Page 121 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

“I did.”

“Dad had you kill his own sister?”

Silence unfolded in the kitchen as we all sat with the truth.

“You’ve been trying to make up for it for years.” I set the orange down and brushed my sticky hands off on my skirt. “Six years ago, you sent Victor here to hide. You arranged for him to leave the country, but he stayed with me. And at Irina’s excommunication, you heard what he called me. That’s why you agreed to kill your father.”

“Not just him. My family owes you, too. I figured if Victor worked security for the girl his father once kidnapped, that would somehow cancel out a small percentage of the debt.”

“I need to…” I couldn’t breathe. My throat was being wired shut. “I need… I need…”

“You need to go Paris,” Irina said, “before Dad figures out what Luka did today. It’s going to be history repeating itself.”

“I can’t.”

“Just live stream the whole thing,” Irina said.

“I can have the jet ready in an hour,” Beck offered.

“No, no, I can’t. Every single time I try to help, things go wrong. Iliterallycan’t. People die wherever I go.”

“Have you not been listening?” Irina grunted. “Our fathers - yours, mine, Victor’s - they set up the game board for us years ago. God, I’m so tired of this. It’s time we wipe their pieces off the board.”

“She’s right,” Del whispered and reached over to squeeze my hand, “you and Victor got caught up in a fight that has nothing to do with you. I mean, have you ever killed someone?”

“What? No. Of course not.”

“Have you ever given the order to kill someone?”

“No.”

“Okay. Have you willfully made decisionsknowingthey would get someone killed?”

“No, but they still-”

“You’re not a butterfly causing a tornado.” Del shook her head. “Free will is a thing. People make decisions that have nothing to do with you. Last year, when Julian tried to take over your dad’s company by force, that was his choice. He decided to hurt you and me. That decision cost him his life. Youpersonallyhad nothing to do with that. In fact, we’re pretty sure he’s hurt someone else before.” She bit her lip and looked over her shoulder at Beck. He nodded without taking his eyes off her. “He got away with it once, so he decided to try again. This time, Victor just stopped him before it could end badly for either one of us. Julian’s the one who chose violence. Not you.”

“So what? I just have really bad luck?”

“Well, you were born with a big fat diamond spoon in your mouth,” Irina grabbed the orange and stated peeling it, “so that kinda stacked the odds against you as a target for violent extortion.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered, “I don’t even know what to do.”

“I’m coming with you,” Irina said, “I did promise Victor that I’d look after you, and I’ve always wanted to see the Sistine Chapel.”

“Dude, that’s not Paris,” Luka muttered.

“What’s the Paris one?”

“Notre-Dame, but that burned down. Like, you can’t go.”

“It burned down? What? When?”

“Guys, please.” I was about to say something unkind when Luka smirked and nodded at me. Oh, they were good.My chest tightened as I finally understood how Victor and his cousins had survived all those years. “We’re not going sightseeing in Paris.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

My uncle keptmy phone under lock and key, and I didn’t get a second unsupervised. Even when I went to the goddamn bathroom in the hotel restaurant, one of Petya’s men stood outside the stall. Whatever it took to keep his 6-foot-tall Russian secret.

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