44. VANYA: TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

“Are you ready to order?”
Feeling close to tears and unable to look at the woman for another second, I stood and hurried towards the exit.
“Vanya!”
I pushed the door open and stormed out of the dinner but I couldn’t remember what direction we had come from which made the panic from earlier return.
“Vanya!” Obsidian grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. “Don’t ever fucking storm off like that again,” he growled.
“What kind of sick game are you playing?” I questioned. “Did you bring me here to hurt me more? If that was the plan then you fucking—”
He kissed me.
He fucking kissed me!
I tried my best to keep my body tense and my lips unmoving but it was hard, especially when he gripped my hips to pull me closer and sucked on my bottom lip. My body melted against his as my lips parted. The longer he kissed me, the harder it got to remember why I should push him away instead of kissing him back.
Obsidian broke the kiss. Pressing his forehead to mine, he licked his lips and then opened his eyes to look at me.
“I didn’t know that she still worked here,” he whispered. “I would never have brought you here if I knew.”
I tried to pull away but his hands shot up to cup my cheeks.
“Sweetness, I told you that I’ve fucked other women before things between us got serious. I can’t change that just like you can’t change the fact that you’ve fucked other men before me.” He swallowed. “There’s something Ezra said that I can’t get out of my head. He said that we all have a past and that maybe we made choices that weren’t the best but we get a fresh start every day. I can’t change any of the things I had done in the past, but believe me when I tell you that you’re the only woman who has ever meant anything to me.”
I swallowed, trying to fight the tears burning my eyes. “How can I trust you when you’ve been lying to me?”
Obsidian stepped back, eyes darting away. When he looked at me again, his blank mask was back in place. He hesitated before he held out his hand for me.
“I told you that I’ll answer all your questions,” he rasped. “Give me a chance to explain things before you judge me any further.”
I stared up at him for a few seconds and then at his hand. In the end, the need to get answers was more important than the pain tightening my chest from his inability to say the words I was dying to hear from him.
“I want to know everything, Obsidian,” I told him.
He nodded.
Slipping my hand into his, I followed him silently. My attention was no longer focused on our surroundings and the people around us. I was trying to figure out how bad the answers to my questions might end up being.
Somehow we ended up in a part with hotdogs for breakfast and two cups of steaming black coffee that tasted like shit. Obsidian remained silent as I ate but he didn’t touch his hotdog. The moment I was done, he turned to face me. He sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out as he got comfortable on the bench with one arm stretched out behind me and his other hand clutching his thigh tightly.
“The night when you remembered. . .the scream trigger a memory, didn’t it?” he questioned.
I nodded.
“Tell me what you remembered, sweets.”
My eyes dropped to the cup I held in my hand. I stared down at the dark liquid as the events played out in my mind, but only this time it felt like I was watching a movie instead of remembering.
“Reeves killed Mom.” I couldn’t bring myself to call him my father after what he had done. “He stabbed her because she wanted to leave and then he made it look like an accident.”
“You don’t remember what happened after that?” he asked.
I shook my head. No other memories had resurfaced. Mom’s death was the only thing I remembered because it had been triggered by the scream. Maybe my other memories would return when triggered but at the moment I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more memories returning.
Obsidian swallowed loudly. “You called Dev but I answered his phone. I couldn’t make out what you were saying because you were screaming and crying but I knew that something had happened.”
“You came for me?”
“I’ll always come for you, sweets. I told you that, remember?” he rasped, leaning closer. “No matter how pissed you are at me or how pissed I am at you, if you need me, I’ll be there.”
My eyes darted over his face. “I know that you come, but I don’t know if you love me like I love you.”
He didn’t comment on my words or even try to reassure me that he loved me, instead, he continued talking like I hadn’t spoken at all.
“By the time I got to the house, Reeves had already gotten rid of Melanie’s body. I guess that you had tried to help her because you were covered in blood by the time I found you.” He paused. “I took you to Betsy but you wouldn’t let me leave so I stayed. Dev called me to tell me that Melanie had been in an accident.”
“You never corrected him,” I pointed out. “You had the opportunity to tell him the truth. Why didn’t you?”
“I was going to, but Reeves. . .things got complicated, and to protect you I decided to keep it to myself.”
The more he explained, the more things fell into place. It explained how Reeves knew him and why he always acted like an asshole whenever they had to interact with each other. It also explained how Reeves still had the necklace even though it stated in the report that Mom had worn it when she died.
Seeing Reeves killing Mom had been too dramatic for me to handle. I forgot everything because it had been a reminder of Mom and all the things that had led up to her death.
“Tell me about the pregnancy,” I said minutes later after I had worked through the things he told me. “Was she really pregnant?”
“Yes.” He stood and took a few steps away from me. “Before I tell you anything else, I want you to understand that Melanie had done all the things she had to protect you and your half-sister.”
“Just tell me, Obsidian,” I hissed. “Reeves hated us long before Melanie started a relationship with Darial. He hated that you were friends with. . .animals. It got worse when things started changing between Darial and Melanie.” A humourless laugh fell from his lips. “She thought that she could keep things silent and protect you at the same time but everything went to hell when she got pregnant.”
“Go on.”
Obsidian ran a shaky hand through his hair. “She hid the pregnancy well, or so we thought. Nobody knew, they never suspected anything. Mel knew Reeves would try and kill the pup if he found out so she took precautions.”
My stomach dropped. “W-what kind of precautions?” I asked him.
He turned around and stared down at me. “There was no choice. I did what she asked me to do and I promised her that nobody would find out.”
I stood, unable to sit still. “What did you do?”
“She made all the arrangements. She asked me to take…to take the pup to a family who would protect her. She said that they knew all about Reeves and that they wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” He swallowed. “I took her to the address she gave me and I returned to the island to protect you.”
“Who did you give her to?” I took a step towards him when he shook his head. “Does she know about everything? Does she know who her real Dad and Mom are? Does she know that I even exist?”
“She doesn’t know anything,” he rasped. “Neither of you were supposed to know about each other.”
I frowned at him. “I know the truth, Obsidian. There’s no fucking way that I’m just going to pretend that I know nothing. I want to meet her.”
“Vanya—”
“Don’t!” I sneered. “If Ezra or Dev knew about this, I know that they would have helped me find her. Reeves might be in prison but that doesn’t mean that he won’t go after her. If Joy knew about Mom’s pregnancy then the chances are big that he knows too.” I sucked in a breath and forced my eyes to stay locked with his. “If you stop me from finding here then I’ll walk away and you’ll never see me again.”
Pain, panic, and fear flashed through his eyes.
“Tell me where I can find her, Obsidian. Please.”
“You already have,” he whispered. “She found you.”
“What?” I breathed.
“She already found you,” he repeated. “Iris is your half-sister Vanya, not your cousin.”