Resting his cheek on her little head, he turned to me. “I make a good kid, if you’re interested,” he finished with a smile.
I chuckled and shook my head at his terrible joke. My smile wavered, as I knew it was time to bring up something I had been dreading. I’d been holding it in for a full week. It felt cheap to bring it up after Irina had died.
“Lev, sweetie,” I started, “I need to ask you something, and I need you to not get angry with me about it, okay?”
He frowned, rocking Lidiya. “Okay.”
My mouth dry, I tried to explain the quick way. “Alessio found the Petersons for me.” From the way his body stiffened, I had my answer. But I had to ask. “I need to know if you found them first. I need to know if you lied to me.”
Disappointment flooded me when he responded quietly, “I wasn’t ready for you to see them.” He went on, “I wasn’t ready for you to leave me.”
My eyes closing, I uttered a gentle, “I love you, Lev, but this…this was not about you.” My eyes prickled behind my closed lids. “I begged you to find them. You told me you would. Knowing I could have seen them over a month ago…it hurts.”
“I’m sorry,” he said in that robotic tone of his.
My eyes snapped open. “I don’t think you are.” I shook my head. “I think you’re sorry you got caught.” I stood and spoke gently, “I’m going to see them this week, and I’m taking Alessio with me. Don’t try to stop me.” I paused a moment. “I’m pissed at you, baby.” There was no heat in my saying that, only disappointment.
He blinked up at me, almost as if my quietly spoken statement shocked him. He repeated with more feeling, “I’m sorry, Mina.”
My voice flat, I walked out of the living room, muttering, “So am I.”
He found me lying on our bed an hour later, staring up at the ceiling.
My frustration was there, evident, but I wasn’t going to make Lev drown in it. That wasn’t my style. I forced a smile. “Hey. Where’s the princess?”
His eyes didn’t meet mine. “Nas stole her away.”
I checked the time on my phone. “She’s going to be hungry soon.”
“Yeah. Nas is keeping her for dinner. Ada made spaghetti.” He sighed, stepping into the room. “I need you to understand something about me.” I waited carefully. He opened his arms wide and stated, “I’m selfish.”
My brow bunched. “No, you’re not. You’re not selfish at all.”
His jaw tight, he sat on the edge of the bed and nodded. “I am. And I’m ruthless. When I want something, I will do whatever I can to get it.”
That didn’t sound like the Lev I knew. “You’re being dramatic.”
His warm eyes met mine. “I didn’t want you to see the Petersons for two reasons.” He held up a finger. “I wanted to punish Maggie Peterson in the knowledge that you were looking for her, but she couldn’t find you. I wanted the salty words she spoke to you the day you ran away to rot in her mouth like maggots. She hurt you. I wanted her to suffer the consequences of her actions that day.”
Whoa. That was kind of ruthless. I cleared my throat and asked, “And the second reason?”
He lowered his face and ground out, “The son, James, is recently divorced.”
I didn’t understand. “What does that mean?”
His expression fierce, he stated, “I wasn’t going to lose you to a man you once loved. It wasn’t going to happen.”
My irritation sparked at that. “Don’t you trust me?”
He pinned me with a knowing stare. “When Anika is around, is it me you don’t trust, or is it her?”
“Her,” I squawked in disbelief that he’d even ask me that. Then I realized he had made a point. “Okay,” I began, “I understand your stupid reasons for not wanting me to see them, however invalid they are. But,” I sighed, “things have changed. I’ve changed. I think I’ve made it clear that I love you. You. Not James.”