Page 75 of Deceitful Vows

“Have you checked your bank account recently?” she asks.

I shake my head and clutch the armrests of the Windsor chair. “Should I?”

“I received a statement from the financial planner,” she replies. “They opened an account in our name. Paige. I didn’t know it was that much money.”

I gawk at the numbers on the statement. I also thought it was a million or two, but the amount is closer to a billion dollars. The statements list at least a dozen separate investments in our names.

“I can’t figure out why it’s divided into separate accounts,” Emma says. “Did Dad steal from that many people?” She sits beside Viktor on an overstuffed loveseat, but she turns her body away from him as she speaks. “Paige, I don’t want anything from the Bratva. Or at least, nothing I can’t pay back someday.”

“I understand,” I reply softly.

Emma possesses something more valuable than the money in this account. She can still walk away. Her freedom is untouched, unlike mine. Even if I can pay everything back, Andrei and I will have a child together.

A child that will chain me forever to him.

“I’ll handle it,” I tell her, folding the paper and shoving it into my pocket.

“How?”

“Don’t ask questions unless you want to be involved,” I reply firmly. “What are you doing about school?”

Emma leans back, allowing her shoulder to touch Viktor’s. “I’ve decided to get my GED, and so has Viktor. We’re helping each other study.”

I eye him, but he lets his dark hair fall in his eyes. “Then he’s staying in the house with you?” I ask.

“In his own bedroom,” Emma replies quickly. “He promised Andrei he’d look after us. Well, me. You have a hundred guards.”

“Is that why Andrei didn’t go after you?” I ask, staring hard at Viktor. “Why he didn’t bring either of you back to the mansion?”

Emma answers for them. “Viktor told me the day we arrived at the house that Andrei was okay with it.”

“Have you seen him?” I ask quietly.

Emma bites her lower lip and looks at the front door, wishing it would open, I suspect. “You need to talk to Viktor about that.”

Andrei has become a forbidden topic between us. I hardly blame her. Our worst fights were over my relationship with Andrei.

“Would you like something to eat?” I stand up slowly. “The restaurant serves a New England chowder worth the trip.”

Emma laughs as she helps me up the rest of the way. “I came to see if you were okay, Paige. And if you had forgiven me.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Emma,” I reply, my heart aching at the memory of all the ways I’ve hurt her, from the slap to my angry rebukes. “I would’ve been lost without you. You reminded me that this isn’t the life I want. Or even imagined. I’m living someone else’s life.”

“What about the baby?” she asks.

“I love the baby,” I reply, close to tears. “I’ll make sure that we end up where we’re supposed to be.”

Emma looks doubtful that such a place exists, or that I even know where it is. I don’t know, but I must be making progress to admit it. I’ve found the strength not to go running back to Andrei, and that’s a major start.

Emma kisses my cheek. “Text me if you need anything, Paige. I’d like to see my little nephew or niece before they turn five.”

Emma gives Viktor a look before she goes outside by herself. I peek out the window as my sister climbs into their Rover.

“So, he let you keep the car?” I ask Viktor, wondering what Emma wants him to ask me alone. I’m certain she needs this money, but she knows the risks.

Viktor nods solemnly and doesn’t waste our time on polite chitchat. “He is lost without you.”

I grip the back of a chair. “Did he tell you to come here and say that?”

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