43

SASHA Kirill asks me if I want to be there for…the rescue operation of his mother. He sounds so casual about it that I can’t help but be a little appalled. My reaction to his actions is more about me than him. I know that. I really, really do. It’s not that he’s changed, but maybe I’m freaked out about the fact that he hasn’t changed. In fact, he’s been being unapologetically himself in a very direct manner. He was strict and unapproachable in the army, probably due to martial law, but now, he’s shed his outer skin and is letting his inner self loose. Not that I expected him to change, but I did think maybe being around members of his family would compel him to behave differently. Little did I know that they would bring out his apathetic side. I sit in the passenger seat as Yuri drives the car to the location where Kirill said his mother is. I asked Yuri if the boss put a tracker on her, and he just lifted his shoulder. He didn’t have to spell it out. Everything is possible in this fam