Page 87 of Shadows of Obsession

Luna's body shifts closer, her heat seeping through my shirt, fingers curling into the fabric as if anchoring herself to me. God, how good it feels to have her warmth next to my body. I saw her from the gate, and my eyes have been fixed on her since. A hole could have opened in the earth and I would have crawled back from hell to get to her.

"Well, I suppose it's my turn to talk," says the man who, without any doubt in my mind now, is my twin.

The only difference in his voice is that it has a throatier tone as if he smokes heavily. I don't know why, but this thought bothers me.Hmm...

"You’d better. Niko, contact Anton and tell him to stay on standby. If he doesn't get a call from us in fifteen minutes, he can unleash the mother of all apocalypses in this forest," I say, but when I turn to my brother, I see him unable to take his eyes off the guy.

"Niko," I say in a tone I know will snap him out of any shock.

Immediately his eyes connect with mine and register the command I gave him. He takes his phone from his pocket and starts typing.

"Go ahead," I tell the guy.

I see him analyzing me for several seconds, and then his gaze lingers for too many seconds on Luna, who gives him a slight nod.

It seems to be encouragement, but the fact that the bastard still keeps his eyes trained on her bothers me. His eyes finally return to mine when he opens his mouth.

"My name is Maksim Rastovski, and I'm your brother."

The words leave his mouth, and although I hear them, my brain processes them with a delay.

"How have I not known about your existence until now?" I ask, frustrated because not even for a second did I suspect anything.

My parents, although it's a bad joke to call them parents, were beside me throughout my childhood. They didn't miss a single birthday, not a single significant moment for me. Where the hell did they keep this man?

At that moment, the black-haired woman reappears with a tray full of coffees and walks to Maksim's side. Instantly, his posture becomes more relaxed, and when he looks at her...I'll be damned. It's the same look I'm sure I give Luna every time I look at her. It's something between adoring and protective. It's the kind of look that screams you'd burn the world down for that person. I see the same thing in her eyes, and somehow, that relaxes me and, more strangely...makes me happy.

"Thirty-two years ago, Maria Borisov found out that one of the children she was going to have had a heart defect. Alexei Borisov decided he couldn't have a child with such a weakness, so he placed me in an orphanage in Moscow and returned to his wife and healthy child," he says, and the words are spoken so clinically, so calculatedly, as if the facts he's telling me hadn't definitively steered the course of his life.

"You seem healthy," are the first words Niko says, and when I look at him, I see the shock has passed and he's entered business mode.

Everyone thinks Niko is just good with numbers, but he's also the man who can destroy you at poker precisely because he knows how to read situations and people so well.

"I didn't say the heart defect was inoperable, just that the great head of the Borisov family didn't want this weakness in his bloodline," he says, the last part loaded with poison, and it makes me smile slightly.

The hatred toward our father is something we have in common, and what's sad is that I’m not at all surprised by what he told me. Alexei Borisov would rather set himself on fire than let rumors circulate that one of his sons has serious health problems. The man taught us that any weakness will bury you, but giving your own son up for adoption seems excessive, even for him.

"Who paid for your operation?" I ask because it's hard for me to believe that an orphanage in Moscow would have had the money necessary for such an expensive intervention.

"Maria Borisov," he answers while reaching for his coffee mug.

At least one of them had a shred of decency not to abandon him completely. I look at Niko and know he's thinking the same thing. Alexei probably expected Maksim to die within weeks.

Maksim’s phone rings, and when he answers, he speaks in Russian with someone. I catch only pieces of the conversation, but I know something exploded somewhere. He barely hangs up before he’s texting someone.

There are so many things I want to ask him, but somehow I feel I know the answers without needing to ask. They're writtenon his body and face, so my only curiosity right now remains focused on the reason for this encounter.

"Why did you need Luna?"

Clearly she was brought here for a reason.

His eyes fix on Luna, and some sort of silent communication passes between them. The level of intimacy they seem to have after only knowing each other for a few hours grates on my nerves.

"Luna will tell you about it, but I think it's time for you to leave," he tells me in a slightly bored tone.

"We're not done talking,brother," I toss back at him in a tone that I'm sure shows my irritation at his attitude.

"Agreed, but one of your weapons warehouses just exploded and I think you should see what that's about," he says, and when I look closely at him, I realize he's serious.

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