Page 78 of Toxic Salvation
“He’s my son!” she cries. “I will never let him go! He’s mine and he belongs with me!”
Luka wrenches his hand free. “I don’t want you!” he yells at her. “I don’t want you to be my mom anymore! You just make me feel bad all the time. I want Uncle Kovan and Vesper!”
“Baby—” Yana spins around and squats down, grabbing both of Luka’s hands. “You don’t know what you’re saying. This… this…woman…has poisoned you against me. She’s filling your head with lies and?—”
“She doesn’t talk about you!” Luka insists. “No one talks about you. It’s nice when you’re not around. I’m happy.”
Yana looks ready to explode. Her eyes bulge and her nostrils flare. “Y-you don’t mean that, baby! How can you say that to your mama when I love you so much! Don’t you love me, sweet boy?”
“No!” Luka practically wails. “No, I don’t love you! Actually, I hate you!”
Then he pushes her away from him and sprints full speed into the house. Within seconds, he’s disappeared completely.
Which leaves me and Yana. She’s sprawled on her ass in the grass, her face screwed up in shock. “Y-you fucking cunt!” she explodes at me before she’s even gotten to her feet.
It’s easier for me to stay calm now that Luka is safely away from Yana. “Call me whatever you want, Yana. It doesn’t matter to me that you hate me. But it should matter to you that Luka hatesyou.”
She gets to her feet. There’s nothing graceful about how she tries to hike down her too-short skirt and nothing beautiful in her twisted, furrowed scowl.
“He hates me because ofyou!” she accuses, stabbing a finger in my direction. “I’m going back to court. I’m going to file a motion stating that you and Kovan are trying to alienate me from my son.”
I know I shouldn’t goad the witch, but the burst of laughter that flies out of my mouth is completely involuntary. “Come on, Yana, you don’t strike me as the delusional type. Kovan and I had nothing to do with that. You managed to alienate Luka all on your own.”
“Fuck you!”
“He’s not a pawn. And he’s not stupid, either. Kids know when they’re not wanted. They can sense it. And you certainly make it easy.”
“How dare you talk to me like that, you two-bit tramp?” she shrieks. “You are just some nobody that Kovan picked up off the side of the road and stuck his dick into! That does not make you special. That does not make you important!”
Again, I just laugh. “Do you think Luka cares about those things? Do you think he gives a shit about how influential or important I am?” I take a step toward the crazed woman. “The only thing he cares about is whetherIcare abouthim. Whether I make time for him. Whether I put him first.” I give her a slow once-over, my lips curling with disgust. “Luka deserves better than someone who wants him only because of what he can give her. He deserves someone who loves him wholeheartedly and without compromise. That’s not you, Yana. So why not give him to people who will love him the way you can’t?”
She stares at me with those harsh gray eyes, and for a split second, I actually think I’ve gotten through to her. Maybe somepart of my speech has appealed to the tiny bit of maternal instinct she has left.
But then her eyes flash and my instincts go off like warning sirens.
“If you try and take my kid,” she hisses, stepping toward me, “I swear to God, I will come for your children one day! I will strangle them in their cribs if I have to!”
She lunges at me, nails first, a manic screech tearing from her throat. Despite how clumsy and slow I’ve gotten since my pregnancy, I manage to sidestep her attack.
But she recovers fast, spins around, and before I can get away from her, she grabs my hair and yanks me backward.
I’ve got to give it to her—for such a small woman, she’s strong. My arms twist back, trying to pry her loose, but she clings on like she’s rabid. My scalp is in searing pain, her nails scrabbling at the skin, and for a minute, I think I might?—
But then?—
“Enough!”
Yana lets go. I collapse to the grass. Massaging my scalp, I turn to find Kovan standing there, his green eyes dark and stormy as he stares at Yana.
If she were a smart woman, she’d get the hell out of here as fast as possible. But Yana made it clear a long time ago that she is not so smart.
“Tell your whore to get out of my face!” she seethes.
Kovan shakes his head. “I should have known that behaving like a decent human being for a whole hour would be too much for you.”
“She started it!” Yana actually points at me as though we’re a couple of ten-year-olds on the playground.
“I don’t give a fuck. I’m finishing it. Get out of my house, Yana.”
