Page 59 of Depraved Royals

I’m surprised to see her eyes shimmer with tears.

“Kal is just using you,” she says quietly. “He told me so himself. There’s no good in any of us Antonovs.”

I see a thousand stories in her eyes.

It’s the same wounded look Kal gets when his memories get on top of him. She’s seen things she should never have witnessed and experienced things she’d do anything to forget.

“Why are you even here?” I ask.

“I never had what you have, Dani. I just wanted to see your perfect life shatter. ”

It’s true. The Antonovsarepoison, and no matter how much I want to believe otherwise, maybe there’s no cure.

Vera walks away from me, pulling the gate open. Brutus stands up, but I shake my head at him.

“Hey,” I say. Vera turns to look at me. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? Why are you like this?”

“Because we can’t choose our fate. Some things are meant to be, and no amount of love or hope or optimism will ever change it.”

I want to throw down. If it wasn’t for my delicate condition, I’d fucking punch her for saying those things.

But it’s not necessary because it doesn’t feel like Vera has won. She looks defeated, and somehow I think she’s felt that way for a long time.

I say nothing more as she walks to her car, Brutus closing the gates behind her. She pulls away into the night, gone just as suddenly as she arrived.

When I go back inside, Mel is sitting on the floor in the hallway, still sobbing. Mama is beside her, holding her hand.

“Dani, you’ve ruined your life,” Mel says through her tears. “What the fuck are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know. Vera told me she and her brother started the gallery fire on Kal’s orders.”

Mama frowns. “Do you believe her?”

“She’s got no reason to lie. You were wrong, Mama. I was wrong too. We saw good in Kal, but it was a front.”

I sit on the floor beside my mother and sister.

“I told Fyodor to give the boy a chance,” Mama whispers. “It’s my fault that it’s come to this.”

“No, Mama,” I say, resting my head on her shoulder. “It’s mine.”

There’s nothing for us to do now but wait.

22

Kal

My mother is smiling. It might be the first genuine smile I’ve ever seen on her face. Even her eyes have a sparkle to them.

“Kal, I’m so glad you changed your mind!” she says, walking towards me. “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me when I needed you most.”

Simeon reaches into his jacket.

He has a gun. Who thought giving that twitchy fuck a firearm was a good idea? He’ll sneeze and blow his own head off.

“I wanna shoot Fyodor,” he says. “Let me do it, Mama.”

The kid has fucking lost it.

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