Page 90 of Defiled Innocence

“It’s time,moyo dikoye plamya. Time to face what’s happened,” he says quietly as he pulls the car to the side.

Lucas’ monument is on top of a small hill. On a clear day, there’s a limited view of the city skyline.

“I don’t want to be here.” I swallow back the thick grief trying to climb its way out.

“I know.” The car jostles again as he turns to face me. “I know, but you need to. Trust me, I would sooner cut off my own hand than hurt you.”

I look away, still finding this softer side of him unsettling. The harshness is easy. It’s something to push against, something to lean on. But this… this brings us into unknown territory.

The car door opens and shuts, and a moment later my door opens too. His hand appears in my line of sight, and I take it.

Maybe he’s right.

Maybe I’ve been avoiding what should have been dealt with. A moment of closure might help ease the pain that’s been nesting in my chest.

Dmitri holds my hand as we climb up the hill to where my brother was laid to rest almost two months ago.

So much has happened, has changed.

Except how much I miss him.

That hasn’t changed at all. And now, seeing his headstone come into view, it’s an overwhelming sensation.

By the time we reach his resting place, breathing becomes harder. The tears are getting harder to hold back, and the ball in my chest is going to explode.

“The day your mother died, your father called me, begging for help.” Dmitri’s words cut through the silence. “I didn’t know you then. You were just a child. And I didn’t know Lucas either. I made a deal with your father that suited me and my family.”

“You don’t have to explain.” I try to slip my hand from his, but he holds tighter.

“No. I do.” He takes a breath. “Your father suggested the partnership with Lucas, and he agreed—so long as you never learned the truth.”

“Would it have been that horrible? To know what really happened?” I take a shaky breath, trying to imagine myself back then.

“For a little girl to learn her father did that to her mother? Yes, it would have been a heartbreak your brother wanted to protect you from. Your father had his political ties. The odds thathe was actually going to pay any sort of consequence for what happened were small. Even without my help.”

He’s not wrong on that account. Dad could have found a way to get someone else to take the fall. Or he could have paid off the right judge or DA.

“What I did was give you the ability to never know your mother felt any pain.” He lets go of my hand. “And you wouldn’t have if Christian hadn’t?—”

He stops when the anger shakes his voice. “I couldn’t protect you from what he told you.”

I turn to look at the headstone again. At my brother’s name etched so perfectly in the stone.

Loving Brotherscripted just beneath.

Tears burn my eyes.

“He wanted to protect you. I knew him mostly in a professional manner. But he talked of you often. You were his pride. And he would do anything to protect you.”

Tears roll down my cheeks and this time, I don’t bother trying to stop them. It’s too much. It’s been too long. The weight of it all is too hard to keep carrying on my own.

“Like make me marry a Russian mobster?”

He wipes away a tear with his thumb.

“I spoke to his attorney yesterday. Lucas put the stipulation in three months before the accident. He probably figured he had more time to tell you about it. Or he thought you’d be married on your own by the time it was even an issue. The point was to protect you in the only way he could think of. Even if it meant marrying a Russian mobster.”

“I’m doomed to be surrounded by overprotective men who constantly want to protect me. I guess it’s not the worst problem to have. Lucas was a great brother, and he must have trusted you a great deal to do this. He knew you would continue protecting me.” I try to smile, but instead a sob breaks through.

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