Skimming my nose down hers, I whispered against her smiling mouth, “Ya tebya lyublyu, dorogoy.”
I’d never told anyone that I loved them before, not even to my family. We already knew it was a fact, so the words were unnecessary when the actions proved it daily.
But it felt imperative I say it to Nell, and I couldn’t have held back the words even if I’d wanted to.
“I don’t know what that means,” she said softly, shrugging a shoulder. “But it sounds pretty, so I don’t mind.”
Nipping her lower lip, I stood up and placed her on her feet. “One day you’ll know, baby. But until then, can you promise to trust me?”
Taking my hand, she walked us over to where Walker had now woken his brother up, their little scrunched red faces showing how pissed off they were to be kept waiting.
I’d never seen anger look so beautiful before.
“Dad said there were reasons we didn’t know for what happened. Since then, I’ve started to remember things, that I’m wondering if they had something to do with it all.” She stopped and then sighed.
“I don’t know what’s going on, and it feels like I don’t have control over anything just now, but I can promise to trust you.”
Kissing her on the head, I helped her get the boys ready for their meal. It was such a normal thing to do, and entirely at odds with what was happening in our lives at that moment. But it was something that I needed to have before I faced the fuckery waiting for me.
All of this could have been taken away from me today.
And I couldn’t wait to let the people responsible know precisely how I’d felt hearing the gunshots. The best way to do that was through actions, though.
It wasn’t just an eye-for-an-eye, it was revenge pure and simple. In all ways possible.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nell
The men had gone out, leaving me and Lena home alone with the boys for the first time today.
At that moment, we were in the living room, watching a movie while the boys slept in their swings.
Taras wasn’t lying when he’d said he had everything they needed at the house. He’d bought exactly what I had for them and more, and that had been a comforting discovery.
He’d gone to great lengths to make sure they were part of his home, and that made it clear they were part of his life, regardless. It was a weird way of seeing things, but if he hadn’t cared that much about them, would he have done all of that?
Hell, he even had photos of their scans, and recent ones of them in his study—something we’d discovered when we’d gone snooping after they’d left.
Now that it was just us, though, I was going to get answers to a different line of questions. And Lena wasn’t going to get out of answering them.
“I think it’s about time you told me what’s going on with Hunter,” I said, turning on the couch to face her. “I keep asking you, and you keep avoiding answering or blow me off.”
Instead of making a joke or giving one of her standard flippant replies, Lena’s head dropped back on the couch so that she was staring at the ceiling.
“My home life wasn’t that great, Nell,” she told me sadly. “I mean, my brothers are awesome, and I love them to pieces, but my parents were—“ she paused, rubbing her face with both hands.
“I guess you could say they were strict, religious tyrants. They threw me out because they caught me making out with a guy from school, and called me a whore. If it hadn’t been for Bella’s family, I’d probably have been in a shelter or on the streets.”
Reaching over, I picked up her hand and squeezed it. “I’m so sorry, Lena. I knew you didn’t talk to them, and that you were close to Bella, but I didn’t know it was as bad as that.”
She huffed out a humorless laugh. “That’s just the tip of it, but it kind of covers the whole thing without reliving it all.” Then, she straightened up, and mirrored the way I was sitting on the couch to face me.
“Anyway, I called Bella after it happened, and her parents arranged a ticket for me to Florida to move in with them. I’d already graduated, and I just needed to find a job so I didn’t feel like I was a burden. You know?”
“Oh, that feeling I know well.”
I’d felt like it my whole life because Dad and Hunter had been so overprotective. And when they’d finally let me do jobs for the Club and to go there, I hadn’t felt like such a leech. Then again, my circumstances were due to love, whereas hers weren’t.
“I got a job working at a convenience store, nothing fancy, just sitting at the tills and stacking shelves. But one day we went to the beach, just me and Bella, to chill out and play volleyball with our friends. A scout saw me and approached, but I didn’t believe a word of what he was saying. I mean, you hear about things like that all the time, and the guy ends up being a pervert or murderer.”