Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I stare at her, bewildered. I knew I was adopted, but I never knew the terms of the adoption.
“I begged your father for a daughter, and after years of waiting, he finally granted my wish. He was reluctant, you know—daughters hold a different meaning in our world. Sons bring strength, alliances, power. That’s why we have six of them. All adopted, yet all bound by loyalty. Then, one day, he brought me you.” She smiles, but her eyes reflect a sadness from long ago.
My throat feels tight, and my nose tingles, but I listen as calmly as I can.
“I didn’t know until ten years later that you had a sister. That you were separated in infancy. Another family adopted Anissa and took her as their own. It was a closed adoption, and they made it clear they wanted no one to ever contact them again.” She shakes her head. “But I knew your father was powerful and above all that. I knew he could’ve found out what he needed to.”
I stare, trying to process what she’s telling me. I haven’t had time to truly dwell on this since Gleb mentioned someone who looked just like me, and now my own mother is admitting as much.
I have a sister.
A sister who was supposed to marry the man who I’m in love with.
A sister who looks just like me and is presumably alive if she ran from him not that long ago. Who is she? Does she remember me? I don’t remember her, but my heart aches thinking there’s someone out there I’m related to who I’ve never met.
Jesus, I’m gonna need some therapy after all of this shit.
Zoya meets my eyes and swallows hard before giving me a tentative smile. This sweet girl has lost both her parents, was raised into near adulthood by her brother, and knows her family lives on a razor’s edge. And still, she hasn’t forgotten how to smile.
She’s inspiring.
We all listen in rapt silence. Even Mikhail looks shocked. He didn’t know.
She clears her throat. “So I never told you, Polina. I feared you’d want to find her, and I feared the wrath of her family if you did.” Sighing, she continues. “I let fear guide my decisions, and for that, I’m so sorry and ask your forgiveness.”
My god. What other secrets is she hiding?
With a sigh, she continues. “And our family was weakened. With the divide that tore us apart after your father’s death, Mikhail was on a mission to strengthen us. We made strategic choices. I never imagined that bringing you to Moscow would have put you in danger. I was trying to do the very opposite.”
Rafail watches in stony silence, his gaze fixed on my mother. I feel the rift between us as painfully as I felt the ache in my bones after the accident. I close my eyes and remind myself I overcame that then. I can overcome this now.
Zoya hands me a cup of bracing hot tea. I nod in thanks, not trusting my voice, and take a sip.
It helps.
“And when I brought you here, I thought I could keep you safe. I have friends in Moscow,” she explains to Rafail. “And I feared the attack of Soloto.”
Nodding, he listens in stoic silence.
“And then… when I heard you were gone,” she says in a voice that wavers, on the brink of breaking down. “Witnesses said you were hit by a car. I feared the worst. We thought—” She clasps a hand to her mouth.
“We thought one of our enemies killed you,” Mikhail says with a deep sigh. I close my eyes, feeling the weight of their fear and worry. “But we had no evidence. No body. No witnesses who saw them bury you.”
I can’t imagine the pain they all went through, not knowing, fearing…
“But we kept hope,” my mother continues. “We hoped you’d only been… taken.” Her eyes flutter closed as I realize she’s spent the last month battling her greatest fears: I’d either been killed, or I’d been stolen and used.
Rafail shakes his head. “I had no idea.” His voice cracks. “I’m sorry.”
Zoya nods, her eyes wide and fearful. “I can promise you, he’s telling you the truth. He didn’t know; he truly thought Polina was Anissa.”
“The woman who betrayed us,” Rodion clarifies with cold decision. “She jilted him at the altar after she was promised to him. When we found An—Polina, we truly thought she was someone else.”
“Gleb wanted us to think that,” Semyon says, shaking his head. “And when we found out she had amnesia, we thought…”
“No,” Rafail cuts in. “When I found out she had amnesia. I won’t let anyone else take responsibility for my decisions.” He turns to me. “When I saw you that day, and you ran from me, I thought you were running from a man you knew. I had no idea I was a stranger to you.” He curses under his breath, shaking his head.