Ruby’s blue eyes narrowed. “I played and walked on the sand and got in the water but not really to swim. Mom always wanted me to swim in the pool.”
“Why?”
“I guess it was safer.”
“Okay, imagine going for a swim in the gulf and getting caught in the undercurrents or riptides. Imagine swimming for your life, knowing that not only could the water pull you down but there were also other dangers like sharks and stingrays.”
“I think I’ll stick to pools.”
A grin came to my face. “Maybe swimming wasn’t your choice; you fell from a boat or were pushed. The point is that you have to make it to the shore. Once you do, once you make it to shore, what would you do?”
“I don’t know,” Ruby said. “Collapse.” She appeared to give it more thought. “I’d probably cry.”
“Why? You’re safe.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know I would be. I was probably scared to death.”
“And once you’re on the beach, what would you be thinking?”
“I guess,” she said, “about all the things that could have hurt me.”
“Why didn’t you cry while you were out in the water?”
“Because I had to concentrate on swimming and making it to shore.”
I nodded. “I think your mom has been swimming for seventeen years. I hope she’s not sad now that she’s made it to the shore. However, I think that now that she’s safe, she’s exhausted from the journey. And like you said, she’s thinking about the things she couldn’t concentrate on before because she had to use her energy to keep swimming.”
“Like Dory,” Ruby said.
“Who?”
“Are you sure you’re not some kind of shrink?” my daughter asked.
“I’m not, but I have always found human behavior fascinating. I watch people. It’s part of what I do. I learn a lot about them from observing. People don’t always tell you what they’re thinking or feeling, but they show you if you’ll just look.”
“And you’re looking at Mom.”
I nodded. “I am. Like I said, I want her to feel safe, but I realize that won’t happen overnight. She has a lot to process.”
“That’s really cool that you see her, like really see her.”
“She needs you too, Ruby,” I said. “Give us some time to make sure you can go back to school and be not only safe and comfortable, but also so your mom can be assured you’re not in danger.”
Ruby peered down the hallway and back. “I like the bedroom next to your office,” she said. “The view is the best. My school was in the country. I like all the lights.”
“Then it’s yours.” I stood. “I need to go. Give the room a try.”
“Where are you going?”
“There’s a floor below this one where the four of us do the lion’s share of our work. Reid sent me a text and asked me to go down there.”
“I tried pushing that button—the number two—in the elevator. It doesn’t work.”
“For you,” I clarified.
“So if you’re supposed to be doing some super-spy-slash-watching stuff, how come you’re sitting here with me?”
Grinning, I reached for my mug of coffee. “Because I don’t want to miss out.”
“Well, go. Do whatever you do and make it so Mom and I can feel the way you said.”
“Please know that I have never been happier about hot chocolate.”
Ruby shook her head. “Good night, Patrick.”
A few minutes later, I was on 2 with my palm near the sensor. The Sparrow world was on the verge of a full-out war and my mind was on a pretty brunette with my color eyes in my living room and her beautiful mother in my bed. I shook my head as the steel door slid to the side and Reid and Mason came into view.
“Did you take the long way?” Mason asked.
“Now he knows what it’s like to get called down here in the middle of the night and leave his better half,” Reid said with a grin.
“I’m guessing you didn’t call me down here to give me a hard time.”
My two friends looked at one another and smiled.
“Isn’t that Madeline’s job?” Mason mumbled as Reid laughed.
Assholes.
And I didn’t know what I’d do without them.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Madeline
Over fourteen years ago
My head ached and stomach churned as I walked alongside Adrik down the long corridors. No longer did I ask my purpose or what I needed to do. For over the last year, I’d been called upon more times than I chose to remember to complete the job deemed uniquely mine.
My steps stuttered and I reached out to the wall, bending at the waist.
“Ms. Miller?”
I shook my head as I concentrated on breathing in and breathing out, hoping the nausea would pass. “Give me a moment.”
Quickly, my gaze went to the large man at my side. I didn’t like him, mostly because of our limited history. If I gave it much thought, that history was probably more Andros’s doing than Adrik’s, but nevertheless, I chose to focus my dislike upon the one man I could more easily avoid. Unfortunately, I wasn’t avoiding him at the moment.
In general, I had very few opinions about the men in the Ivanov bratva. The ones Andros allowed near Ruby and I were true to him, which was their job. It was all of our jobs. Adrik and Sasha were his two closest associates, the men I came into contact with the most other than those assigned to me, such as my tutor Tadeas, Dr. Kotov, or a recent addition, a bodyguard named Oleg. Though I hadn’t been told—decisions were not joint but Andros’s alone—I had reason to believe that Oleg wasn’t assigned to me but instead to Ruby. Now that she spent more hours away from me, I found reassurance that either Irina or Oleg were always near her.
While I knew very little about the workings of this brotherhood, I had learned some bits and pieces of information simply by listening. After Ruby’s birth, I’d asked to continue my studies with Tadeas. I’d never given education much thought, but as a mother, I wanted to be informed for my daughter. Now, Tadeas and I only met three times a week for three hours each, but with each meeting, he always left me feeling as though I learned something and empowered my belief that I was capable of learning more. Even though the concentration of my studies was on history, I found that through osmosis, I was also learning a new language.
I’d heard that immersion was a great teacher. Being surrounded by a Russian brotherhood, I would concur.
Time continued to pass with Ruby and I in the compound. To me, its record was my daughter’s age. Ruby would be two years old at the end of the month, and even though I no longer stayed in the room attached to her nursery, I did my best to spend time with her every day.
The suite where I now resided was much larger than the room I’d once called my own. Much like an apartment, we had multiple attached rooms. Sometimes I thought it would be nice to move Ruby into one, and then something would happen and a loud late-night debate would occur in the sitting room or Andros’s private office. Those instances reminded me that keeping her in the other wing was best for her.