Page 5 of Dissolving Prejudice

“Your boss?” He gave me a questioning brow.

Clearly, my lame answer was far from enough.

“Yeah.”

“Is he one of those criminals Soren’s working with?”

My chest tightened because I was one of those criminals. Unwillingly and without looking into Andrei’s eyes, I nodded.

“Un-fucking-believable.” He huffed, sounding so fucking disappointed. Leaning forward, he rubbed his face with his palm before letting out a deep sigh. He then looked up, his gaze pinned on the wall facing us. “All those years you were gone… I hoped you’d chosen a better life for yourself.”

His words were harsh but true nonetheless. His disappointment in me was like a knife to the gut, and only because it was nothing if not justified. I already hated myself for what I was doing, and hearing him say that… sucked. It was the confirmation I feared since I had no doubt that Shay-Lee would think the same way. By choosing to break the law and get even with Christian, I screwed up. Big-time.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked after I kept quiet, his impatience vivid through his low voice.

“What’s there to say? I fucked up and ended up just like those losers we grew up with.”

“But why?” Andrei finally turned to look at me.

I understood his need to know the answer to this question. I saw the curiosity burning in his eyes and remembered all those times he tried reaching out to me. My sudden disappearance probably kept him awake some nights. And even though I wanted to save Andrei from the misery of not knowing what made me leave four long years ago, I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell him about the deal I made with Dion. I couldn’t tell him about the crap I had done for that despicable man, and mostly, I couldn’t tell him how I murdered a man with my bare hands in such a savage way that it still haunted me to this day.

So, instead of telling Andrei the truth I knew would frighten him, as it frightened me, I went for the simple version. “Because I’m an idiot, that’s why.” I rubbed my jaw before turning to face him. “But I’m done with it. I swear, I’m so over this crap.”

Andrei held my gaze, and I feared he might think I was bullshitting him, but then, he nodded with a barely there smile on his lips. “You mean it?”

My throat dried up, and I swallowed hard. So much had happened in the past couple of hours, and while I was still trying to process it all, I couldn’t help but be thrilled about finally being free from Dion—or at least almost free.

“I do.” I nodded, thinking about all the things I’d finally be able to do. And on top of that list, without a doubt, would be seeing him. Shay-Lee, the guy who hadn’t left my mind for one second ever since we parted ways. The missing piece of my shattered heart.

Andrei’s hand landed on my shoulder, the touch snapping me out of my thoughts. “I fucking hate you for leaving,” he said a moment before he pulled me into a hug. “But I missed you, man.”

Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms around him. It was the first time in years I’d felt this type of warmth, the physical warmth of a brother, and I missed it so fucking bad. It was hard to let go, but I did anyway, and we both took a moment to get over this emotional crap. Obviously, we had a long way ahead of us to get back to being the friends we once were, although I doubted we’d ever be the same. Too much shit had happened, and we weren’t the same kids we once were.

At least, I wasn’t.

“Where’s the others?” I asked Andrei, who was busy texting someone.

Still typing, he answered me. “Since Mel’s on a trip in Miami”—Mel was Chief’s mom—“Jessie and Levi stayed home to watch the kids. I just texted Levi, letting him know Soren was out of danger.”

Kids?

“I guess Soren’s family will come here soon. Do you want to stay and meet them? They’re rather nice. A bit pretentious, but nice. His younger brother is a professional racing driver. Actually, maybe you have heard of him, Sean Dane?”

Andrei was blowing my mind with information, and even though that comment about Soren’s brother sounded cool, my brain got stuck on a completely different fact he dropped like a bomb.

“Kids? What kids?” I asked, cutting into his ongoing speech about Soren’s older brother, who was some famous surgeon.

Andrei seemed confused until realization hit him, and he smiled like a jackass.

“You don’t know?” He opened his phone and searched for something in it before handing me the device.

The screen showed a photo of Chief with two gorgeous little kids, building a sand castle on the beach. Chief sat with a cute dark-haired baby boy in his arms while next to him was a girl, slightly older than her brother, with hazelnut hair and the brightest pair of green eyes I’d ever seen. “That’s June. She just turned two last month,” he said proudly while pointing at the girl. “And this is Cyrus. He’s eight months old.” Now, he was talking about the little boy. Unlike his sister, Cyrus had black hair, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks that made you want to squeeze them. I loved kids just as much as I loved animals, if not more, and my heart fucking melted at this picture. It was the definition of purity and joy, and suddenly, I felt like such a sucker.

“Since we’re here, Chief asked Jess and Levi to watch them. Jess makes the best sitter in the whole world, so hopefully, he’ll be able to distract them from worry.”

“Do they know what happened?” I asked, handing Andrei his phone back.

He took it from me while shaking his head. “Of course not. They’re too young to understand why their daddy is in the hospital, but you know, kids notice when things are off.”