Champagne Venom (Orlov Bratva, #1)(131)

Against his better judgment, he gives me a small, hopeful smile. “Good.”

Someone clears their throat in the doorway. Cyrille is standing there. I can tell by her glassy eyes that she was listening in.

“I thought you’d be elbow deep in video games by now, Ilya.”

“I’m going, I’m going, I’m going,” Ilya groans, getting to his feet. “Bye, Uncle Misha.”

“Goodbye, plemyannik.”

He leaves and Cyrille claims his place next to me. She folds her hands one on top of the other, takes a deep, steadying breath, and then looks at me calmly. “She’s not ready to speak to you today, Misha.”

I didn’t expect anything different, but I still have to swallow my knee-jerk anger and the disappointment that follows. “Very well. How’s she doing?”

“Some days, she’s okay. Other days…” She shakes her head sadly. “You really hurt her.”

I stay silent. Nothing good can come of admitting fault, not even now.

“Maksim used to tell me the same thing, you know,” she murmurs into the silence. “That he was the thoughtful one, you were the brave one, and Niki was the fearless one. He said Niki didn’t scare easily. Not like you.”

I frown. “He said I was scared?”

Cyrille lays it out for me. “Doing things when you’re scared is the bravest thing anyone can do.

Maksim said you were always terrified—but you did what needed to be done anyway.”

Then she puts her hand on my knee and looks me right in the eye and delivers the last of the knives in the back I didn’t know I’d come here today to receive.

“I just wonder when that changed.”





100

PAIGE

“Thanks for coming all this way for my check-up,” I tell Dr. Simone.

I’ve already thanked her several times, but Nessa’s house is pretty far from Misha’s mansion. As soon as I heard Misha is the one who bought his mother this house, I wondered if that distance was on purpose. As wonderful as Nessa is, no adult wants their mother breathing down their neck.

Dr. Simone smiles. “Of course. It’s not a bother at all.”

It feels like a bother. I feel like a bother. I’m living in someone else’s house, eating someone else’s food, being seen by a doctor I’m not paying for. I’m not used to being taken care of like this.

My whole life has trained me to expect a catch. For the other shoe to drop.

It’s coming now, any day. I’m sure of it.

She peels the blood pressure cuff off of my arm. “Everything looks peachy.”

“So the babies are fine?”

“Perfectly healthy. Twins immediately make you a high-risk pregnancy, but you really have nothing to worry about. They’re doing amazing. As are you.”

I breathe a sigh of relief and slide off the table.

Dr. Mathers is busy packing up; the only sounds in the room are her Velcro straps and the clink and clack of medical equipment. I try to control myself, to choke down the question burning a hole in my gut. If she had information for me, she’d let me know. Obviously.

But as she slings her bag over her shoulder, I can’t keep it in. “Did you happen to get the results of the paternity test back yet?”

Her brow furrows and she nods. “I did. A few days ago, actually. I handed the results to Misha myself.”

“Oh.”

She seems to misinterpret my silence. “I’m afraid I don’t know the results. I submit the samples and the results are delivered to me in a sealed envelope. I’m just the messenger, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, that’s not what I’m worried about. I already know what the results are.”

“I see.” She starts to smile, but then her eyes shift over my shoulder.

I hear the door open and expect it to be Cyrille or Nessa. But instead, I turn and am faced with the broad frame and surly frown of my husband.

His eyes find me first. It’s the first time we’ve seen each other in days, and I was anticipating fireworks. Or maybe a pipe bomb. But in typical Misha fashion, he is unreadable.

Unreadable—until he notices Simone in the room, that is. His eyes narrow in on her, panic creeping into his posture.

“What’s going on?” he demands. “Why are you here?”

“Don’t worry,” she says quickly, holding up her hands in a sign of peace. “Just a routine check-up.

Paige didn’t feel up to making the ride to the hospital, so I made a house call.”

“Everything is alright?”

“Everything is perfect. Both babies are doing well,” she informs him. “Any other questions for me, Paige?”

“No, none. Thank you again for coming.” I walk her to the door, avoiding Misha’s eyes.

The moment Simone leaves and the door is closed, I turn to him. “How did you get in here?”

“It wasn’t easy,” he admits. “I had to get past the guard dogs.”

“What do you mean? Your mother doesn’t own any dogs.”

“My sister and sister-in-law can be vicious when they want to be.”

I’m on the verge of cracking a smile when I manage to stop myself. No. He can’t just waltz into my life and pretend that he didn’t say all those horrible things to me.