Chapter 27

Eliana:

My hands shook as I sat on the floor when Vladimir left the bathroom and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. I was thankful for the soundproof walls between the rooms. I wouldn’t have wanted the kids to hear about this.

My knees which no longer supported my weight, forced me to sit down on the floor and catch my breath. But seeing as I knew that the kids would be expecting us to go out; I knew that I needed to get up and compose myself before they came to look for me. Them seeing me in this state was the last thing I wanted. It was one of the things that Vladimir and I were against, our kids seeing us fighting, or seeing one of us broken. The two of us were going to have our arguments as any normal couple were going to, and at times, we were going to break, but that wasn’t something that we wanted our kids to grow up seeing or knowing.

Our kids were to know that their parents were strong and powerful, that we were behind them no matter what, and that we