Alina
Ah, and how am I supposed to explain this to Mom? Should I tell her that I just had the best night of my life? I can’t help but smile at the thought, looking out of the car window, and my fingers involuntarily rise to my lips where I can still feel the taste of Gio’s kiss.
Maybe I should’ve stayed with him, everything else be damned. But I knew that soon, Mom would come looking for me, and I didn’t want him to get in trouble. Besides-
“Do you want to get out closer to the entrance?” The taxi driver glances at me through the rearview mirror, and I blink out of my thoughts and look around.
“No, actually, you can stop here. Thank you.”
The driver only shrugs, obediently pulls the car to a stop in the middle of the parking lot, and I hurry to get out and look around. It must be weird to him, but I’ve parked my car as far from the entrance as possible to get it out of others’ sight. And now, I can see it in the far corner of the parking lot, still waiting for me in the shadow of a tree.
I take a deep breath and walk to it with determination in my step. Besides, I do want to talk to her. No matter what, Mom and Olga are my family, and I believe that they will tell me the truth.
I drive straight to Mom’s house from there, and as soon as I turn into our driveway I see the door burst open from the corner of my eye. Mom runs out of the house, holding her hands against her chest, and even though I can’t hear her yet, I feel like she’s either praying or cursing out loud.
“God, Alina! Where have you been?” I only have enough time to get out of the car before Mom runs to me and pulls me into a forceful hug.
Damn it. I didn’t really think or care about her feelings when I was escaping the house last night, but now I feel kind of shitty about it. But at the same time, what was I supposed to tell her? I heard about your plans to find me a husband, so I don’t want to spend another second in this house.
I’ll be back soon, please don’t worry?
But now, when my emotions have had enough time to settle and I’m not burning with anger and resentment, it’s hard to justify yesterday’s me. I hate making people around me upset, so I sigh and accept Mom into a hug, patting her back with an awkward, apologetic smile.
“Sorry, I should’ve warned you.”
“Yes, you should’ve!” She sharply pulls back, glaring at me with glassy blue eyes and stains of nervous red on her cheeks. “I was losing my mind with worry. We found your car, but there was no sign of you anywhere. I thought someone kidnapped you! You don’t know how easy it is for a Mexican to spot you in the crowd.”
I can’t help but chuckle, remembering the guy who threatened to shoot me yesterday. Yeah, now I know what she’s talking about. It took him just one glance to recognize me-but I had Gio with me, and with him, I’m not scared of anything.
While my thoughts drift back to the events of last night, Mom huffs all of a sudden and steps back, dusting herself off as if to shake off her
sudden surge of emotions. “That’s it, Alina. That’s it. You can’t do that again, you-I forbid you to leave the house without me, understand?”
I quirk an eyebrow, irritation bubbling inside of me. “I’m an adult, Mom. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Yes, I can.” She straightens her shoulders and raises her chin, trying to look intimidating. “You don’t know anything about our life here, and I can’t lose you because of it.”
“Well, if you keep acting like that, you’re gonna lose me anyway.” “What?” She blinks, clearly not ready to hear it, but it takes her a
moment before she comes back to her senses. “No, you won’t leave-”
“And what if I will?” I tilt my head with the angry fire burning in my heart. “You’re so used to giving orders that you forget-I’m not your pawn. You can’t force me to stay here and get married to whoever the hell you want!”
Mom’s eyes widen in shock, and she parts her lips-but I’m not done yet.
“It’s my life, my choice, and I don’t care who you think is a good partner for me. I have a boyfriend now, and if you try to push me to
someone else, I’ll run away with him and never come back!”
Is it too much? Perhaps. But I didn’t have enough time to think about it while the words were spilling out of my mouth without a break. It felt as if each of them burned my throat, impatient to be spoken, and now that I finally take a deep breath, I feel relieved. No matter what happens next, at least I know I told her everything I wanted.
It takes Mom a moment to process it before a long and bewildered oh escapes her lips. She meets my gaze, and I see that the look in her eyes is soft and clear. She doesn’t look annoyed or demanding anymore-in fact, Mom looks like she has just solved a riddle.
“Alina,” she says with such a gentle smile that it catches me off guard, and I don’t even mind it when she puts her hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly. “God, I’m-how did you find out about it?”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what she means.
“I heard you talking to Olga yesterday,” I say, unable to hold back a petulant note, and look away. Why do I feel so sad and bitter all of a
sudden?
“Well, you must’ve heard the wrong part of the conversation.” Oh, sure, now she’s gonna say that-
“We didn’t plan to force you into anything, honey. It was-well, it was a conversation for the future. In case you decide to stay and join us, and…ah, you know, Olga always puts the Bratva first-but she’s not like Yuriy, I swear.”
Mom sighs and strokes my shoulder with her thumb, frowning at me with a look of regret.
“And even if she’d try to push it on you, I’d never let her force you into something you don’t want. I’ve lost one daughter to the family goal-I don’t want to lose you as well.”
Is she talking about Elena?
“You know, you didn’t lose her,” I say with a sudden urge to soothe her. I look at Mom with a small smile. “And it’s not so easy to get rid of me either. Well, unless you try to keep me locked in the house again. I’m pretty sure Gio would get me out of here.”
Mom chuckles, looking at me with a warm smile, and it feels like things are good again. Maybe it’s naive of me, but I do trust her. She
wouldn’t go as far as to fly to Britain and coax me into coming back here only to hand me to the first good candidate on Olga’s list. No matter how hard it is for us to get along sometimes, I know that Mom loves me-and I, well, I love her too.
“Gio, huh?” Mom repeats with a quirked eyebrow and a curious
smirk, turning to the house. “So who is this mysterious boyfriend, and when am I going to meet him?”
“Mom!” I roll my eyes with a teenager’s ferocity, but deep in my heart, I feel it glowing with giddiness.
It’s the first time I’m talking about Gio with someone, and it makes me so stupidly happy and excited that I can’t stop smiling all the way to the living room. I don’t go into too much detail when describing him and our relationship. I don’t want the whole Russian Bratva to go after him just to make sure he’s a good guy. I know enough to be sure about that.
In the end, after a brief recollection of our dates and reassurance that I’m safe with him, Mom finally agrees to let me go out with him whenever I want. I can’t believe I have to hear it at the age of twenty-two, but well, it feels like my whole life turned upside down when I stepped foot in Chicago, so I’m not surprised anymore.
What does surprise me-and not in a good way-is that I don’t get a chance to enjoy Mom’s approval the next day nor the day after it. While I spend the next two days all but glowing in anticipation to hear from Gio, I never do. He doesn’t call me, doesn’t text, and in the evening of the next day, I text him myself.
Hey! Is everything okay? Can’t wait to see you again 🙂