Chapter 121 121
Chapter 121 121
I smile shyly. “Yeah. I just found out.”
She sets her glass down and cups both my hands in hers. “Oh, wow! That’s amazing, June! And you’re…” Her joy fades. “You’re still living at the mansion with… with him?”
Just like that, all the warmth in the room gets sucked right back out. “Yeah,” I say. “I am.”
Slowly, she withdraws her hands. “Oh.”
“Genny…” I begin, nervous that I’m about to undo all the progress we’ve made, backsliding into the frosty acidity that used to be what I thought sisterly love was. “Genny, Kolya is important to me. And I know the two of you don’t like one another, but I really wish you would try. For my sake.”
Her eyes flash dark, a cloud passing over the sun. “Have you asked him for the same thing?”
“He knows that I’m meeting you today and he was very encouraging.”
She squints suspiciously. “I have a hard time picturing that.”
I sigh. If things are going to go badly, I might as well let them go all the way. Rip the Band-Aid, as they say. “There’s one more thing.” I suck it up and power through. “Adrian’s alive.”
Her eyes bulge, but it’s a second too late. Too fake. Too forced.
My gut churns cold, like my body knows the truth before my mind can accept the fact.
“Oh my God,” I breathe. “You already know.”
Her eyes flicker past me, towards her bedroom door. I twist around on the stool to see Adrian standing on the threshold of the living room.
Like always, his ring catches the light.
A taunt.
A tease.
A promise of pain to come.
41
JUNE
I jump off my stool to race for the door, but Geneva takes a better angle and shepherds me into the living room. “June—”
I turn to her in shock. “You planned this! You didn’t want to talk; you wanted to ambush me.”
“Only because I knew you wouldn’t hear me out otherwise!” Geneva says desperately. “Listen, I came home three days ago and Adrian was standing outside the apartment waiting for me. He explained everything.”
“I bet he did,” I scoff, trying to move past Geneva to get to the door.
She and Adrian both come together to block my escape route. “Baby, just hear me out,” Adrian croons.
I’ve heard that tone too many times in the past for me to be bought in yet again. Actions speak louder than words—and his actions have been to hurt me, each time worse than the last.
“Get out of my way.”
“Junepenny, please—”
“I have a car full of security waiting for me downstairs,” I snarl. “One call and they’ll be up here.”
“Exactly! So why would I risk coming here to meet you unless it was really important, huh? Unless I cared more about you than myself?”
“Says the dead man walking.”
“I’ll admit, I made a mistake,” he says, hands upraised. He’s acting as though he just missed an anniversary dinner, forgot a birthday. Like I’m the one making a big deal out of a little bitty oopsie. “I shouldn’t have gone about things the way that I did. But my instinct, my first motive, was always to protect you.”
“And what was your second motive?” I demand. “Gaslight and hurt me?”
He sighs deeply. “He’s really gotten into your head, hasn’t he?”
“Stop it. Don’t do that. Don’t you dare fucking do that. Just because I don’t agree with you, just because I don’t believe you, doesn’t mean I’ve been brainwashed.”
Geneva is looking between us helplessly. Her eyes are tinged with an undercurrent of doubt, but she still remains steadfastly at Adrian’s side.
I swing my glare towards her. “Is it your mission in life to find every man I want to avoid and lead him right to me?”
Her brow furrows. “I’m your big sister. It’s my job to make sure you’re okay.”
“You’re about ten years too late with that.”
“What happened to you, Junepenny?” Adrian asks, still in that wheedling, what’s wrong with you tone that’s driving me insane. “You didn’t used to be like this. So… angry. So ready for a fight.”
I laugh darkly. “Of course you would say that. But you’re right about one thing: I didn’t used to be like this. I used to be meek and quiet. I used to let you walk all over me, and now, I’m done with that. So you bet your ass I’m going to fight back, Adrian. Especially when I feel I’ve been lied to.”
Adrian’s chin jerks up. “I haven’t lied to you.”
“No?”
“No,” he asserts. “You want answers? I’ll give you answers. I’ll give you the truth.”
I stop short, wondering why I can suddenly smell vanilla. I shake it away. That’s my imagination. My heart talking, not my head.
Focus, June. Things are hanging in the balance here. Very, very important things.
“Okay,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Let’s start with why you’ve been frequenting prostitution rings for years on end.”
Geneva claps a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp. “P-prostitution rings?” she stammers.
But Adrian doesn’t so much as glance her way. “I know it looks bad,” he says. “But I wasn’t there for what you think.”
“The floor is yours,” I say scathingly. “We’re all fucking ears.”
“I was searching for someone,” he says fervently. “I was searching for… for my mother.”
That much at least lines up with what Kolya told me. The lie blending right into the truth, so far completely indistinguishable. But it just feels wrong. There’s something missing. Something vital.
Adrian can read the skepticism on my face, because he inches closer, puppy dog eyes in full effect. “It’s the truth, June,” he says desperately. “I knew there was more to her leaving than they were telling me, but no matter how much I asked Kolya, he refused to be honest with me. Then one night, shortly after Kolya killed our father, one of his closest Vors came by the mansion.”
Sara and her father. I find myself holding my breath.