She nods. “Why would I joke?”
“You realize that your father killed the man you claim to have loved,” I point out. “And you hate him for it.”
Anya sighs. “What I’m saying has nothing to do with Mattias. It’s about control, Viktoria. He tried to control my life when it was not his to control. I needed to take back power. I needed to show him that he couldn’t interfere in my life.”
I stare at her for a long time, wondering how we could be related. “I don’t understand you.”
“You will,” she says. “When everything you love is burning.”
“Jesus…”
“You think we’re on vacation here?” she asks bluntly. “We’re not hiding out, Viktoria. We’re preparing. They’ll come for us. And when they do, we need to be ready.”
“I really wish you’d stop calling me that.”
“It’s your name.”
“My name is Willow.”
“Do you know why they want you?” she asks angrily.
I sigh. “I don’t want to do this again.”
“Too damn bad. Say it.”
“They’re coming for my name,” I recite. “And everything that comes with it.”
Anya nods. “Exactly. It’s the most valuable thing about you. So you might as well own it. Because you very well could end up dying because of it.”
“Great,” I say tiredly. “Good mother-daughter chat.”
“You’ll thank me one day.”
Doubt it, I think to myself. But I say nothing out loud. I just look down at my son and marvel at how much he looks like his father. When I spare a moment to think of Leo, my heart clenches.
Every. Single. Time.
I’m hoping it’ll pass with time.
So far, no such luck.
The door opens and Leo walks in. I rush to him, stopping just out of arms’ reach. “I think I know where she might be.”
“Tell me.”
I take a breath. “Leo… I know I messed up. You have every right to be angry at me.”
“Thank you for your permission.”
The way he’s looking at me is so different from this morning. So different from last night. Can all of that really have been in the last twelve hours?
“Leo,” I plead. “Please let me come with you. I need to speak to her.”
He stares at me. I’m expecting to do more begging, but he nods curtly. “You have five minutes to get your ass into my jeep or I’m leaving without you.”
He turns and leaves the room. I dress as warm as I can, grab a coat, and run out after him. By the time I trudge the snowy path down from the cabin, there are a trio of jeeps parked along the road. Leo, Jax, and Gaiman each sit behind the wheel of a different car.
I head towards Leo’s, despite the look he gives me.
“Get in the front seat,” he instructs. “If there are guards posted out front, I want them to see you.”
Nodding, I get into the passenger seat and put my seatbelt on. There are four men in the back of the jeep, but Leo puts the partition up so they’re essentially cut off from the front of the vehicle.
“Show me,” he says, tapping the screen where a map of the territory is waiting.
I scan for a while to get my bearings, then point to a mountain pass that’s barely marked. “The safehouse is there.” No address pops up on the screen, but then, there wouldn’t be.
“How do you know she’ll be there?” he asks.
“She mentioned that if the compound were ever attacked, we would evacuate to this safehouse,” I explain. “She had a secret passageway out of the compound.”
He falls into silence again. No matter how many times I look his way, he doesn’t offer me a single glance.
“I regret leaving him with her,” I finally say when the silence gets too oppressive. “I never should have trusted her.”
“You didn’t trust her,” he says. “And you didn’t leave Pasha with her because you thought she’d be better for him than me. So tell me why. Tell me the real reason why.”
I frown. “What do you—”
“I know who Anya is. I know what she’s like. And despite your choices recently, I know you’re not stupid. So, what’s your reason?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“If you don’t start telling me the truth right now, Willow, I’m going to pull this vehicle over and kick you out.”