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“Mikhail!”
Nikolai says sharply, his hand squeezing my shoulder, but I shrug him off.
Our father’s eyes narrow in my direction, and for a moment, I think he’ll lose his temper. I think he’ll finally give me a chance to react, and do something with all thisangerthat’s been building up inside me. But he doesn’t. Instead, he sighs, running a hand through his hair.
“You think I don’t know what I’ve lost?” He says, his voice quieter now, almost bitter too. “I have lost one child already, Mikhail. I will not lose another. Hate me all you want, but you are still my son, and you are still breathing. I will never take that for granted ever again.”
As the weight of his words settle over me, I see something crack in his expression.
Just for a second, he looks tired.
Old.
Human.
But it doesn't change what’s twisting up inside me.
It doesn’t erase this image I have of my mother drugging me, dragging my body into the bathtub, and holding my head under the water as she waits for me to stop breathing.
I just don’t understandwhyI don’t remember.
And it doesn’t make me feel any better thinking about the sister I didn’t know I had, probably suffering for the actions of my mother.
I glance over at Nikolai again, but his face is unreadable.
After what feels like an eternity, my brother shakes his head, sighing heavily.
“Let’s go and check on Chiara.”
I nod, and together, the three of us move to the hallway to enter the room where Chiara has been resting in for the last three days.
She’s exhausted—though well as checked by the doctor—and she wakes up for only a few moments of the day.
All these secrets that have been revealed are having just as much of a toll on her as it is on us.
As we continue walking, we find ourselves face-to-face with Dario instead.
“Is she well today?”
I ask him, a taunt perhaps as I try to create small talk, though I already know the answer.
Our doctor is onourpayroll, so he reports to us first, of course.
Before anything else can be said, Dario takes a step forward, his chest heaving with pure anger. His face is twisted,his eyes wide and wild as they dart between Nikolai and me. I don’t miss the way his fists are clenched so tightly that his knuckles have turned white, and the way his shoulders shake like he’s barely able to keep himself together.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?!” He shouts, his voice cracking under the weight of his fury. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? And what you’ve put my sister through?!”
Nikolai and I instinctively shift, moving so that we’re standing side by side.
It’s something we’ve done ever since we were only boys; present in a united front, always.
It doesn't matter how much I’m still reeling from everything Otets has revealed; the second that we’re challenged, we move in sync.
Dario glares at me first, his eyes blazing, and then at Nikolai, his lips curling.
“Do you guys really think it’s okay to take her like this? To keep her locked up here like she’s some kind of prisoner?!”
His voice rises with every word, trembling with emotion.