Page 17 of Conquer
Chapter Six
Idon’t know how, but I must fall asleep because I startle to awareness as a shadow falls over me. It’s cast by a suit jacket, I realize, one someone is in the process of draping over me. My eyes drift up, spotting a beautiful face, so haggard my heart aches in sympathy. No man should carry such scars so openly—such pain.
But then I blink, and reality comes surging back. I remember, and I nearly fall off the lounger in my rush to get away from him.
“Don’t touch me!”
“I apologize.” Vadim recoils, his expression shifting, his wall lifting. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He sounds so damn defensive. As if I don’t have the right to shrug off his jacket and lurch to my feet, marching as far from him as the terrace space will allow.
Only now—as my legs buckle beneath me—do I realize that I’m freezing. That my fingers are numb, my teeth chattering so fiercely my jaw aches.
“You can have the bed,” Vadim says, his tone eerily level. Ice. “I’ll sleep in my office—”
“I don’t want to sleep anywhere you’ve been,” I hiss.
He nods. “I’ll have a guest bedroom made up for you, then.”
“Fuck off!” I cross my arms, storming to the end of the pool. “I’m sure you’re so twisted in the head that you think I’d rather freeze to death on purpose. Catch a cold like I supposedly infected Magda?”
From the corner of my eye, I see him flinch as if struck. “I’m sorry,” he grates. “I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t talk to me about mean! I will never forgive you for this. Never.” My eyes burn, and the desperate need to salvage my pride makes me reckless enough to risk adding, “So I hope you’re prepared to do long-distance parenting.”
My threat takes a second to register. The moment it does, his entire posture shifts, his height lengthening, eyes narrowing. “Long-distance?”
I shiver at the subtle way his voice drops a dangerous octave.
“How is Magda?” I demand, picking another battle to fight—the one regarding my leaving can wait. Preferably when my bags are already packed and a plane ticket booked. Even now, I still hear his voice, persistent.You haven’t asked yourself, will I let you go?
I’m trapped in the memory—and now his past words feel more of a threat than anything else.
“She’s fine,” Vadim says, drawing my attention back to him. “The doctor believes it is a minor infection, but given her history, they decided to monitor her more carefully. She’s improving, at least. If her vital signs are stable by the morning, and if she continues to take her antibiotic, she can be discharged within a few days.”
“Good.” I suck in a breath and face him fully, squaring my shoulders. Screw waiting. Reclaiming my independence is now or never. “Because when she’s out of the hospital, I’m going back to California.”
I can’t explain the way his expression shifts. It’s like watching a violent storm roll across the landscape. His eyes flash, posture sways, voice booming like thunder.
“So, youstillleave—”
“Leaving you, yes,” I say nastily. “But you wanted me to have joint custody of Magda? Well, you got your wish, because I’m taking her with me. One week. I’ll bring her back after that, but that’s how we’ll do this from now on. I can’t live with you anymore.”
His eyes turn so damn cold I stiffen in the face of his anger. But suddenly, he deflates. Boneless, he staggers to a nearby chair and collapses onto the end of it. Both hands shake as he tears them through his hair, sending the dark curls flying in every direction. “You would take her from me?”
He sounds so damn hurt at the mere prospect. So wounded, that even in my rage I can’t relish in causing him this kind of pain.
“No. I’m not taking her from you. But you wanted me to be a mother to her? This is what happens when there is no trust between two parents. They separate. I want to go home. You forced me into this. Besides, don’t my parents deserve to meet the new grandchild they had no clue existed when I left? Magda deserves to spend time with me, in my home. Or was that all a lie, and all you wanted was yet another toy in your game?”
“No!” He forms a first, slamming it onto the cushioned surface beneath him. “Fine. You want to take her? Fine. You want to leave me?Fine.But then admit it. All you wanted from me was to take, wasn’t it? My money. My lust. Now my child—”
“No!” I’m blinking rapidly, but nothing can stop the tears from falling. “I wanted to love you! I could have if you just trusted me! Gave me time, like I asked.”
It terrifies me to realize how close I’d been to getting there. Falling in love with him. Only now can I admit it to myself.
All along, I’d been on the edge of abandon.
“Youruined us, not me.” I push past him and storm into the house. I navigate the layout in a blur and find Ena waiting for me out front, already in the driver’s seat of the gray car. When I slip into the backseat, Vadim appears in the doorway of the house, his expression stricken.
I watch him as the car finally pulls off, but I fight back any more tears and angrily swipe away those already fallen. By the time I reach the hospital, I’ve nearly regained my composure, and when I enter Magda’s room, I’m my charming, carefree self once more.
