Mom’s face brightens with a wide grin as he comes up behind her, leans down, and kisses the top of her head.
Swoon.
I want a man like Papa. Yeah. He’s mean to everyone and you really don’t want to meet him in a dark alley—or even in broad daylight—but he’s always treated Mom like a queen.
The mecca of his world.
The person who makes his darkness go away.
He strokes her cheek. “I’ve been looking for you, Lenochka.”
“I was only gone for half an hour.”
“Still too much time.”
“Uh, hello? I’m right here, you guys. Thanks for noticing.”
Papa finally looks at the phone Mom is holding and smiles. Or as much as it could be called a smile for a badass mafia leader.
Don’t care what anyone says. Those suckers in the New York Bratva would all be done for if it weren’t for Papa’s strategic brain.
“Anoushka, isn’t it late there?”
“No, and you’re not dismissing me for alone time with Mom, Papa. Seriously, I’m wounded.”
“You’re being dramatic. You’ve been talking to her for half an hour.”
“But, Papa!”
“Night, Anoushka. We love you.”
He takes the phone from Mom’s hand and she laughs, then squeals as the line is cut off.
Great.Now, I know what my parents are doing for the night.
I flop against my bed and stare at the glittering purple objects hanging from the ceiling.
My mind fills with all sorts of thoughts. The first is that I need to find a way out of my fate.
Okay, maybe that’s not the first thing, because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Creighton’s words from yesterday.
Violent tendencies.
Deviant tastes.
I can still feel his deep voice against my ear and the furious shiver that overtook me right afterward.
That was definitely not what I expected someone like Creighton to say. He could’ve been lying, but he doesn’t have a reason to.
Besides, he’s direct to a fault.
I was so stunned that I only snapped out of it after he took the lunch I made and strolled out of the gazebo.
In truth, I’m still stunned.
That was obviously his warning to make me stay away, so why the hell am I even more intrigued with him now?
Just what does a twenty-year-old consider deviant and twisted?