BAD APPLE: The Complete Series (Parts 1-5) (24 page)

Irina

My heart is beating so hard as those muffled words reach my ears. He’s leaving me? To go back to Mina?

Oh God.

I feel sick as I sneak back to the kitchen where Vika is glaring at the mixer and the mess she’s made as if it’s grown horns. Flour, milk, and shattered eggs litter the entire surface of the kitchen island and I smile a little when she curses and plants her hands at her hips, surveying the destruction.

This should be a good time for me. I mean, here I am, in a kitchen, teaching my mom how to bake, and all I feel is a slow death inside at Misha’s words.

It’s a little deceitful for me to have ditched Vika on the premise that I needed to pee and go sneaking around, listening at doors, but I wanted to see him and maybe have the chance to tell him about the baby.

I’m already nervous as hell about the pregnancy and terrified of how he’ll react, though I have to admit that the way he reacted when he saw me sparked a kernel of hope.

Surely if he’s this over the top for me, he’ll be okay with the whole baby thing. It’s not as if we can change it now, and Goddammit, he was right there with me making the little tyke!

But those words…

He’s still the same asshole I left, I now know—still that arrogant ass who sees me as his wife, his possession, while he runs around with his ex who he’s still hung up on.

I should tell him all about that troll and her murderous ass and see how he likes knowing that the love of his life is a psycho bitch. And I should definitely tell him that I want nothing to do with him, that I don’t need him and neither does my kid.

“Why is this so hard?!”

Vika’s annoyance drags me back to the present and I walk toward her, smiling a little at her disgruntled anxiety when the timer goes off, letting me know her cakes are ready.

I pray as I grab the oven mitts and open the door, almost sighing in relief when I see twelve fat little hills of brown glory when I pull the pan out and place it on the cooling rack.

“It just takes some practice, Vika. No biggie. Now come on and help me clean this disaster so we can start on the topping while these cool. Great job, by the way. They look just like mine.”

That gets me a smile and I hardly feel any guilt at the lie as she starts skipping around, swiping cracked egg shells and debris into the bin in her hand.

It takes a while, but by the time we’ve cleaned, mixed the caramel fudge topping, and tested the cooled cakes, I feel like I’m on a more even keel with this whole Misha situation.

I don’t believe that he’s going after that troll to screw her or have a relationship with her. It’s taken some thought, but I now realize that he would never admit to an affair with Mina. Not to Max.

We may not be that well acquainted, but something tells me that the man would take great exception to his daughter being hoodwinked by her own husband.

“Shit.”

“What? Did I do it wrong? See, I told you I was a disaster at this, Irina.”

“No, no, you’re doing great, Vik, I swear,” I assure her, holding back a flinch when she dumps way too much topping on a cake that is likely to be a soggy mess in the next ten minutes, unless it’s eaten immediately.

“What are you cursing about then? Tell your mother, Irina. I demand you share with me and become closer as my daughter.”

Her arrogance is so funny that I can’t help but beam at her and feel the need to obey.

“I was eavesdropping at Max’s door,” I admit, biting my lip to hold back a giggle when she gets all excited instead of reacting negatively.

Oh yes, this woman is going to fit in just fine with my gals and the mamas. I don’t even feel guilty about loving her anymore when I think about the shit her and the old ladies will likely get up to together.

“Tell me everything.”

“They’re talking about me.”

“Certainly, Irina. Some ass tried to kill my baby today. They will want to ensure you are safe and—”

“And I heard Misha say that he’s going to give Mina all of him, just like she deserves.”

That’s bile I taste as the words leave my lips.

Vika’s eyes narrow and she curses.

“I will peel his pee-pee and feed it to him and Max.”

“No! I…” The laughter just bubbles out when the little dynamo tightens her grip on the spatula and tries to stalk past me.

“Stop laughing, Irina. This is not amusing. Mama will hurt them all if they hurt your feelings.”

“No, I know.” I wheeze when she babbles about knowing how to peel things slowly. “I think they’re planning something. I doubt Max would be impressed with my husband confessing to his plans to cuckold me.” That gives her pause and she smiles, nodding eagerly.

“This is true. Your papa will not like this. He’s a very good man, Irina, but Max has a terrible temper and he loves you. Why, you should have seen it when we discovered the truth about you. He almost cried one tear.”

I snort mentally at the visual and return Vika’s grin.

“I’d pay good money to see that, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I think they are planning something and I don’t like it at all. Misha may not be the best husband on the planet,” another mental snort, “but he’s not a bad person, Vika. He worked like a dog for years to start his company, and he’s always been determined to go legit and to stay that way. Mama Novac told me that he refused to be a part of the family business and he killed himself to ensure that when he was set up, he could take them into the legit side of things too. Well partially, at least. This whole mess is just dragging him straight back into it, and I don’t want that.”

“Irina, the families are not as bad as you may think.”

“Oh I know that, Vika. Trust me, I’m not judging anyone for the way they choose to live. My own brothers used to be part of one of the crews before Papa made Feliks go legit. I get it and it is what it is, so don’t think I’m judging you or Max for it. I just don’t want that for Misha and his brothers or his family.”

“Okay, I understand that. You love the man and you do not wish to see him lose everything he’s worked for. But it is his place to defend his wife and seek vengeance for crimes against you, Irina. To ignore it would be to dishonor you and his male pride.”

              “Yeah, but—”

“Tell me this, darling, are you going to go back to Misha? No, do not draw away, Irina. I know what has happened since you met Misha. Hell, I listened to Max rage for days about him kissing that woman, threatening to cut him to shreds. We know it all.”

“How?”

              “Eh. Once Max found out you were ours, he had someone working the inside. We’ve heard quite a few telling conversations between you and your female friends, sweetheart. By the way, I would very much like to meet your other mama. The woman sounds very interesting. I particularly enjoyed her views on male-female interaction in the bedroom. We can share our knowledge about sexual positions and getting our men to use those toys.”

“Oh barf. I do not ever need to think about that conversation again. No amount of booze in the world can scrub my brain of that shit,” I groan, grabbing the topping and shoving it away when she goes to do a second coat that the poor suckers do not need. At this rate, they’ll just collapse into a pile of inedible goo.

“Don’t be a prude. And answer my question, Irina. What are you going to do about Misha? I assumed from the way you almost tore his clothes off earlier that you were happy to see him.”

“I was. Emphasis on
was
. Till I remembered that I left him for a reason. Till Lincoln told me he’s been wining and dining that bridge troll while I’ve been crying into my pillow and puking every morning. That shit just pisses me off. Add to that the fact that I still haven’t heard three little words yet, and you get where I’m at. He’s a good person, Vika. He’s just not good for me.”

              “Perhaps he just needs time. I mean, he went to all that trouble to trap you and get you for himself. That spells more than just lust to me, Irina.”

“Um, the whole drunken wedding? That doesn’t count. He’s obviously into my body and would have done anything to unfriend-zone himself. Plus, his family likes me and he said I’m ‘suitable wife material,’” I huff, shuddering a little when she holds out a cake to me and shoves tea my way.

The thing is dripping and falling apart, not exactly something I want to eat right now since just the sight has my stomach revolting, but I eat it anyway and swallow convulsively.

“No, silly. I’m talking about him infesting your shop with rats to get you to accept a better shop location.” She laughs.

Say what?

“Uh, sure, if you find those kinds of things sweet,” I mumble, unsure what to say.

I’m no good at fishing for information, and there is no way I want anyone to know that I’m the only idiot unaware of what Misha’s been up to.

I am an idiot, true. I just don’t need to wear the freaking sash, as well.

And now my temper is really starting to boil because she starts giggling and commending the man on his efforts to win his true love, though I know I’ve just told her he hasn’t bothered to even tell me he loves me.

              “I mean, really, how completely quaint and quirky is it that Misha would specifically go after you to save his company and force a family confrontation to unite little Maxie and Feliks and then fall for you? It’s definitely a story I will delight in telling the little ones, Irina. Sooo romantic.”

              I look at her in surprise.

“Say that again. Please. Only much slower and in more detail,” I grate, watching her eyes widen into two round pools of realization.

“You were not aware? Oh, God, maybe we should—”

“Finish this conversation since it seems I don’t know even half of what I need to. Did you just say Feliks has a son? That Misha’s nephew, the one I haven’t met yet, no matter how hard I have tried to see the little tyke…”

Now it makes sense!

All those times we went over for dinner, he’d be in bed already and they’d all put on the biggest song and dance about the missing family pictures I once noted and mentioned.

              “Oh, darling. I-I think you should…” she trails off, wringing her hands when my eyes narrow further.

It all clicks into place then. The way we met, him just walking into my shop and my life as if he had a right to be there. All those times I’d overhear him telling Vadim that things were right on track, just as he’d planned.

I’d stupidly assumed they’d been discussing business, ignored Vadim’s guilty stares and carried on, not once suspecting that the man has set me up.

I’m the biggest idiot. He doesn’t love me. He probably never will, but he won’t let me go because he needs me!

The humiliation is so stark, I plop down at the table and let my head fall into my hands, moaning at my own idiocy. I should have known. Misha…well, look at the man. He’s beyond scorching hot and so darkly sexual, while I…I’m the plump little idiot who thought she was this special light, like I was exactly what he needed to make his life happy and complete.

I convinced myself that he wanted me, just plain little Irina with her messy, flour-coated hair and plump assets—the clumsy, quirky, needy girl who laughs and jokes and does nice things for people because I want to.

As if a man like him—cold, determined, and ruthless—would be bothered to even glance my way without an agenda.

“Oh God. I’m so stupid.”

“Irina? My darling. Please do not cry,” Vika says frantically, making me giggle despite my roiling emotions. “All will be well. Misha loves you.”

“No. He really doesn’t, Vika. He married me because he needed to, and that’s just a fact. I kept thinking that maybe he saw something in me that he wanted or needed, ya know? Because let’s face it, it’s not as if this is gonna inspire mad lust,” I snort, waving down at myself.

I’ve lost some weight, but I will never walk a runway and I know it. I just hoped that he saw more in me.

“Stop that at once! You are my child. You are beautiful and all things good in this world, Irina. Of course he must love you. Men just have a hard time saying these things, my darling,” she mutters, stroking a hand through my hair. “And the baby—”

“Is none of his business.”

“But, Irina—”

“No. I am done with this, Vika. Done being his pawn in whatever fucked-up little game he’s playing. I’m so tired of bouncing back and forth, waiting for him to love me instead of just doing his duty, which I now know it is. He’s doing what he thinks is right, taking care of one of his many possessions, and the man is just stubborn enough to want to keep me when, really, what’s the draw? He doesn’t love me and I know this because I’ve said it as many times as I can count on both our hands and toes and his only response has been a ‘thank you’ and then sex. I don’t want that, and I seriously do not fucking want him shoving me in cotton wool when he finds out about the baby.”

God help me, if he doesn’t go completely insane, that is.

“He has a right to know, Irina, and honestly, I think you are being foolish in this. He must love you. Look at the way he barged in here and stood toe to toe with your father. Look at the angst he experienced when he thought you were hurt.”