Page 39 of Forgotten Vows
“Italians.” I wanted to sit, not even caring that I could choose his bed to lower to. Talking about that day was something I’d rather do sitting down. It tired me, and stress swamped me all over again. Yet, I stood strong, not breaking my tone. “I was determined to walk back to work and get my last paycheck, then relocate with Lev.”
“You did that often?”
“What?”
“Relocate?”
I nodded, but it ended as a shrug. “I was often paranoid. That someone would find me and drag me back into this world of violence. We relocated whenever I felt like someone was watching. But that time, someone was near. It wasn’t a fear, it was a fact. A man was near my property. I headed back to work to get my last check, but when I changed my uniforms, I left my key fob on the other one. I doubled back to grab it, but I saw the same man again. He was near my house, so I snuck in. But that’s when theotherman revealed himself. He broke in and was waiting to attack me. So, I fought him back.”
“On your own?”
“Lev was at school.”
He furrowed his brow. “You fought back this man?”
I rolled my eyes. “Ididtrain in self-defense.” He, of all people, should at least respect that I was no dainty coward. I was raised amid violence and I knew how to fight back. “I killed him. The other man came in too, right when my neighbor overheard the commotion. Fortunately, he hit his head when he fell, so I didn’t need to answer any of his questions. But this second man told me that I would‘never win’. Before I got his gun and killedhim, I demanded to know who’d sent him. He said that he was from a faction of the Rivera Family. The Italians saw me as a ‘weak’ link toyourfamily. They were pursuing me as a way to get to the Dubinin Dynasty.”
“Fuck.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Which didn’t make sense.Iam no link. But Lev is. That was when I knew I couldn’t handle this on my own anymore.”
He stared me down as I paused, collecting my thoughts again.
“No one ever got close like that. I was paranoid, of course, and always looking over my shoulder, but no one ever actually found me like that. No one succeeded in reaching me and invading like that. That was the first time since Lev was born that danger came close enough to make me run.”
“And you ran to me.”
I didn’t miss the possessive pride in his words.
“I came here to demand that you support Lev and keep him safe.”
He narrowed his eyes. “After deliberately keeping him away from me and never giving me a chance to know he existed.”
“I kept him away from your family and mine to make sure he wouldn’t be dragged into these stupid politics and games.”
“And how did that turn out for you?”
“I’m not in any mood for you to gloat. I did what I thought was best as a single mother after you rejected me and left me without a word. I came here to find you and request for protection because it’syour”—I jabbed my finger at his chest—“family that they want to hurt me for. They targeted me to get to you and your family. They tried to use me to strike out at you.” A sharp burst of laughter couldn’t be held in. “And that couldn’t be further from the truth. ThatImatter to you. I’m nothing to you. I was nothing to you when you left me. And all these years when you never made an effort to come back for me, you’vedriven in that point even more. I was nothing to you and I never will be. I am insignificant to your family.”
“That’s not true.” He protested with a firm shake of his head.
“It is.”
“You matter—as the mother ofmyson.”
I glared at him, letting my eyes slit together. How dare he call Levhisson, implying with that tone full of authority that Lev wasn’tmine, orours. Just his.
“You hid my son from me. He is my heir, and he isn’t going anywhere.”
Such possessive talk over the most important person in the world set me on edge. But I knew better than to argue when he got that intense look in his eyes.
“You’renot going anywhere either.”
This was exactly why I debated coming here at all. Why returning to Ivan was a last-resort idea. He’d take over and take charge when I’d been handling it myself all this time.
“And that’s the last fucking time I’ll be patient enough to hear you claim that you don’t matter.” Admonishing me like this wasn’t sweet or kind, but beneath the rage of what he said, I could almost feel the desperation that vibrated off him.
“You matter, Raisa. You’ve always mattered. And you sure as fuck matter to me.”
