Page 107 of Mountain Daddy

“I was scared,” I admit. “Terrified, actually. I saw what you did to that man in the alley.”

He doesn't deny it. Doesn't try to explain it away.

“I found out I was pregnant some weeks later. I was alone, working a dead-end job, had slept with a man I barely knew.”

The words tumble out now, unstoppable. “A dangerous man. A man who hurt people.”

“And you thought I'd hurt our son.” Not a question. A statement of fact.

“No.” I shake my head. “I thought your world would hurt him. I thought he'd get caught in the crossfire.”

Nikolai's jaw tightens. “Like tonight.”

The irony isn't lost on either of us. I ran to protect my son from Nikolai's world, only for that world to find us anyway.

“I didn't know if you'd even want him,” I continue. “I didn't know if you'd want a child with... someone like me.”

“Someone like you?”

“A waitress. A nobody. A one-night stand.”

His expression darkens. “You were never just a one-night stand, Lilly.”

The words hit harder than they should. Make my heart flutter in a way it has no right to.

“I know why you're in Fern Falls,” I say, changing direction. Needing to know everything now. No more secrets. “Those men weren't just random criminals. They knew you. They were looking for you.”

He turns away. Stares into the fire.

“Viktor Kozlov,” he says finally. “That's who I killed.”

The name means nothing to me. Just another Russian criminal in a world full of them.

“I know…you kill people.” I pale. He observes. Watches.

“He set fire to an apartment building in Chicago,” Nikolai explains. “Trying to force the owners to sell and when they wouldn’t, thought he’d ruin the value of the place. There were families inside. Women. Children.”

My stomach turns. “Was anyone hurt?”

Nikolai looks harrowed. “Fifteen people died. Mostly women and children. Including a three-year-old girl.”

The horror of it settles over me like a shroud.

“So I killed him,” Nikolai says simply. “Three bullets to the chest. In front of witnesses.”

“That's why you left Chicago?”

“The police have a warrant out for me. And the Kozlov family... they want me dead.”

The pieces click into place. Nikolai didn't come to Fern Falls looking for me. He came here hiding from the consequences of his actions.

“And now they've found you,” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “They would have found me eventually. Small towns talk.”

“But they used me to get to you.”

“Yes.”

---