Page 8 of Forgotten Vows
He nodded.
“I’ve noticed.” I resumed staring ahead. “He is chill—he’s so chill because he’s settled down with a woman he loves.”
“Isn’t it weird?”
I glanced at him again. “How so?” If he was getting ready to say that he had issues with his father marrying a woman younger than him, he was too late to voice his opinion. His thoughts on the matter wouldn’t have changed anything, either. Luka clearly loved Gabriella with all his heart.
“I don’t know. Just the concept of doing that. Settling down. With onlyonewoman.” He shrugged, pursing his lips like he was utterly confused.
I rolled my eyes. “Says the bachelor moron…”
He laughed lightly, not taking offense at my dig. Of all of us, he was the player. With his lifestyle of frequently being on the go and never staying still for the hits he took out, it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t have any inclination to settle or commit with one woman.
After a long moment, he leaned toward me, as if to whisper conspiratorially despite no one else being a passenger on the plane. “What, do you think that could’ve been you and Raisa?”
I bit back another groan. Hearing her name was still that hard to handle.
Not answering him egged him on to continue.
“Because I was there, remember?”
I turned to face him, rolling my head on the headrest.
“I was there.” He smiled wider now. “That one night.”
I sighed, hating to be dragged back to that memory. “There were many nights.” We were all younger then, but Emil’s fondness for traveling had started then. Back in that time, he was partying, not yet designated as the Dubinins’ top killer. Now, he traveled for hits. He wasn’t lying about this particularevent, though. He’d met Raisa, sort of. And he’d partied and drunk with us when Raisa and I wanted to get out for a change.
“I was there that one night when we were all wasted and drunk as fuck.”
I nodded slowly, hating that he’d force me to relive the experience now.
“When I ‘officiated’ you two getting hitched.” He used air quotes and all. If we weren’t cousins, if we weren’t friends, I would’ve punched that smug smile off his face by now.
This wasn’t a joke to me.
The memory of Raisa was a painful ache I couldn’t erase.
“It was only a joke,” I muttered in protest.
“Well, yeah. No shit it was a joke.” Emil laughed once, sensing that I didn’t want to talk about this more. “I wasn’t authorized to officiate any marriage. Besides, we were all drunk, just talking shit about our futures.”
And I never could’ve counted on my future derailing so soon after that night. We were all playing around and just having fun. But when I faced that blonde with the most alluring blue eyes, I wanted to assume it could be real.
“You know, my father asked me about who the hell she was that fucked you up so bad. About which woman you seemed so homesick for.”
I shrugged, not wanting to elaborate. I’d never told Luka too much about Raisa, and for a good reason. But even he had noticed my melancholy when I left her.
“I wish it were real,” I mumbled.
“What was? That you married Raisa for real?” His tone held nothing but incredulity. “What the fuck is stopping you then?”
I scoffed. “Maybe the fact that it’s been years since I’ve even seen her?”
“Then… go see her.” His logic was the same as Alexsei’s. We were members of the Dubinin Family. If we wanted something,we went for it. Obstacles that applied to commoners and civilians never had to hold us back from our goals.
“Look, it’s just you and me here. Talk to me. What the hell happened between you and Raisa?” He didn’t let me off the hook when I stared ahead and didn’t reply. “That bullshit about your being with Selena or whatever her name was never sat well with me. I’m calling your bluff on that, too.”
Still, I bit my lip and refused to talk about it. It hurt that much.
