So Over You (Chicago Rebels #2)(59)

“No.” A crystal clear voice rang behind him. “Your father never raised a hand to me.”

He turned to Victoria—he could not call her anything else, even in his own mind. She had abdicated all rights to the title of mother seventeen years ago.

“Alexei, could you give us a moment?” she asked in rusty but serviceable Russian.

With Alexei gone, Vadim searched for the most restrained thing he could think of. He refused to let her feed off his pain. “I know he was a difficult man, but you can’t reenter my life after so many years and expect open arms.”

“I understand. And I understand if you’re not ready to talk about any of it. But please know that not a day went by when I didn’t think of you, Vadim. The boy I loved—love—more than my own flesh.”

Evidently not, or she would have put up with whatever inconvenience his father had inflicted. A little distance from a rich and powerful man? Surely a small price to pay to be with the boy you claimed to love more than your own flesh.

Isobel would know what to say. How to handle this. But he couldn’t even trust her to stick around. She would rather foolishly put her life on the line instead of be here for him when he needed her.

Annoyed at his weakness, he cleared his throat and sought neutral ground. “How is Mia?”

“Sleeping. Her temperature’s still high but not as bad as before. She’ll be furious to miss your game, but perhaps she’ll be well enough to stay up and watch it on TV.”

“There is a media room on the other side of the house, but she might be more comfortable in the living room. I will move the TV in there.” He threw a glance that way, as if he needed to choose a place for the television right now. Looking directly at her was too painful. “Shouldn’t she be in school?”

“Yes, she should. But she stayed home with a sore throat this morning while I went to work. I didn’t even know she had left New York until Alexei called.” She crushed her hands together. “It’s hard to keep track of her sometimes.”

He was tempted to say she had chosen this life of single motherhood for herself, but he was tired and no longer in the jabbing mood.

“She is willful, that is for sure. This is good for a hockey player, not always so good in a daughter or sister.”

“I wouldn’t have her any other way. Her spirit, especially in light of all that’s happened to her, is awe-inspiring.”

They were silent for a moment, thinking on the illness that had brought Victoria back into his life and the girl they both loved who was trying to bridge the chasm between them. Existing fissures widened, and Vadim’s mind worked hard to plug every single one. He would not allow her in. And he especially would not allow their common denominator—Mia—to be used as a pawn, even if Mia had set this chess match in motion.

“I should go to sleep,” he said, though he doubted he would get much rest tonight.

She looked crushed, and he hated her for making him feel guilty.

“I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay to take care of Mia. As soon as she’s well, we’ll leave.”

Yes, you will.





TWENTY




“You started without me?” Harper came click-clacking into the den at Chase Manor and threw herself onto the sofa. Heels off, hand grab for the wine, and— “No spare glass?”

Violet pressed pause on Dirty Dancing—the original, of course. Baby and the fam had just arrived at Kellerman’s Resort in the Catskills. Sexy shenanigans were on everyone’s dance card. “We thought you couldn’t make it.”

“Have I missed a single Awkward Sister Bonding Night yet?”

Isobel smiled. She had to admire how Harper had stepped up to the sister thing since they’d been thrown together six months ago. Not inheriting the team to run solo had been tough for her, but she handled it like a boss, making a real effort to broker their fractured sibling relationship. Now big sis hopped up and grabbed a wineglass from the sideboard.

“We’d understand if you wanted to spend more time with Remy,” Isobel said.

“Plenty of time for that.” Her swallow was audible. “I’m, uh, thinking of moving in with him.”

Violet and Isobel exchanged oh really glances. “That’s serious.”

“Too soon?” She poured the wine, and as she often did, answered her own question. “Maybe it is. But he wants to start trying for a baby and—”

“A baby?” Violet grabbed the bottle from Harper before she’d made it to half a glass. “You don’t need alcohol. It sounds like you’re already mentally impaired.”

“Vi . . .” Isobel warned.

“Come on. She knows him less than six months and they’re already trying to get preggers. That’s crazy!”

Harper looked amused at Violet’s overreaction. “Take it you’re not a fan of kids.”

“In exceedingly small doses, and I wouldn’t have thought you would be, either. When we get to the play-offs, we’ll have fulfilled the terms of the will. We—” She stopped. Self-corrected. “You don’t have to sell off, which means you are still running a professional hockey team, Harper. How are you going to be the bitch in the boardroom if you also have to be the babe in the bedroom and now the baby mama with a spare diaper in her Kate Spade purse?”