Page 108 of Mountain Daddy

The truth hurts, but I need it. All of it.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I whisper.

“Didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know if you had it out for me,” he shrugs.

“Had it out for you?” I hiss. “Why would I ever?”

“Your cousin. The man in the square you were hugging. He’s Bratva. In with the Kazlovs sometimes.”

“He—what?” His words hit like a sledgehammer.

Nikolai's sighs. “He told me you were innocent. I didn’t know what to believe. You kept lying to me. I wondered why.”

“I knew Ivan had... connections. Tattoos he tried to hide when he visited. I didn't know exactly what kind,” I whisper.

“He was Bratva,” Nikolai says. “But I think he’s trying to get out. That's why he moved here. Fresh start.”

I close my eyes. The betrayal cuts deep. My own family, part of the world I've been running from.

“I'm sorry,” I whisper again. “For everything. For running. For keeping Chleo from you. I know I ruined any chance we might have had. I don't expect forgiveness.”

I feel the tears coming again.

Hot.

Shameful.

I try to blink them away, but they fall anyway. Track down my cheeks like evidence of my guilt.

“I just want my son to be safe,” I say. “He can't be mixed up in all this. In Bratva warfare. In violence.”

Nikolai moves closer. So close I can feel his heat. Smell his cologne mixed with blood.

“I agree,” he says softly.

I look up, surprised. “You do?”

“I don't want that life for him either.” His hand comes up, brushes a tear from my cheek. “I should be furious with you, Lilly. Should hate you for what you took from me.”

I wait for the but.

For the anger.

For the punishment.

Instead, his thumb traces my cheekbone, gentle as a whisper.

“But I can't,” he says. “You're mine. And he's mine. The two of you are safe. That's all that matters.”

Something breaks inside me. Some dam I've built to hold back the terror and grief and exhaustion of the day.

I collapse forward. Into his chest. Into his arms.

He catches me. Holds me. His hands stroke my hair as I sob against his shirt.

“It's okay,” he murmurs. “You're safe now. Both of you.”

I don't deserve this kindness. This forgiveness. But I take it anyway. Selfish. Desperate.

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