One, his criminal past. His business seemed on the up and up now, but almost every article she’d ever read about him after his quick rise to business fame, mentioned his crime family roots, strongly implying if not outright stating they had much to do with his current level of success. She didn’t want Aaron being raised by a crime family or being taught how to kill in the “Rustanov style,” which, according to the internet, was a slit throat, two bullets to the chest, and one in each knee cap. Her stomach turned just thinking of Aaron doing anything like that. But so far, she’d seen nothing to indicate Alexeis was still involved in any of the unsavory things the Rustanovs used to be known for.
She’d just have to ask him about it the next morning, she decided, and hope to the heavens he had fully left that life behind.
She wanted to believe in Alexei again, to no longer live in fear of him but to love him as fully as he claimed to love her. No, he obviously never intended to be a father, but she hoped he would become a good one with her guidance.
It helped that he had kept all of his promises to her so far, even the one about not seeking out Aaron. Maybe they really could make a go of it this time, she thought, as she dropped into a seat at in the conference room, which Alexei had mentioned was completely soundproof earlier in the trip. Ever since then, she’d been getting up in the middle of the night and calling their son from its insulated confines.
It was three a.m. in Texas but ten a.m. in Milan.
“Hi, Mama!” he said. “Guess what?”
“Chicken butt?”
“Mama, you’re silly,” he informed her, before saying, “No, Uncle Steve said we could do whatever I want since it’s my last weekend in Rome.”
“Wow. What are you going do first?”
“Eat gelato!”
“It’s ten in the morning.”
“It’s my weekend, Mama,” he said with the grave censure of a righteous seven-year-old.
“Okay, okay, who am I to argue? Go on, have your gelato—you know you’re back to old-fashioned American ice cream when you get back to Texas.”
“That’s okay. I kind of miss regular ice cream. Can we order a pizza when I get back, too? It’s not the same over here. ”
“Sounds good. I’ll have some Ben & Jerry’s waiting for you in the freezer and we’ll order a pizza for everybody when you get back. We’ll show Maria and the girls how Texas does pizza.”
When Aaron came back, he’d be traveling with Steve and his entire family who would be staying with them in Texas for two weeks.
“Can my dad come, too?” he asked.
“Um… “ She was so taken aback by the question that she didn’t exactly know how to answer it. “What…?”
“I heard Uncle Steve talking to Grandpa. He said you weren’t with Auntie Layla, but with my dad. Is that true?”
“Why are you just now discussing this with me?” she asked. She had never lied to Aaron about Alexei. When he’d asked about his father, she’d said it was a long story and she’d tell him it in full when he was older.
“Uncle Steve told me not to tell you what I heard, because you’d be mad. But you told me not to keep secrets from you ever.”
He sounded as confused as any kid would be after receiving conflicting instructions from two of the adults he loved most.
“Honey,” she said. “You were right to bring it up. I don’t ever want you to keep secrets from me. Uncle Steve was wrong to say that to you. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t tell me something. We’ve talked about this.”
Like many social workers who had seen child abuse up close, Eva had a deep fear of her son not feeling safe enough to tell her anything.
“I know. But Uncle Steve is family.”
“Even if it’s family. Don’t ever let someone tell you to keep a secret from me. In fact, if they say that to you, come straight to me with it.”
“Okay, Mama.” Then after an appropriate few seconds: “Is my dad big like me?”
“You mean tall?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, he is. And he’s also Russian.”
“What?” he said. “No way!”
“Trust me, I would’ve chosen another country if I was making it up.”
“But I don’t know any Russian.” Aaron sounded despondent. “What if he hates me?”
“He won’t. No one could hate you. And I can teach you hi and bye, but you won’t need them because he speaks perfect English.”
“So he’s smart?”
“Yeah, really smart.”
“Is he coming with you to pick us up?”
She thought about that and dismissed it. “No, I think it’s better if I pick you all up. I’ll answer any questions you still have and then we’ll see about you maybe meeting him later on. Okay?”
“Okay, I can’t wait.” He sounded even more excited than he had for gelato, and she was happy she’d soon be able to give him the gift of knowing his father. And she just hoped Alexei would come through after she talked to him, because Aaron really was a kind and amazing little boy. He’d obviously been yearning for a father for quite some time now, but he’d never made her feel she wasn’t enough for him.
“Have a good last weekend, sweetness. I love you so much.”
“Love you, too, Mama.”
She hung up, her decision pretty much made for her. Aaron already knew about Alexei, now it was time for her to bring Alexei up to speed. She’d do it first thing in the morning, she decided. And then hopefully they could figure out how to handle his uncle, before he found out they were back together.
The sound of the fax machine suddenly springing to life made her jump in her seat. And curiosity led her over to it as it started spitting out pages, not to snoop, she told herself, just to see. It was probably something boring and business-related that she wouldn’t understand anyway.
But as she got closer, she could see it wasn’t a business contract, but a copy of a story that had apparently been printed off the Dallas Times internet site. That gave her pause because what would Alexei want with a Dallas Times story?
The top page of the story printed, revealing the headline, “RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE, ALEXEI RUSTANOV, WELCOMES YOU TO SOUTH PADRE ISLAND.”
Then she saw the picture that accompanied the story. She snatched up the pages. No, make that a whole gallery of pictures featuring her and Alexei, enjoying romantic times all over the island. There was even one picture of him kissing her shoulder on the beach. Her eyes landed on the words, “the normally media-shy billionaire” and “in a relationship with Eva St. James, a small-town Texas social worker.”
And that’s when the document’s cover page came through.
To: Emilio Alvarez
From: Gina Greer, PR Partners
Hi Emilio,
Just thought I’d send around a hard copy of the story for Mr. Rustanov’s files. It ran a week earlier than it was supposed due to another story falling through, but I think he’ll be happy. It turned out exactly as he specified.
Best,
Gina
It only took her a few confused moments to put it all together. The man who had just promised to always be honest with her had purposefully broadcasted their time together on the island, so everyone in Drummond, including the man he thought she was in love with, would know they were together.
He had lied to her. He hadn’t changed. He was just as ruthless as she thought he was two weeks ago. And now it was just a matter of time before his psychopath uncle found out about the current incarnation of their relationship.
Chapter Twenty
ALEXEI knew something was wrong almost as soon as he woke up. It wasn’t just that Eva wasn’t there in bed with him, it was also that the suite felt different. Like something was missing. Or someone.
He recognized the feeling immediately. It was the same one he’d had when he came home to an empty apartment eight years ago.
“Tell me you did not run again,” he said, getting out of bed and heading straight for Eva’s bedroom.
All the clothes he’d had bought for her were still hanging in the open closet. And in typical Eva fashion, the clothes she had worn last night before getting dressed for dinner were lying in a discarded pile on the floor. From what he’d seen, she’d only become slightly neater since the last time they’d lived together.
But the clothes that mattered, the ones she’d traveled in to get here, the ones that had still been sitting in a laundry bag on her dresser just a few days ago, were missing. The torn-into laundry bag the only evidence they’d ever been there.
Why had she run yet again?. Desperate anger and frustration gathered inside him like a storm cloud as he threw on a robe and headed out to the hallway. Was it because he had pressured her? Because he’d told her he loved her? Another more terrible thought occurred to him. Maybe this was her way of informing him she’d picked Aaron.