Rodion placed his hands on my shoulders and rubbed me. “It wasn’t something to worry you.”
“No, wait.” I stepped back. “My father was shot, and you’re telling me like it’s nothing? Like, I shouldn’t feel anything justbecause you said he’s fine? No wonder everyone’s been avoiding me.”
I fumbled for my phone and dialed my father’s number.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling my father.”
Rodion took the phone from my hand and ended the call. “He is fine.”
Anger seared through me. “I need to talk to him.”
“I said he is fine.”
“He is my father.” My voice broke, rising toward a scream. “And right now I’m trying not to lose it, so give me the phone.”
He didn’t move. His silence weighed more than shouting. I hated how he controlled everything, how it had to bend his way.
“I don’t like this,” I hissed. “I hate that you’re telling me now and that everyone is hiding it while I’m left worried sick, wondering what I did wrong.”
My breath shuddered.
“This feels the same,” I whispered. “When my parents fought every night, they never thought about what it did to me. And now it’s the same. You, Carina, them—you treat me like a child. I’m twenty-four. I deserved to know.” Tears blurred my vision. Maybe I was crying because if Papa had died, if he’d been critical, they’d have told me only when it was too late.
“I don’t like it,” I whispered again, turning away. If my outburst angered him, good. Let him be the Rodion everyone feared.
His voice dropped. “Have you ever asked them?”
I frowned, still facing away. “Ask them what?”
“Why would they fight?”
“Does it matter? Would they have told me? They’re hiding this now, just like they always did.”
Rodion stepped close, one arm sliding around my waist. He drew me against his chest and leaned into my ear. “You need tolearn to ask.”
“That’s what I was doing before you took the phone.”
“You kept quiet when they were fighting.” His lips brushed my ear. “And now, you suspect something is off, but did you ask?”
I never had. And if I did, would they have answered?
“Sometimes they need what you have shown me.” His teeth grazed my earlobe, making me tense. “You are cute when you yell, you know that?”
“This isn’t helping. I’m still mad.”
“I know.” His mouth traced along my jawline, unbothered.
“They should have told me. You should have told me.”
He chuckled. “Sometimes anger is necessary. It reminds them you are not a child.”
Silence weighed between us. The truth was, I had always been afraid to know why they fought. Afraid they would tell me the love I had believed in was gone. It was easier to pretend it didn’t matter, to run to Carina and hide.
“What if Papa was cheating? What if it were another woman tearing them apart? Mamma doesn’t deserve that. I couldn’t take it.”
“Little Gem, women cheat too.”