go. “I’m sorry, too,” Jolie said. She hadn’t dealt with the aftermath of his sins well. She turned him in to expunge her guilt. By taking a deal, she never saw a day in jail while he took the entire brunt of it. He should, by all means, despise her.

Vincent stepped closer. “You know, now that I think about it, I’m not surprised you’re here.”

“Oh?”

“Your parents never knew you like I did.”

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