Page 68 of Wicked Refusal

I roll my eyes and grab my suitcase. Rurik handled our clandestine casinos—that means it’ll be all hands on deck just to figure out the cash flow. Slavik would have come in handy for this, since he was the one who laundered it all, but we’ll have to make do with his records instead. Hopefully, the Volkov twins didn’t fuck up on their end. As long as Zhenya’s got her debtor ledger and Anton his client list for party favors, we’ll be fine.

For now.

I’m debating whether to head to the casinos myself or send someone else to run point, when my phone buzzes in my hand. A text—from Mia.

The second I read it, my blood turns to ice.

23

MIA

After a late lunch of leftover pancakes and bacon, I head out with Nikita to pick up Eli. It’s a little early, but I don’t feel like staying cooped up after everything that happened this morning, so Nikita offers to drive me over and take a walk with me around the school block.

“This way, you can dig a hole in the grass instead of Yulian’s hardwood floors,” she says. “Besides, Desya’s not gonna shoot you. Where would be the fun in that?”

An unsettling note to head out on, but honestly, I’m just glad for the fresh air.

Then, somehow, I end up venting about my sister.

“—and then she said she didn’t think I evenhada kid!”

Nikita gasps. “She did not.”

“Well, not in so many words, but yeah. She absolutely did.”

“Bitch.”

On an ordinary day, I’d defend Ginny from any insult, but right now, Nikita’s word of choice is feeling pretty accurate.

Sadness twists my stomach. Growing up, Ginny and I were inseparable. We’d climb trees, prank the tourists in the summer, go skinny dipping at midnight. She was my little shadow, always trailing after me.

Now, she hates my guts.

Why wouldn’t she?asks the bitter voice of my conscience.You left her. You left them all, remember?

Of course I remember. There’s no way I could ever forget her broken-hearted expression when she found me packing in the middle of the night. She’s younger than me by three years, which means she was still finishing up high school then.

She begged me not to leave. Then, when she realized it’d be pointless, she pleaded with me to take her, too. Said she’d help with the baby, with my studies, with everything.

But I couldn’t let her do that. Couldn’t condemn my little sister to a life on the run just because of my stupid choices. She’d make smarter ones—she had to.

“Take care of Mom and Dad,”I told her that night.“I need you to stay with them, okay? For me. I promise, I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

That was five years ago.

Today’s Ginny was a different person entirely. Cynical, bitter, hurtful. That sweet little sister I left behind was nowhere. And all those pills Mom and Dad were taking…

They’re aging.The realization slams into me like a truck on a highway.They’ve grown old without you. Those five years you threw away? You’re never getting them back. Ever.

Tears gather at the corners of my eyes, but I quickly wipe them away. The last thing I need is for Nikita to see me as a burden, too.

Because by now, Yulian sure as hell thinks so, doesn’t he?

I’ve had messy days in my life, but never like this. The letter from the courthouse, and then my family showing up out of the blue—it was chaos. I feel like a stray Yulian brought home, only for it to infest the place with fleas.

Is it really any wonder if he dumps me back on the side of the road after this?

“You’re being quiet.”