Page 68 of Legacy
The silence stretches, like a void between telephones, I can hear her soft breaths on the receiver throwing me back to our time together, when her lips were my home.
She exhales.
“Why?”
It’s so quiet I almost miss it.
“Why what?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady, ignoring the painful clenching in my chest.
“Why now, Angelo? After all these years...”
Her voice trails off and I can hear the hurt and confusion in her words.
I exhale slowly, shutting my eyes as I lean back in my chair.
“It’s...complicated.”
That’s all I can say.
I can’t explain anything to her right now.
Not over the phone.
“I see,” she replies, her voice hot with rage.
Damn it.
“Well then, when it becomesuncomplicated,let me know.”
The line goes dead and all I’m left with is a hollow feeling in my chest and the echo of her voice in my ears.
Even angry, her voice pulls a shiver down my spine. I’ve missed her. Dio, I want her here.
But I can’t have her. Not until the blood dries and the war ends. Until then, she’s the echo I carry.
The sin I haven’t earned back.
Present Day
I haven’t spoken to my brother since the Armenians attacked his wife.
He lays the blame squarely at my feet.
Maybe he should.
But it was her family—herfather’s dealings with the Armenians—that put her in their crosshairs. This wasn’t on me. It wasn’t my fault.
But I still hold guilt.
I love Piccola.Tiny.Vasilisa.
She’s my cognata and she holds a special place in my heart, and the weight of what happened to her gnaws at my conscience, but I can’t tell her or Santo.
I can’t tell them what Maksim and I did.
Not without betraying Maksim.
So, for now, my brother will ignore me, but not today.
