Page 302 of Ruins
When I finally lift my head, her eyes meet mine, soft and steady.
“Dea,” I whisper, my voice hoarse.
She smiles gently, brushing a tear from my cheek with her thumb. “You don’t have to be perfect, Santo.”
And in that moment, I know she’s right.
She always is.
Epilogue Two
Santo
Two years later
Thebeepingofmyphone wakes up my wife before it wakes me.
I hear her grumble as she reaches over me to grab it. I clasp her wrist before she can fling it across the room as she’s done a couple of times before.
This is mythirdreplacement phone this month.
“Make it stop,” she whines, her voice still heavy with sleep. I gently pry the phone from her small fingers and answer it, bringing it to my ear.
“You couldn’t have called in the morning?” I seethe, my tone sharp.
“No, Valentina is missing,” Luciano Castillo, head of the Spanish mob, says urgently on the other end.
His voice cuts through my irritation like a knife. I sit up abruptly, causing Vasilisa to slip off of me and onto the bed with a huff.
“What do you need?” I ask, now fully awake and ready to handle whatever trouble has arisen.
“Any resources you have. Maksim and Angelo are already on their way here. Can you get back tonight?”
I glance at Vasilisa, who has turned on the lamp and is squinting sleepily at me with one hand protectively cradling her swollen belly. “I can make it work.”
Luciano ends the call, and Vasilisa sighs, pushing herself upright. “I know that look. Where are we going?”
“To Luciano’s. His sister is missing,” I say, getting out of bed and reaching for my clothes.
“Scarlet?!” Vasilisa asks fearfully, both hands moving instinctively around her belly.
“No, theotherone, Valentina,” I clarify, pulling on a pair of pants.
Vasilisa slips out of bed, waddling toward the bathroom, her petite frame struggling under the weight of her heavily pregnant belly.
“I think maybe you should stay here, Dea.”
Vasilisa stops mid-stride turning abruptly to face me, her icy eyes locking onto mine as I button up my shirt.
“I go whereyougo.” Her tone leaving no room for argument.
“But the baby—”
“The baby is safe inside me where you left her.”
“Her?”I ask, freezing mid-movement. My heart skips a beat as her words register. “You said we couldn’t look at the envelope.Yousaid the gender would be a surprise!”
Vasilisa’s face turns a shade of crimson, and she bites her lip guiltily. “I might have…peeked,” she admits softly, avoiding my eyes.
