Page 63 of Nobody Wants Me
Ivan stood right in front of me.“Have you killed my sister?”
This made me frown.“What?”
“Have you killed my sister?”
“No.”
“Have you hit her?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not like your father.”
“I hurt her.”
“We all hurt the people we love, Victor.We don’t always realize how much we’re hurting people, but it doesn’t change anything.”He sighed.“Sometimes, we fuck up more than we realize.We just got to hope they’re willing to forgive us once we have messed up.”
I wanted the chance to earn Freya’s forgiveness.I wanted her to fucking live.I didn’t want her to have a death threat on her life.She didn’t deserve that, but right now, there was nothing either of us could have done.
****
Freya
“You don’t look happy?”
Ivan had stepped off the helicopter with Victor.The Butcher had already hugged me, and gone and climbed back into that helicopter.
“I’m going to make arrangements for you to come home,” Ivan said.
Victor was back in the house, as I stood out on the beach with my brother.
My brother.That still seemed strange.Although I had grown up with two other brothers, I happened to like this one.Ivan was A-okay.
“But it’s not good news?”I asked.
“The threat is still attached to your life.I want to know if you’re willing to sacrifice The Butcher in your place?”
“What?”I turned to look at the plane, but Ivan stopped me.
“Don’t,” he said.“I do not want you alerting her to anything.”
“Does she know?”
“Yes, she knows.”
“I don’t want that,” I said.“I don’t want her to take my place.”Bethany had shared parts of herself with me.I knew her name, although I was going to stop thinking of her as Bethany right the fuck now.
She was not Bethany.She was The Butcher.That is what she would always be, and nothing was going to change that.
“Don’t do it,” I said.“She doesn’t deserve that.”
Ivan smiled.“You know, she said the same thing.”
“I like her,” I said.“She’s the first real friend I’ve had.”
“She’s not the only one.I’ve not had a real sibling in a long time.Slavik, one of my Brigadiers, we’re close, like brothers.I’m close to all my Brigadiers, but Slavik and I shared this dream, and we’ve built it into a reality.I want to be your friend, Freya.I want to be your older brother.”
“You are.Nothing is going to change that,” I said.
