80

God, he was angry. I didn’t like him at all. Way too controlling and toxic. How does Vicky even live with him? And she had a whole litter of kids with him too…

Once his relatives disappeared into the crowd, all of us let out relieved breaths. Turns out none of us had really been breathing.

“That uncle’s scary,” Masha announced. “Like the dark version of you. What’re you gonna do?”

“I’ll think of something,” Nazar mutters thoughtfully. “First we need to get you two to your classes.”

We found the teachers and left the kids with them. I liked the teachers immediately. They smiled warmly at the children and, surprisingly, made them feel at ease. Unlike some of my own teachers, whose memory still makes me twitch a little.

Still, Masha stood there scowling and detached, glaring at her class and the entire world like a wolf.

Luka, meanwhile, was the complete opposite. He looked around at the other children with genuine excitement and curiosity, smiling openly. He loved everything happening around him and didn’t even try to hide it.

I almost melted when a tiny girl with two gigantic white bows walked up, grabbed his hand, and led him off toward their first-grade class.

The ceremony dragged on with long speeches, songs, and poems. Then the first bell rang, and the teachers led the children away.

Watching the kids, I suddenly felt tears gathering in my eyes.

Fuck, just what I needed.

Luka was just so damn cute and happy…

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Nazar wraps an arm around me softly, pulling me closer. “Feeling emotional?”

“I don’t know,” I lower my gaze.

“Nazar!” Kirill appears in front of us with Vicky. “Can we talk?”

The kids only had a short holiday schedule today, just two lessons, so we didn’t go far and sat down at a café across from the school.

“I see you found your missing girl,” the twin says seriously. “But where did the kids come from?”

“They’re… helping me, and I’m helping them,” Nazar dodges.

“How exactly?” Vicky asks, confused.

“Well, they’ve got a really rough situation. Living on the streets, alcoholic mother. And I need to prove to Ann that I’m serious, so now they… live with us,” he blurts out honestly, and I watch the couple’s eyes go wide.

“You’re kidding right now, right?” his brother asks. “You brought random children and a girl home after the two of you lied your asses off to everyone?”

What a dick. Way to make the truth sound ugly.

“I love this girl!” Nazar snaps angrily and grabs my hand protectively. “And I know almost everything about the kids! Where they lived, who their useless mother is!”

“Okay,” Vicky cuts in. “It’s wonderful that you’re helping the children. But what happens after? They’ll get attached to you. They’ll love you! They’re kids! And then what, you’ll just throw them back out on the street?”

“I’ll help them afterward too!” Nazar argues. “That’s already decided.”

“And you, Ann,” the woman turns to me, “how did you even agree to this? What do you think about all this?”

“Honestly? I didn’t fucking need any of this,” I answer bluntly. “This was all Nazar and his stupid bets, and I’m not planning to lose.”

Vicky’s eyes widened, and her mouth literally fell open at my honesty.

“And I’m definitely not going to sit here answering for myself like I’m on trial. You’re acting like we got called into the principal’s office. We’re adults and fully capable of making our own decisions, no matter how fucked up they are.”

Seriously, it pissed me off.

Look at them, calling us onto the carpet like we’re children.

“Adults, huh,” Kirill snorts darkly. “If only you knew Nazar…”

“Oh, trust me, I know him already. More than you can imagine.”

“Anya, we’re not your enemies,” Vicky sighs, softening. You could tell she was gentle by nature… up to a certain point. “We’re just worried about you. We don’t want you playing games with innocent kids’ lives.”

“We’re not playing games,” I soften too. “We’re giving them at least a tiny island of safety. After all this, they’ll still be able to count on us and our help.”

“That’s if you don’t run away,” Nazar mutters gloomily.

“I’m not running away from them. I’m going to win this bet fair and square, and then you’ll finally leave me alone…”