Page 81 of Vulnerate

Tali drags his ass up and comes to stand in front of us as I pull the pancakes out. They usually make Viktor happy, and I even go through the effort of making it look like I haven’t just dumped them on the plate as his uncle tries to cheer him up.

“Movies and ice cream?” Tali ruffles his hair, “I’ll let you pick whatever you want to watch.”

His little hand moves, blindly grabbing the hem of my shorts and his voice is small in response as he shakes his head. “No, I want to stay with my dad.”

Tali hardens at the change in his demeanor and I shake my head, telling him to drop it. Ruffling Viktor’s hair, he tilts his head to catch his eyes and says with authority, “We’re Vartanovs, remember?”

Leaving off the final bit, he gets a small smile and walks away.

Viktor continues ignoring Dani as he chooses to sit at the island rather than the nook to eat his breakfast. The back of my head heats and cools with her gaze oscillating but she doesn’t say anything. She didn’t even respond to my message, she’s content on cutting me out of her life like I don’t exist, and my dick wasn’t inside her twelve hours ago.

Her soft footsteps come closer, my shoulders tensing in anticipation and my entire body relaxes when she gently touches my arm to get my attention. I don’t turn around and stare at the wall as Viktor keeps eating. She squeezes my bicep harder which is incentive for me not to turn, she’ll drop her hand as soon as she has my attention and I like her touching me. The innocent touches are the best, they always have been because she’d blush.

Everyone goes rigid as two pairs of shoes tap against the floor. It’s not because of who they belong to but Viktor’s anger as he whips his head to the side staring Vlad out. Dani moves closer to him protectively but he’s single minded in whatever the fuck has happened. I join my son’s side without any information and Vlad’s brows come together. He does that annoying as fuck thing where he says a name without anything else.

“Viktor.”

The chair screeches against the tile as Viktor pushes back hissing, “I hate you. You’re a stupid liar.”

I stand with him, attempting to keep him back because Vlad is a psycho, but he’ll never raise his hand to my kid, and if he goes too far with his mouth, I’ll kill him.

“Office,” Vlad says, “now.”

The deadly tone doesn’t even make Viktor flinch and he hardens, becoming more violent than anyone else despite being the youngest.

“No,” he snaps, “I’m a Vartanov and we do whatever we want.” Pride fills me at his strength as he squares up to a grown ass man with more blood on his hands than anyone else I know. With that strength still in his voice he meets Vlad’s eyes as he says, “And I don’t want to talk to a liar.”

Everyone stops breathing as they stare at each other, but Viktor doesn’t say anything more. His breathing escalates and he’s trying not to cry. This fucking prick is making my kid cry.

Before I can say shit he storms away, seething, “I wish we never moved.”

I go to follow him when the dickhead says, “Let him cool down.”

“The fuck did you say to him?” I glare back, ready to kill the man who raised me.

Tali pats my shoulder and offers, “I’ll go, he’ll be with the horses.”

Swiping a box of sugar cubes, he fucks off and I’m stuck with a raging prick as I wait for an explanation.

“He inherited those tantrums from you,” Vlad says, disguising his worry as he adjusts his cuffs three times.

Asshole.

Inessa is the sister-in-law from heaven as she comes to my defense. “That wasn’t a tantrum,” she looks at her dickhead husband, “you hurt him, Vlad.”

I deflate into the seat as I admit, “He asked why he doesn’t have a mom.”

The air is sucked out of the room and Vlad looks over my shoulder before fixing back on me. Doing the same, Dani is still stood there with her head down, ashamed, and her shoulders hunched forward trying to make herself smaller.

“Did you tell him the truth?” Vlad asks.

His question is stupid as fuck and my scoff should be answer enough but I verbalize it with too much emotion.

“Yeah, I told him she’s a fucking crackhead who sold him for her next hit.”

Inessa joins my team of anger and clenches her jaw before leaving to go find Viktor and make sure he’s okay. She’s gained me as her number one supporter from now on, whatever she needs is hers.

Vlad doesn’t say anything, and nods before hiding away in his office. A sniffle gets my attention, but I’m too pissed to give any comfort and snap, “Don’t you fucking dare get upset when it’s your fucking fault.”

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