Chapter Seventeen

Kyle and her brother met up to visit their mother.

Kyle had a lot of questions for her. She was over the abandonment, but she wasn’t over her mother helping to kidnap Evie.

“How do you want to do this?” Ryan asked Kyle.

“I think we just need to be blunt and ask her what we need to. I want you to know that I don’t care what Max and Dimitri do to her.”

“She is dead to me after this meeting. She left us, and she put my daughter in danger, and I won’t have her around to do that again.”

“What if I don’t want her dead?”

“She’ll have to be punished; she’s a threat.”

“She has another family; we can’t take her away from them.”

Kyle wasn’t thinking of that; she didn’t even consider her mother’s other life. The siblings that she and Ryan now had.

She didn’t push the subject any more and walked into the room where her mother was being held.

“My babies!” her mother squealed out. Her mother went to hug her, and she took a step back.

“You can’t pretend that nothing happened.”

“I’m sorry, but you have no idea what I went through and why I had to leave you both behind.”

“Well, now is your chance to explain everything to us,” Ryan told her. He wanted to hear his mother’s side of the story. He was hoping it would change Kyle’s mind on how to deal with her.

“Where to start?” their mother mumbled.

“How about why you left?” Kyle answered.

“I left because of Viktor. I loved Viktor, I really did. When I first met him, I didn’t know who he was or what he was capable of doing.

“We were dating a while before we got pregnant. I’m surprised you don’t remember, Ryan.”

“I just remember a guy that was around before Kyle’s dad was in the picture.”

“I broke up with Viktor after I found out I was pregnant with Kyle. Viktor found out I was pregnant and begged me to give him another chance, and so I did.

“You were only a few months old when I found out what Viktor did for a living. It terrified me, so I packed you guys up, and we moved.”

“What about you leaving us?” Kyle asked.

“Viktor found us, and he wasn’t happy that I left with you. It’s why we moved, and shortly after that, I faked my death. He had to think I was dead so he wouldn’t follow you.

“It wasn’t until you got caught up with the Volkovs that he found you.”

“And what about Evie?”

“She wasn’t going to get hurt. Cannin wanted her so he could have an heir to his organization. He was actually happy that he was going to be a father; he became obsessed.”

“I used her as a negotiation tool. I wanted Viktor dead, and I wanted the two of you safe.”

“That isn’t an excuse. You were basically selling your grandchild.”

“I know I went about it the wrong way, but it was the only way to kill Viktor. I promised Cannin that I would help him get Evie if he killed Viktor.”

“He did what I asked him to do, and I was trying to hold up my end of the deal while keeping you safe. He wanted to kill you.”

“He was going to kill me and everyone else regardless if he got what he wanted. I can’t trust you; my family can’t trust you.”

“And I understand that, and I know that there is a chance that the Volkovs won’t let me leave here alive.”

“But I want you to know that you have siblings, and I want to make sure that they won’t pay for my actions.”

“You’re the threat, and not them, so whatever happens to you, they’ll stay safe,” Ryan reassured her.

“We’ll be back later,” is all Kyle said to her mother before leaving the room.

She left her mother, feeling more overwhelmed than when she got there.

She also found herself torn. She wanted her mother to suffer, but she didn’t know if she could make that decision anymore.