Russian's Determined Love (Drobilka Family Series #3) Read Online Free

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Chapter 5
    Bethany had fallen asleep in Vadim’s arms before he carried her to the bedroom to put her to bed. Calling Boris, he did the one thing he had never done before – not go into work. Grabbing his tablet, he settled in bed next to her as she slept fitfully. When Bethany awoke several hours later, her throat felt swollen and she had difficulty swallowing. She stretched and bumped against Vadim, who reached his hand down to rub her head. Looking up, she was surprised to see him in bed with her.
    “Have you been here all this time?”
    “Dah. I did not think you should be left alone,” he responded as he handed her a bottle of water.
    She sat up, popped the cap, and took several long swallows. The water felt so good against her raw throat. Setting the bottle aside, she slid up against him as he wrapped his arm around her.
    “Do you wish to talk about it?”
    Shaking her head no, she said, “I’m not sure what there is to say. I’m shocked.”
    “Your mother continues to call you,” he told her as he pointed to her phone on the nightstand. “Do you think that it’s time to talk to her?”
    She pulled tighter against him. “I haven’t spoken to her since I was in school and she decided to forgive him for killing her son and beating me. I don’t even know what to say to her.”
    “You don’t need to talk. Maybe just hear her out.”
    Before Bethany could respond, her phone beeped again. Reaching for it, she saw the caller ID said it was her mother. When she clicked accept, she heard her mother’s excited voice before she put the phone to her ear.
    “Bethany? I’m so glad that you finally answered. I have good news. Your father has been released.”
    Closing her eyes, Bethany clutched tightly at the phone as she took shallow breaths.
    “Bethany?” her mother called out. “Say something.”
    “I can’t tell you how often I wondered how you could ever forgive a man for doing what he did. Every time I look in the mirror and I see the cigarette burns, the scars from welts, the hot oil burns, I wonder how you could have turned such a blind eye to what was going on in your own house. That man is not my father. He has never been my father. What he is, is a monster that should have been put down, and now he is free.”
    “He isn’t free,” her mother rushed to answer before she could continue. “He has cancer, and he doesn’t have long. The State decided it would be cheaper to let him out than have him die in prison. He isn’t the same man, honey. He wants to see you. I want to see you.”
    Bethany stared at the phone in shock as Vadim squeezed her arm. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, and then looked back at the phone. Her mother was expecting the impossible. She had told her years ago when her mother elected to forgive her stepfather that she would have nothing to do with either of them and now she wanted this?
    “The only way I will see my stepfather again is when he’s strapped down and is being injected.”
    “Bethany!”
    “No, Mother. I am not interested in some sort of happy family reunion. Any chance of that ended long before Davis was murdered. You chose your side and it wasn’t mine. Please, don’t call me again.”
    Before her mother could respond, Bethany ended the call. As her body began to shake, Vadim reached out, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her face lightly as she cried. Holding tightly to him, she cried for a life that she might have had. For a brother she could have grown up with. For a father who didn’t die. For a mother who put her children before the man who beat them. She cried until there were no tears left and still Vadim held her.
    She reached for the buttons on his shirt, tugging them loose before sliding her hand underneath to rub his chest. Lifting her head, she kissed him, nibbling lightly on his lower lip before licking it. When he opened his mouth to speak, she quickly silenced him when she thrust her tongue into his mouth to dance