This can’t be happening. They couldn’t have changed their number. Not without telling me — of course not! I’m their only daughter! I’m their child! There’s no way they would do something like this without warning me, without giving me the new number. Besides, they have had the same house phone number since before I was even born. It makes no sense that it would be disconnected now, after all these years, unless…
They did it on purpose.
To sever ties with me. To keep me out of their lives.
“No, no, no!” I mumble to myself, tears forming in my eyes and panic starting to take hold of me. “This can’t be happening. Something is wrong.”
I toss my iPhone onto the bed as though it’s covered in barbs, as though it’s something poisonous. I can’t look at it right now. I can’t deal with this. I thought I would be crying happy tears as I told my parents that they’ll be expecting a grandchild, not shedding angry, bitter tears at the thought of being abandoned by my own parents! I look around instinctively for Andrei, my safety blanket, my comfort, my shelter from the emotional storm brewing in my heart.
But he isn’t here. I forgot. He’s at the apartment gym complex downstairs, working out as is his evening routine. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror across the room — my pink-rimmed eyes, my blotchy cheeks, my messy hair, and slouchy comfy clothes. I look like a disaster. But I am a disaster in need of my husband.
So I quickly throw on a wraparound sweater and slip-on shoes before rushing out into the hallway, nearly running to the elevator. I’m trying to hold myself together so that anyone who sees me on my way to the gym won’t think I’m a crazy person in mid-meltdown.
Even though I am. And I am not holding it together well at all.
I race through the lobby to the gym, fiddling with the door — only to remember that I need a key to get in. I stand on tiptoe to look through the small, square glass window in the door. I can see Andrei lifting weights across the room, looking totally absorbed in the activity, his eyes intense and determined. I jiggle the doorknob in vain, tears welling up in full force at this point. Finally, I get so frenzied and upset that I start pounding on the door with my tiny fists, hoping to make enough noise to catch Andrei’s attention.
It takes about half a minute for him to break out of his work-out trance and notice me banging on the gym door. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he jogs over to let me in, his hard body glistening with sweat.
“What’s the matter, malyshka?” he asks, voice filled with genuine concern as he takes both my hands.
Tears pulse down my cheeks as I look up at him, struggling to find the words.
“My-my parents… I tried to call them, but I-I couldn’t g-get an answer! The lady says th-the number has been d-disconnected!” I whimper, feeling my lip tremble.
Suddenly, a look of dark comprehension comes over Andrei’s sharp features and he looks more wolf-like than ever before. He looks like a predator — an alpha animal.
“I assumed that might be the case,” he says in an undertone, shaking his head. I can tell that he is gritting his teeth, his hands releasing mine and subtly clenching into fists at his sides.
“What d-do you mean?” I ask, squinting up at him. What a strange thing to say.
“I had a feeling this would happen,” he begins cryptically, scowling at the floor with his arms across his chest. “Cassie, please don’t let this bother you.”
I shake my head and back away from him slowly a few steps. “What are you t-talking about? Of course this bothers me! I need to get in contact with m-my parents! They need to know I’m p-pregnant!” I sob, tears dampening my shirt.
Andrei gives me the most pitying look in the world, and suddenly I feel irrationally angry with him. Why isn’t he helping me? Why is he reacting this way? He steps toward me, opening his arms as though to embrace me, but I refuse to let him just gloss over this. It is a big deal!
“I need help, Andrei! We’ve g-got to look them up and get their new number. What if s-something happened to them? I can’t just let this go.”
He sighs heavily. “I should have warned you this might happen. I need to be honest with you, printsessa. Please listen to what I tell you. Moya lyubov, your mother and father are not good people. They sold you like you were cattle.”
Indignant fury bursts like a firework in my chest.
“And you bought me! Doesn’t make you any better, does it?” I shout at him.
He goes quite pale in the face and his expression is so dour, so dark, that for a moment I actually fear what he might do to me for saying that. But it isn’t the fear of what he’d do to me. Not really. It’s the fear of what my father would have done to me, manifested in my husband, the only other man I’ve ever been close to.