Page 16 of Scarred Angel

“You should have let me finish him off.”

I stop just shy of the elevator doors. It takes her three steps to realize I’m not following. She slows but doesn’t turn around.

“I don’t give a damn about that bastard,” I say, exhaling slowly. “I’ll kill him myself. But you can’t be messy, Mom. You’re not part of the organization anymore. You haven’t been for years. They won’t take up for you the way they did. Cameras and cell phones are everywhere now. And you’re not?—”

“What? Young? The same woman I used to be?”

“Untouchable.” I wrap her in a hug. “Don’t let him get to you. He’s always been a miserable piece of shit, and he’ll die like one. I’ll make sure of that.”

She’s quiet for a moment, then tugs me forward. “Come on. Val is waiting.”

We ride the elevator in silence. She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and I can sense something is off. I think about asking, but before I can, the doors part and she steps out without hesitation. I follow, deciding to save the question for later.

At Valentina’s door, I press the black button, knuckles resting against my chest as an uneasy twist settles in.

Derek Cain doesn’t need to open the door to know we’re here. I’d bet every inch of Valentina’s condo is wired to the teeth—cameras, mics, motion sensors, the whole damn fortress. Probably has eyes within a five-block radius too. Can’t blame him for it.

Still, when the door finally cracks open, the only thing that greets us is Derek’s stone-cold stare…before he decides to be the petty bastard I knew he’d be and slams the steel door right in our faces.

“Son of a bitch. This is exactly why I never leave home without my lucky blade—in case I run into Derek and he pisses me off.”

Mom pounds on the door twice, raises her fist for a third, and it swings open.

Not Derek this time. Valentina.

She’s smiling, but the tightness in my chest spikes when I see her on crutches, a boot covering her left leg below the knee.

“Maksim!” She shuffles forward, props one crutch against the wall, and wraps an arm around my waist. “Please excuse my dad; he didn’t know it was you,” she says with a soft laugh, looking up at me through her lashes. I return the hug, my hand brushing her back, automatic, familiar, and suddenly…not. Something in the air shifts, and I can’t decide if it’s her or me.

Another subject I file away for later.

“I’m sure that’s what happened,” I say, catching Derek’s narrow-eyed stare.

He and I have always gotten along great, and bygreat, I mean we’ve spent years pretending the other doesn’t exist.

My family wasn’t perfect—shitty, actually—but they were mine. It was the only life I knew. Stable, in its own fucked-up way. Until the night the Cain brothers came knocking andturned it all on its head. A night I’ll never forget. Maybe because I don’t want to just yet.

“What? Am I invisible now that my son is back?”

Valentina gives me one last squeeze before turning to pull Mom into a hug. “Don’t be jealous,” she teases. “You know you’re my favorite Aunt Leni.”

“I’m going to need you to pause a little longer before my name, sweetheart. Commas matter.”

“Would you prefer she lie to you?”

Amalia’s voice glides in from the end of the foyer, her red lips curved into a knowing smirk. “Hola, Maksim.”

Despite my complicated history with the Cain brothers, Amalia and Eva have always shown me nothing but grace, affection that never felt conditional. I’ll always owe them for that.

“I was just asking about you,” Amalia says, pulling me into a hug. I let her.

The constant touch and affection are something I’ll have to get used to again.

“I meant to swing by earlier”—I turn, meeting Valentina’s eyes—“but I got caught up in some things.”

Valentina gives me a quick, sympathetic smile. Derek scoffs and drags a hand over his greying chin.

“You brought your work back with you, Belov?” His eyes drop to the tiny blood spatters on my shirt, the residue from when Mom put her blade into Konstantin’s thigh.