“I don’t understand.”
She needs it all. “The first time I saw you was at your mother’s funeral.”
“You were there?”
“I was.”
“I didn’t notice.”
I smirk. “You weren’t supposed to.”
She covers her face.
I let her have it. A few seconds. Maybe more. Her mother's last act was finding someone to stand between her daughter and the world. Sofia is just now understanding that.
When she drops her hands her eyes are wet but her chin is up.
“A year after your mother died, there were a couple of girls at your school. They stole your things. Hit you. Hurt you.”
She pulls her hands away. “Millie and Vanessa.”
“I wanted to kill them,” I sneer.
Her eyes widen. “You didn’t!”
“No. But one of my coworkers had a daughter in the school. She handled it.”
She’s looking at me with confusion and disbelief.
“Do you remember your math teacher?” I ask. “You were fifteen.”
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
“He was a fucking pedophile.” I can’t keep the disgust from my tone. “That one I did handle.”
Dawning appears. “Oh my God! I remember the teachers all crying.”
“That man didn’t deserve tears. I told you before that you were reckless. The frat party? You were nineteen and so naive. You had no business being at that house. That fucker who put his hand on you never touched another woman.”
“Sergei! That’s what guys do.”
“Not with you.”
She closes her eyes, processing everything I’m dumping on her.
“Did my father know?”
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
She falls quiet, staring at me like she’s seeing me for the first time.
“I know you,” I say. “The person you were before that night and the woman you’ve become. I’ve fallen in love with the woman you are now.”
“Love?” she whispers. “You love me.”
“I do.”
She’s quiet for too long. I’ve never told anyone I loved them. And I just showed her my sensitive underbelly. A mistake no pakhan should ever make.