Page 54 of Blood Oath Christmas
I close the door behind me and move slowly into the room, keeping my movements deliberate and non-threatening. Ivy is like a wounded animal right now, ready to bolt or fight depending on how I handle this.
"Your father and I were friends," I begin, choosing my words carefully. "Good friends."
"That's impossible." She shakes her head, blonde hair falling across her face. "My father wasn't… he wasn't part of this world. He sold insurance. He was normal."
The pain in her voice is almost unbearable. She's built her entire understanding of her father on a lie, and now that foundation is crumbling beneath her feet. I want to comfort her, to pull her into my arms and promise that everything will be okay, but I know she won't let me. Not yet.
"He was part of this world, Ivy. He was Bratva."
"No." The word comes out as a whisper, then louder. "No, you're lying. My father was a good man. He wouldn't have been involved with criminals and murderers and?—"
"He was a good man," I interrupt, stepping closer. "Being Bratva doesn't make someone evil,moya zhena. Your father was one of the most honorable men I've ever known."
She's staring at the photograph again, her hands trembling slightly. "This doesn't make sense. If he was your friend, if he was part of your world, then why didn't I know? Why did my mother tell me he sold insurance?"
"Because he wanted to protect you." I move to stand behind my desk, my fingers trailing over the scattered documents. "He wanted you to have a normal life, away from the violence and the danger. So he created a cover story, a legitimate business that would explain his income and his absences."
"His absences," she repeats, and I can see the memories clicking into place. "He was gone a lot when I was little. Business trips, Mom always said."
"Family business," I confirm. "He was my father'svor, one of his most trusted men. When my parents were killed, Andrei helped me take control of the family, as is my right. He saved my life."
Ivy looks up at me, her eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and dawning understanding. "He did?"
"He got me out of a bad situation and got hurt in the process. If it hadn’t been for your father, I wouldn’t be here now." I pick up another photograph, this one showing Andrei in a hospital bed, his arm in a sling, while I sit beside him with bandages wrapped around my head. "I made him a promise that night. A blood oath."
"What kind of promise?"
This is the moment I've been dreading, the revelation that will change everything between us. But there's no going back now, no way to soften the truth.
"I promised that if anything ever happened to him, I would take care of his little girl. I would protect you, no matter what."
The photograph slips from her fingers, fluttering to the floor like a fallen leaf. She stares at me with an expression I can't quite read—shock, betrayal, understanding, all warring for dominance on her beautiful face.
"That's why you married me," she says, her voice barely audible. "Not because you wanted to protect me from Vadim. Because of some promise you made to my father."
"Ivy—"
"That's why you knew exactly where to find me, why you seemed to know so much about my life. You've been watching me." Her voice is getting stronger now, anger beginning to replace the hurt. "How long? How long have you been watching me?"
I could lie. I could tell her it started recently, but she deserves the truth, even if it destroys whatever fragile trust we've built.
"Since you were fifteen."
The words hang in the air between us like a death sentence. Ivy takes a step back, then another, until she's pressed against the bookshelf behind her.
"Fifteen," she repeats. "Since my father died."
"Since your father's funeral," I correct and immediately regret the distinction. Her face goes white.
"You were at his funeral?"
"In the back. You wouldn't have seen me." I remember that day with perfect clarity. The small cemetery, the handful of mourners, Ivy in a black dress that was too big for her teenage frame, clinging to her mother's arm as they lowered Andrei's coffin into the ground.
“So, Frank was right all along when he called you my stalker.”
"Ivy, you need to calm down?—"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" She pushes away from the bookshelf, her eyes blazing with fury. "My entire life has been a lie!
