Page 7 of Nine Months to Love

Taras gawks at me. “You really do love her.”

“I—” We’ll never find out how that sentence was meant to end, because I kill it before it can get that far. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. What matters is getting her back safely.”

“Right.” He drops the cigarette and crushes it under his heel. “So what’s the plan? Torture Mikayla until she talks?”

“She won’t break.”

“Everyone breaks eventually.”

“Not Mikayla. She’s...” I think of all the times I’ve seen her work and know beyond any doubt that I’m right on this one. “She’s different.”

“Then what?”

I look back at the door. Behind it, Mikayla sits chained and defiant. Somewhere out there, Olivia is with my mother. If my mother is even alive. If any of this is real.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you better figure out a plan fast. Every minute she’s gone is another minute for them to poison her against you.”

He’s right. I know he’s fucking right. But for the first time in my life, I’m paralyzed.

“What if Mikayla’s telling the truth?” I rasp. “What if my mother is alive?”

“Then you’ve got bigger problems than a missing girlfriend.”

“What could she want after all this time? Why stay dead until now?”

“To meet her grandkid or to get revenge, maybe. Maybe she drew a Tarot card and it told her the stars have aligned for her to return from the grave. Or, shit, I dunno—maybe she’s just as fucked up as the rest of your family.” He shrugs. “Does it matter?”

It does. It matters because if my mother is alive, everything I believed about myself is a lie. Every choice I made, every justification for becoming what I am—it’s all built on something that might not even be real.

“Stefan.” Taras grabs my shoulder. “Focus. Olivia first. Everything else can wait.”

Once again, he’s right. I take a breath, force myself to think clearly.

“We need to find them. Fast.”

“Agreed. How?”

“I don’t know yet. But Mikayla’s the key. She knows where they are.”

“And she’s not talking.”

“Not yet.” I look at the door again. “But everyone has a breaking point. Even her.”

“You just said?—”

“I know what I said. I was wrong.” I straighten up. “I need time to think.”

Taras nods and heads off. I stand alone in the hallway, listening to the silence. Somewhere, Olivia is wondering where I am. If I’m coming for her. If she wants me to.

I will find her. I will bring her home. And then...

Then I’ll tell her everything. No more lies. No more games. Just truth, even if it destroys us.

Because Taras is right about one thing: I do love her. And that changes everything.

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