Page 21 of Secret Baby for the Bratva Boss

“That’s right,” says Mom, placing her hands almost defensively on my son’s shoulders. “When did you get the prescription? I doubt you’re not still contagious, Kat, that’s not how medicine works, even antibiotics.” And she pulls Adam back away from me.

“Wait,” says James, arms crossed over his chest now, looking at Aleks with almost open suspicion. “Really, Aleks, whatareyou doing over here? With Kat?”

Jesus Christ, I really didn’t think this through, did I?But when Aleks speaks, it’s with much more confidence than I could muster. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he’s a cool liar—it’s practically in his job description. Or at least, I’d think it would be. How many organized criminal mafia bosses can really call themselves honest?

“I was overseas for work,” says Aleks calmly, and he steps over the threshold without waiting to be invited inside. My mother’s eyes narrow even further, and she retreats a step, moving Adam with her, who is now looking curiously up at…his father.Oh, my God. This really was a mistake.“I was in the state, in the city, and thought I’d come by for a visit. I arrivedshortly before that nasty storm the other night, the one that Kat got caught in.”

Both Mom and James look at me quizzically. “My car is still in the shop,” I remind them sheepishly, blushing. “I don’t know why, but I got it into my head to…well, start walking home that night, after work.”

“You were going to walk home?” asks James incredulously. “What, on the highway? In the rain? Atnight?”

“No wonder you’re sick now,” says Mom reproachfully. She gives Aleks a firm once over, and seems to make her grudging peace with his being here. “Well, no use standing in the doorway letting in the cold. Come in, then, and let’s get both of you something warm to drink.”

In the kitchen, James and Aleks talk like old friends. Mom makes me sit as far away from her and the others as possible, sequestering me at the far end of the table with a cup of hot tea like I might give them some kind of horrible disease. I sit with arms crossed, Adam a few chairs away, playing with his cars and planes. Mom scolds me when I try to play along, and maybe on another day, in another situation, I’d argue back in my defense. But though I know I’m not sick, and I know I can’t get my son sick—it doesn’t really matter, does it? I have put him in danger. A worse danger than a flu or cold. His life is at risk because of who I chose to sleep with, walk away from, and lie to for four years.

I am still a bad mother.Mom doesn’t know the half of it. God willing, she never will. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s in the right to keep me at arm’s length from my son. Painful though it may be.

And there’s another tension, too. Am I imagining it—the way that Aleks keeps looking at my son?Atourson?Am I imagining his eyes, shifting from my brother time and again, falling thoughtfully on the little boy playing at the table?

Does he suspect? Could he know?

And if I told him…just how bad would the fallout be? He’d hate me, certainly. He’d punish me. But more than any of that—if Aleksander Lukin learned that he had a son, as much as he might not want me or mine, or have chosen me…he would want that son in his life. This life, full of crime and criminals and murder and death and revenge. All the things I left Aleks to protect Adam from. The reason I threw my old life away, and began anew, from nothing.

No—Aleks can’t know. He can never know. It’s not an option.

My brother and Aleks are chuckling at something, and James insists they step outside to look at something—what, a gun? A car? I can’t pay attention enough to parse their conversation—and Aleks gives me a pointed look as he agrees. It says:You stay put. Don’t move a muscle, or there will be hell to pay.Even if I’m stuck in here, I appreciate him keeping up the pretense of our being more or less strangers.

“Adam,” I say, once they’ve gone outside and the back door has closed behind them. “Why don’t you go and get cleaned up for lunch, OK?”

“OK!” He scoots out of his chair, walking toward me for a kiss before my mother scolds him and shoos him away.

“Do youwantto get sick and miss daycare? No? I didn’t think so. Now, go get yourself cleaned up like your mother told you to.”

He pouts but goes, giving me a sly little smile and a wave when he reaches the door. Then Mom and I are alone—just as I am realizing how necessary it is that we are. She’s silent for a few moments, fixing sandwiches at the counter for lunch. I gnaw on my thumbnail, anxious, my legs pulled up on the chair.How to begin? Do I just call it what it is? What do I do?If I don’t intercede now and get out ahead of it, I know Mom will cause a scene. She’s the meddling type. But if she meddles here, she’llbe putting me and her grandson in more danger than she could possibly know.

“So,” she says, her back to me as she washes something in the sink. “That’s the father, then.”

I hesitate, but outside, I see my brother and Aleks moving. How long do I realistically have before they come barging back in, or Adam does? When will I get another chance to cover my ass like this. I stand up and cross to her.

“Don’t get too close, I can’t be getting sick,” she says, giving me a cool look, but I grab her by the arm and look her hard in the face. Her brows gather, annoyance crossing her expression. “What are you doing, Katerina? There’s no need to grab me like that—”

“Listen to me. Aleks is Adam’s father.”

“Clearly. Your son is the spitting image, and—”

“Listen to me,” I repeat, lowering my voice, looking at my mom seriously. “He doesn’t know.”

“Oh, that’s just perfect. You bring him around here to meet his son, but he doesn’tknowit’s his son? What kind of game are you playing, Kat? Did I not teach you better than this?”

“There’s a reason he doesn’t know about Adam.” I hesitate. I don’t know how much truth I should dole out here, or if I should lie wholesale. Which would protect my son more? Which will save him from a future entangled in custody battles and criminal dealings and a foreign country across the world? “Aleks is…involved in something very dangerous. I didn’t know until after, well…” My face heats and I shake my head, pressing on, my voice lowered still. “And that’s why I never told him. That’s why I moved back to raise Adam alone—so he would never know. So that Adam could be safe, far away from all of that.”

Mom regards me coldly, pulling her arm free of my grip and drying her hands on a dish towel. “And now? Why have you brought him back here?”

“There’s potential that my name has…come up, in his dealings.”

Mom’s eyes flash. “You’re in some kind of danger, is that what you’re saying? Something, what? Criminal? What the hell, Kat? Get the police involved. Immediately.”

“No, it’s not like that,” I insist. “Look. I have everything under control. The only reason I’m telling you any of this is because I know…”

---