Page 57 of Oblivion
“Well, I could try.”
“You could.” He nodded. “And you could suffer your whole life, because that isn’t who you really are.”
“You don’t really know me, so you can’t really speak for me.”
“Don’t I?” He tilted his head to the side. “I know you. I know you better than you would think.”
I didn’t have time for this and I hated the way he kept looking at me, perusing me, dissecting me. The last time I saw him was more than five years ago, when I last visited Siberia. When my father threw me outside into the snow, into the winter, while my back bled out and my soul cracked apart.
This social call of his was not needed.
“If you’re not here to kill me—”
“I’m not,” he interrupted.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I understand that you don’t, but I am not here to kill you, Katya. I would never do that.”
“Why’s that?” I took a step forward and Kaiser followed my lead. “And don’t give me some bullshit excuse about us being a family. I’ve met more enemies than friends carrying my own blood.”
“Ophelia.” He said my name almost like a prayer. “I am not here to kill you.”
“Why?” I argued. “I killed your brother. I betrayed The Syndicate. You know better than anybody else what the punishment for that is.”
“Da, I do know. I know because I executed men and women for betraying us, but you didn’t betray The Syndicate.” He smiled. The motherfucker smiled. “You betrayed my brother, who, let’s be honest, wasn’t a man worthy of living.”
“I don’t understand.”
He looked back at the three soldiers standing behind him, and with one move of his head, dismissed them and looked back at me.
“Do you know who gave you your name?” he asked as he sat down on the staircase, placing his elbows on his knees.
“My father,” I mumbled. “I already know this story. The moment he saw me, he—”
“He gave you the name worthy of an empress, of a queen. He loved you so much. He would’ve done anything for you.”
“Yes, yes, save me the sentiments. My father never loved me. He only wanted to use me.”
“Da, Nikolai used you.” He scowled as soon as he said his name. “But he isn’t the one who gave you your name. Your father did.” He stood up as I frowned at him. “Your real father.”
“N-No,” I took a step backward. “That’s not… What are you talking about?”
“You see, Ophelia, I could never kill you.” His facial expression softened as he kept coming toward me. “Moy malen'kiy drakon,” he murmured.Hislittle dragon? “I could never kill my own daughter.”
No.
That’s impossible.
“You’re lying,” I whispered. “You’re fucking lying.”
“I never lied to you,malysh. I never could.”
“B-But… Nikolai… He,” I stammered, my eyes wide and frightened. “He—”
“He used you against me. He used your mother as well. But you…” he stopped approaching me right in front of Kaiser. “He always knew that I would do anything for you. For my only child. He knew I would stay back in Europe, letting him have everything else. And he tortured you for my sins.Mne zhal', Katya.” This couldn’t be. “I’m sorry for everything, but he had the most important person in my life and he was using you.”
“But, in Siberia…” I trailed off, trying to remember everything. “You could’ve saved me back there.”
