Page 79 of Ruling Scar
“Why is it always assumed I’m playing around.”
“Because you always play around,” he remarks sternly. “But for the love of God, Elijah, do not harm that girl.”
“You never believed it was an accident.” I inhale the caramelized scent of my coffee before gulping some down.
Dad watches me carefully. “Considering you always went around saying you did it on purpose, can you blame me?”
“Nobody was going to believe me either way.” I used the story of the butcher knife and Lennie’s scar to my advantage. If I see an opportunity I make use of it. I don’t think I ever counted on my father believing it, though.
“You’re no longer a child, Elijah.” He’s two inches taller than me and straightens his spine to prove it. “I’m not here to dictate your love life.”
Only because he can’t. I never allowed him to toy with that part of my life like Max and Roma did. In fact, he’s paying the consequences for those actions now.
“Gia will find out,” he warns. “And when she does, whatever relationship you’ve got, it better be worth it, because it’s not just your life she’ll turn upside down.”
It’ll be Lennie’s. Her mother’s past is a ghost, driving all her actions. It’s noble, wanting to protect one’s family, but Lennie is an adult.
“Noted, Father.” I refill my coffee.
The stern demeanor doesn’t leave him. “What happened to your face?”
“I got in a fight.” He can spare the concern.
“I hate to break it to you but I think you’ve found yourself in another one. With Lennie.”
He has the audacity to smirk as he says it. I let him have the one joke, but my teeth grind.
I didn’t want to wake up to an empty bed this morning.
With one hand wrapped around his mug, he places the other on his hip, ready to discuss business. “Why’d you ask your uncle to look into the Stuarts?”
There’s got to be several things on his mind if he hasn’t connected the dots yet.
“I heard they’re making a move.”
He scowls. “You heard wrong. Now stop wasting your uncle’s time and pick a fight with someone else.”
“And if I’d heard right, you’d have given me a gold star.” He’s forgetting he’s the one who taught me to treat every threat as legitimate.
“You make people nervous.”
Not everyone. Leopold stared at me blankly last night. He might be more fucked up than I am and that’s saying something.
“All right, so the aristocratic fucks aren’t up to anything.” I lean my back against the counter. Dad can pretend to be annoyed, but he knows I don’t go to Dima without credible information.
Dad leans up against the oven on the other side of the kitchen. He crosses his arms, one hand still holding his coffee. “What’s the deal between Russie and Yelena?”
And now we’re at the real heart of his visit.
“I don’t know.” I sip my coffee.
His lips thin. A calm, cool, and collected Lev is dangerous. But he’s riled. “Something happened and I want to know what.”
“Then speak to your wife.” Because I damn well know Max won’t say a thing.
“I’m asking you.”
“It’s not my business.”
