Page 130 of Ruling Scar
She nods happily.
Isolde stands next to it and lifts her beer bottle in greeting.
“We haven’t played anything yet,” Ren says. “We wanted to wait until you got here.”
“I’m touched.” I really am. Ren and Isolde are two of the most thoughtful people, something most people wouldn’t believe if they knew what they did for a living.
“Come on.” Ren drags me toward it with surprising strength.
I grin back at Elijah who shakes his head. Ben appears next to him, handing a beer over.
Elijah is now part of the Fujimori’s gang. Or at least as much as he can be considering his family. This is still neutral ground so he only comes when it’s group events or if we have a date night. And he’ll often show up after dinner to walk me home.
Ren nearly runs into the jukebox, only to stop short and very lovingly reach out and touch it.
“This looks super fancy,” I marvel. My time around jukeboxes is limited but Abe must have spent a fortune.
“What song should we play,” Ren asks us. “Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Fergie, Mariah Carey, Spice Girls?”
“You gotta go with something classic,” Isolde tells her.
“Those are all classics,” she replies.
I study the selection over her shoulder. But it’s her choice.
Somebody catches my attention. “Hey, is that Tyler over there?”
He’s Russet’s childhood friend and he’s chatting with a group of guys. I shoot a coy look at Isolde. “Did his friend come?”
She lifts her beer bottle to her lips, not answering.
Oh boy.
But before any further teasing occurs, Ren makes her selection.
Music fills the air and people cheer, lifting their drinks in the air.
I’m giggling at the way Ren and Isolde dance together when my phone goes off.
Adeline: Happy New Year! Sending this now in case I’m too drunk to properly send you anything at midnight.
I tried to get her to come with us tonight but she refused. She cited other plans without giving any further details. I’m desperate to know what’s going on with my baby sister, but she’s stayed mum the past few months. Since she took out Leopold.
I try to respect her privacy because there were days right after Leopold kidnapped me and killed Ivan where I didn’t want to talk about it. There were even a few days I pulled the covers over my head, overwhelmed by the memories.
But surprisingly, Mom and Elijah teamed up. They took me to therapy and told me to tell Janis everything. Well, not about Adeline killing anyone and not about the bratva storming in, but they urged me to explain the kidnapping situation.
Was Janis gobsmacked? Yes. Did she immediately launch into a good strategy to tackle trauma? Absolutely.
And Mom and Elijah have been with me while my brain went haywire as I tried to put the pieces back together.
Nat sends a photo of her in a rocking chair. A tiny infant's head rests on her shoulder.
Nat: Yeah, as if I’m going to be up at midnight.
Nat: Thank fuck for Peter.
Nat and Lia and Peter had their baby—a boy named Milo Roman Sablin Akatov
