Page 218 of Toxic Temptation
“She received an anonymous tip about drug activity in the home and was all too eager to investigate.” Pavel shrugs. “Funny how these things work out, isn’t it?”
For the first time in months, the knot of tension in my shoulders loosens. Luka is safe. Yana can’t touch him. Ihor’s main source of power over us is broken.
I start to stride toward my car, but I pause when I realize that my brother and Osip aren’t following. “You aren’t coming back to the house?” I ask them.
They both grin. “This is family time,” Pavel answers for the two of them. “Go tell your kid and your girl the good news.”
Your kid. Your girl.
I fucking love how that sounds.
I find them in the living room. Or rather, what used to be the living room. They’ve transformed the entire space into an elaborate fort constructed from couch cushions, throw pillows, and bedsheets. Only their feet are visible, sticking out from under a sheet that serves as the roof.
“Engineering at its finest,” I call out.
“Kovan!” Vesper’s voice is muffled by fabric. The sheet roof collapses as both she and Luka scramble from their hideout.
Luka’s face is flushed with excitement and anxiety. “What happened? Did the judge decide? Do I get to stay?”
I pause, letting the moment stretch. This is the most important news I’ll ever deliver, and I want to remember every detail—Luka’s hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, Vesper holding her breath, the late afternoon sunlight turning the French doors into a dozen little squares of glowing gold.
“I got you,malysh. You’re mine now. Officially.”
“YES!” Luka launches himself at me, wrapping his arms around my waist with enough force to knock me backward. “I’m really yours? Forever?”
“Forever,” I confirm, lifting him off his feet in a crushing hug.
Vesper reaches us a second later, her arms circling my neck as she presses close. I can feel her trembling against me. When I look down, tears are streaming down her face.
“Happy tears,” she confirms before I have to ask. “The happiest.”
I hold them both, these two people who somehow became my entire world without me noticing. Luka’s excited chatter fills the air as he asks a dozen questions about what happens next, whether he needs to change schools, if Yana can ever take him away again.
They both cling to me as though I’m the buoy in a storm. But they’ve got it the wrong way around.
Because I’m starting to realize that I’m not their lifeline.
They’re mine.
75
VESPER
“Kovan Krayev, I did not squeeze myself into Spanx and four-inch heels for you to stare at your phone all night! Put it down before I throw it out the window.”
Three hours of preparation went into this look—hair, makeup, some absurdly complicated lingerie with way too many hooks and buckles. All so I could sit here and watch my boyfriend text his security team?
Nuh-uh. Not on my watch.
I scowl at him across the candlelit table. Kovan’s eyes flick up from his screen, and I watch his pupils dilate as they trace the low neckline of my strapless dress. The heat in his gaze makes my skin flush, but I’m not letting him off the hook that easily.
“Just checking on Luka,” he says.
“You’ve checked on him four times in the last half-hour.” I count off on my fingers. “Once with Waylen. Twice with Osip. And now, you’re texting… who exactly?”
“Pavel. He’s running perimeter security tonight.”
My eyes bug out. “For what, a nuclear launch? We’re at dinner, Kovan. In a restaurant. With other human beings, eating food and having normal conversations. We don’t need an army guarding every exit.”
