Page 45 of Mafia and Scars

“Where…”

“Just next door,” Viktor answers as he stands, tucking the book under his arm. “You need to sleep uninterrupted as per the doctor’s orders. I set up a guest room next door.”

“Oh, okay.” And I know I’ll be able to hear if Leon cries in the night or if Sofia needs me, although that mom guilt gets me a little again. I remind myself that I can’t afford a relapse, and I definitely can’t afford Child Protective Services taking the kids away from me.

Viktor swallows before he folds an extra blanket over his arm, gesturing for me to put Leon there. I frown a little, but I gently lay the sleeping baby onto the blanket. Viktor’s lip curls slightly. “Get some sleep,” he orders. His voice sounds raspy, and that shouldn’t make my stomach flutter, but it does. I shake the thought away as he guides Sofia and Leon out the door, leaving it just ajar.

Queenie pads over and nestles into the warm spot on the bed where Sofia was sitting a few moments ago, and my eyes flutter close.

Some time passes—a few minutes?—when heavy footsteps and a sharp voice hit my ears from where the door is ajar.

I jerk fully awake. My body tenses on reflex.

“For fuck’s sake!” The low tone is familiar. I realize it’s Grigory, the one who accused me of being a bad mother. My fingers curl into the comforter, the knuckles whitening. “Don’t fucking tell me Geliy and that woman dumped their kids on us again, Viktor.”

I strain to hear. “No. She didn’tdumpher kids on anyone,” Viktor grits out.

“Then what the fuck are they doing here?” Grigory snarls.

“I offered them a place to stay.”

A long pause and then a Russian curse. “Why?” Grigory snaps.

“She’s sick…and needed the help.”

I swallow, bracing for Grigory to march in and tell me and the kids to get the hell out. I can’t blame him for being upset. Geliy’s way of parenting could make even the most gracious host irritated.There’s another long sigh, and I see a flicker of shadow from the door.

“You better not let it be a complete shitshow like the fucking last week, alright?” he hisses at Viktor.

Grigory’s heavy footsteps sound again, and I half expect them to head toward me, but then they pass and fade into the distance.

It could have been worse, I suppose. As I release the breath I’ve been holding, Viktor fills the threshold of the door.

For a moment, we just look at each other. Or rather, I look at him. He looks everywhere but my eyes, like he can’t quite hold eye contact.

“You heard?” he murmurs.

I nod.

“I…” He sighs, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I’m sorry about Grigory.”

“It’s okay. Really.”

Again, he shifts his weight before moving into the room. His movements are jerky, stiff. I can’t tell if he’s agitated or uncomfortable. The expression on his face doesn’t tell me much either. “It’s not okay. And I’m sorry too for what he said when you first arrived.”

I suck in a sharp breath. When Grigory accused me of dumping the kids on them so that I could go gallivanting off on vacation, the words really stung. “Apology accepted.” A smile spreads across my face. “I guess given how he and I met, it could have been worse, right?”

Viktor blinks at me. “He shouldn’t have said it. You clearly care about your kids. You work hard to support them. Grigory was out of line.”

I pause, unsure what to say to that. I love my children. I’d do anything for them. Even if it means working myself to an early grave. They are my world and deserve it. “It’s water under the bridge now, really.” And I mean it—because I prefer to just move on from stuff like that and move forward.

Viktor gives a slight grunt as he stands awkwardly in the middle of the room. With me taking over his room, I wonder where he’ll be sleeping tonight, but I don’t ask him. He shifts on his feet again, and I try to tell myself it’s not because of me. That his avoidance andshifting are just because he’s socially awkward with people. Not everyone is outgoing and vibrant.

“You should sleep,” he says, and he leaves, shutting the door behind him.

A pang of disappointment races through me, but I shove it away. There’s no reason to be disappointed that he’s leaving or that I don’t get to talk to him a little longer. He isn’t doing this because he likes me or the kids.This is a debt he’s repaying to Geliy. He’s made that very clear.

But…there was nothing making him apologize for what Grigory said. And I start wondering why he did that.