Page 26 of Corruption

“As far he knows, it was taken to an incinerator just like he ordered it to be. He doesn’t know I switched what his men took,” Isaak says with a shrug.

I smile at his cleverness.

“Still, you didn’t have to put yourself in harm’s way to help me. I would have been fine.”

“You would have been with my aunt and uncle,” he agrees. “It was still wrong. Besides, don’t worry. My father won’t harm me. Not like he did you.”

“Harm comes in a lot of other forms besides physical. My mother, before I went to stay with my dad…” I trail off, but I don’t need to finish. Isaak’s eyes light up in understanding, and suddenly he knows me as well as I know him. “Figured out how you’re going to explain having dinner over here?”

“Father knows that it’s hard to say no to Aunt Nadia when she wants something. I’ll probably say I tried to leave but she insisted. Make him think she’s trying to steal me from him like he already does so he’ll be more angry at her than me. But he can’t do anything to her. Not unless he wants to get on the wrong side of Uncle Alik’s temper.”

“Good. As long as you have a plan. I don’t want you to get in trouble on my account.”

He smiles at me. A real smile. Blinding and not reserved like his smiles were at dinner.

“I was worried you were going to be some awful stepmother. But I like you, Miss Fantoni. I’m glad my dad is marrying you… if you’re still going to have him.”

“I am,” I say tersely. I have no choice but to have him. Then I roll my eyes. “We’re only six years apart. I’m not going to be your stepmother. So don’t treat me like one. We can just be friends or something.”

Isaak frowns as he contemplates this. “How about another Aunt. Aunt Kiya has a nice ring to it without being weird.”

“It still feels weird to me.”

“Or I could call you mother,” Isaak says, a sparkle of personality shining through the reserved demeanor he’s been maintaining.

I groan. “Aunt Kiya it is, I suppose. Better than Pretty Girl or Kitten.”

“I’m going to take a guess and say that would be Aunt Nadia and Uncle Alik’s doing respectively,” Isaak says. “Don’t be offended. You should be flattered. It means they really like you.”

“Nadia, maybe.” Not maybe. Certainly, though, I don’t understand why still. “But the only thing I’ve done with Alik so far is argue with him.”

“He can be very impersonable when there’s a bunch of people. But if you can get him one on one and he doesn’t hate you, he’s nice.”

“There’s a very wide gap between doesn’t hate you and like.”

“True. But he wouldn’t be comfortable giving you a nickname like that if you didn’t leave some good impression on him.”

“What does he call you?”

“Izzy. Rarely, and when my father’s not around.”

“Any other people he’s granted nicknames too? Besides Nadia. He calls her Nadezhda. Right?”

Isaak nods. “He used to have one for my father until…”

“Until what?” I ask.

Isaak hesitates and then says, “It’s family-only business. You’re not part of the family yet. When you are, I’ll tell you.”

“Does it have anything to do with your father trying to kill Nadia?” I ask.

Isaak frowns. “Who told you that?”

“No one.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

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