Page 126 of Nine Months to Love

“You still had a place. I offered you one.”

“As what? Your lapdog?”

“As my brother-in-arms.” The word tastes strange in my mouth, but to my surprise, I mean it. “I wanted us to work together. If we’d stuck together, we would’ve had the chance to build something better than what our fathers had.”

“I didn’t want your fucking pity,” he spits, pounding the table with one fist.

I pick up my coffee cup again. It’s still warm. “Maybe not. But I know what I saw in you back then:loyalty.”

“Loyalty to my father,” he corrects. “Not to you.”

“Your father was dead. That meant you had a choice: move forward or stay stuck in the past. You chose wrong.”

“I chose to remember who I am.”

“And where has that gotten you?” I gesture around the kitchen. “A nice apartment. A pretty girlfriend who teaches second grade. A quiet life.”

“It’s more than you’ll ever have.”

“Is it?” I ask. “I have a woman I love. A child on the way.”

“What you have is a fucking target on your back,brother,” he says with a vicious sneer. “So many people want you dead. I’m not the only one. How long do you think you can keep your loved ones safe?”

“As long as I have to.”

“Even from your own mother?”

“Especially from her.”

Iakov leans back in his chair. “She really did a number on you.” He shakes his head. “You’re just like her. You know that?”

Taras clears his throat when he senses my rage building. “Stef, we should go.”

I ignore him. “Where is she, Iakov? I need to know.”

“I told you already: I don’t know.”

“When did you last see her?”

“Two weeks ago. She came by and dropped off some money. Said she had business to handle.”

“What kind of business?”

“She didn’t say. And I didn’t ask.”

“Did she mention Olivia? My child?”

“No.”

I watch his face. He’s telling the truth. Or at least he thinks he is.

“If she contacts you again,” I say, “you tell me. Immediately.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because if anything happens to Olivia or my child, I will burn this building to the ground with you and Arielle inside it.”

His face goes pale. “You wouldn’t.”