Page 58 of Oblivion
“Net, Katya. I couldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
He took a deep breath and slowly released the air. “Because he would’ve killed your sister if I'd tried to take you away back then.”
“Maya?”
“Yes, Maya.” He nodded. “I needed time to figure out how to protect you all. I needed time,moy malen'kiy drakon,” he murmured. “That’s why I’m here. I want to tell you everything.”
“I-I,” I mumbled. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Just hear me out. Yeah? And if you want me to get out of your life, I will try to respect your wishes.”
“So, you’re not here to kill me?”
He started laughing. “Definitely not. Killing my brother was the best thing you ever did.”
Well, holy fucking shit.
* * *
Five pairsof eyes were plastered to me, and I tried to avoid each and every one of them, fidgeting on the couch in the living room, while Kaiser sat on the floor, right in front of me.
Lazar, my uncle—no,my father—sat on the opposite side, staring at me, waiting for me to say something. But the words weren’t coming, and I needed a minute to process everything he'd said.
He and my mother were together before Nikolai and my mother? Nikolai got her hooked on drugs, got her pregnant with Theo, and swept her away to the US, keeping her away from Lazar.
“So,” I started, swallowing the nerves wrapped around my throat. “You’re telling me that almost everything I ever knew was a lie?”
“No, not everything. But most of the things.”
“I was born in Saint Petersburg?” I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. “And my mom managed to run away from Nikolai?”
“Da,” he answered.
“But a few months after I was born, he found her and took us all back to Croyford Bay?”
“Da,” he simply confirmed, as if what he'd just told me wasn’t something that changed everything I ever knew.
“I just—” I started, but stopped myself, closing my eyes. “I can’t believe all of this. You’re telling me you’re my father. You’re saying that the father I always knew wasn’t my real dad, and that the reason he behaved that way with me was because he was trying to get back at you?”
“I’m sorry, Katya.”
“Your sorry isn’t cutting it right now, old man,” I gritted out. “Do you have any idea what I went through?” I asked him, anger like I had never felt before, boiling in my veins. “He took everything from me. My youth, my innocence, my fucking mind!” I bellowed. “He destroyed me, and you’re telling me that you didn’t even try to—”
I couldn’t even say it.
“I fucked up, Ophelia. I know that.”
“So, you want me to forgive you? Is that why you’re here?” He winced as if I'd physically slapped him, but I couldn’t care about his feelings right now when my brain was still trying to connect all the dots.
“No, that’s not why I’m here.”
“Why then?” I yelled out.
“Because I wanted you to know the truth.” He stood up and walked toward the window. “I’ve been looking for you, but it was as if you fell down a rabbit hole. No matter what I did, you were nowhere to be found.”
“I was hiding! I was trying to survive. I did things I never should’ve done, and I did it all so that I wouldn’t get killed by the big bad Syndicate. And you’re telling me that all that time I’ve spent in hiding was for nothing, because my father wasn’t really controlling the real Syndicate?”
