Page 76 of The Enemy's Defector
“I didn’t realize you were seeking direction with me.”
I had to smile at his sheepish expression. “It’s not like I didn’t know what you were like already. You and your brothers have never been the kind of men to date exclusively or show any interest in committing to a woman.”
“That’s not an excuse,” he argued.
“No. It’s not, but I know what I’m dealing with when it’s you. That’s why I can sigh like this. That’s why I’m so happy. It might seem little to you, but I feel like my broken-up life can start over as something new now. You don’tonlycare about our child. You love me.”
“If it means that much to you, I’ll say it every single minute.” He gave me a long, hard kiss. “I thought I could show you, not tell you, but if it makes you happy…”
“Youmake me happy. And with time, others will come around and welcome me here too.”
“Yeah? How’s it going with Lucy and Sloane?”
“Good. Lucy is working on it, but Sloane is great. Joann being here helps—thank you for that, by the way. And I also spokewith Anastasia. They’re helping me have hope that I’ll be fully accepted one day.”
He kissed me again, cuddling. “Hey, you mentioned my father last night. You said you talked to him and asked if I had.”
I nodded, tracing my finger over the coarse hair on his chest. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you ask if I’d talked to him?”
“Because I wondered if he might have told you something about what I talked about with him.”
He shook his head.
“Oh.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Um, well, he remembered something specific about me. Back when you and your brothers were taken.”
“That’s a long time ago,” he said with a frown. “With the damage he’s faced after the poison, you can’t trust his memory anymore.”
“I understand. But this is something thatIremember as well. That few people know. He recalled how I used to be so curious about Beatrice. When I was young, I was so fascinated by her. She was a mother. And I didn’t have one, so I was curious what she was like, what mothers were like.”
He grunted. “Oh, so you remember how cool and indifferent she was toward us.”
I nodded. “Yes. I remember that, and I think that was part of why I was so fascinated by her. I was curious why she wouldn’t be a loving parent like my father was to me. I tagged along after her, and I watched her, and it probably bordered more on nosiness, but I was so invisible that she never noticed. I tagged after her so much that I saw her kissing other men. I was the first one to rat on her to Grigory, just blurting a comment about that to him one day.”
“I guarantee you that he already knew or suspected.”
“Probably. But when you three brothers were taken and no one knew where you were, I was still observant of her. I was still curious, and I ended up overhearing enough of what she said to others that I figured out where you might have been held. So, I told Grigory, and he was able to locate you in time.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
“I was the one who tipped Grigory to find you.”
Smiling sadly, he leaned in to kiss me long and deep. “You?”
I nodded.
“That’s twice you saved my life, then.”
“I didn’t realize we were keeping count.”
He shook his head. “You’re… unbelievable. You tipped him off so we could be saved.”
“Yes. I didn’t even tell my father. I went straight to Grigory, worried about you. But he must have told my father because I remember him telling me that he was proud of me and also to warn me never to tell anyone about it. He seemed worried that I’d be targeted. Like a snitch, I guess.”
