Page 120 of The Wrong Brother

“A child didn’t fit into that future. And Shannon...” I trail off, trying to recall; what was she like back then? At that point, I was still in Colorado, still angry after our mother’s death. That I hadn’t gotten to ask her why she ran so quickly from her grief; that I hadn’t made amends. “She was just normal. Too normal,I think. After Kate was born, it wasn’t hard for Andrei to make sure that Shannon lost custody and disappeared.”

Emma goes very still. I feed another log into the stove now that the first has caught.

“Andrei had money. Lawyers. Connections.” The disgust from all those years ago still roils in my gut.

“So is Shannon…?”

I shake my head. “No; she’s alive. I’ve been keeping an eye on her, as much as I can. She’s in Utah.” Emma’s expression darkens.

“And what happened to Kate?” she asks, that sly look on her face—she’s putting the pieces together. Understanding that this goes deep and dark andcouldbe exactly the thing to end Andrei.

“He dumped her into the system two months after getting custody. Didn’t even do it himself; had an intern bring her to the local office with a few things.”

Silence fills the room. I don’t look at Emma. I don’t need to. I can practically feel her horror, and I know that soon it’ll morph into anger.

“And she doesn’t know.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “No; how could I tell her any of that, Emma? That her own father didn’t want her. That her mother is a husk.”

That is the truth. The most frustrating part of the truth.

“I found Kate eventually,” I explain, sitting back on my heels and looking Emma full in the face now. I’m past the worst of it, ready to charge ahead. Still angry, still wanting to rip histhroat out. “It took years of investigating, but I found her and I adopted her. And not long after I found Shannon. The file you heard me talking about—it’s everything I compiled, that my men compiled, at the time. During the search, and after.”

Emma’s hands ghosts over her stomach. She asks a question that breaks my heart, though I thought it was beyond breaking.

“Shannon didn’t want her back?”

With a sigh, I crack my neck. “She would have taken her if she could, I think. But she wasn’t in any place to. After what Andrei did to her, she became an addict. She’s recovered since, but I don’t think he trusts herself. So Kate stayed with me.”

Unspoken words sit between us, neither of us wanting to acknowledge them.

Kate stayed with me.A BratvaPakhan.A ruthless man who has killed others in warehouses, behind gauze and tulle. A business mogul disguising danger.

“Ruslan. Youknowwhat you did was the right thing, right?”

Nausea twists in my gut, and I find myself pushing away, pushing myself up, pacing across the room toward the small kitchen. My back is to Emma as a riot of emotions I thought long buried surface.

“It was the easiest decision I ever made,” I murmur, staring at nothing. “Bringing her home. I’d do it all again; I’d give it all up if I had to.”

The words feel simple. Certain.

I can feel Emma’s eyes on my back, but somehow I’m not prepared for the next question she asks.

“Does Andrei know?”

“No. He has no idea.”

Her eyes widen. And suddenly she understands all of it.

The file. The leverage. The weapon I can use against him.

“Oh.”

The cabin feels smaller now, the warmth of the fire more stifling than comforting. I want nothing more than to be out on the porch again, striding into the pines and away from all of this. The past, again, always. Why can’t I be rid of it?

Emma slowly shakes her head.

“If you expose that...”