Chapter 6 - THE DAUGHTER HE CHOSE
Elara stared at him.
Vadim remained silent.
Exactly as promised.
“My mother told you to send me away?”
“No.”
Taras rubbed one hand across his face.
“She told me to send you somewhere safe.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Everything.”
“Then explain it.”
Taras looked suddenly exhausted.
He walked behind his desk but did not sit.
“After she got sick, your mother worried about what would happen if I lost the company.”
“Why?”
“Because I was not pleasant when I was afraid.”
Elara almost laughed.
“That is one way to describe it.”
Taras accepted the blow.
“She worried I would make decisions for all of you.”
“You mean like this marriage?”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
That answer stunned her.
“Mom knew?”
“She knew me.”
Taras looked at Evelyn’s bracelet.
“She told me Catherine would fight me.”
Catherine, still standing near the hallway, folded her arms.
“Accurate.”
Taras continued.
“Juliet would leave.”
Juliet said quietly, “Also accurate.”
“And me?”
Taras looked at Elara.
“She said you would stay.”
Elara’s anger faltered.
“Why?”
“Because you always stayed.”
There was no insult in his voice.
That made it hurt more.
“When your sisters argued, you stayed until everyone calmed down.”
He swallowed.
“When your mother was sick, you sat outside her door even when she was too tired to see you.”
Elara looked away.
“You were nine.”
“Ten.”
“Ten.”
Taras nodded.
“She was afraid loyalty would make you easy to use.”
Elara looked at her wedding ring.
“So you proved her right.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
Nobody moved.
Taras continued.
“She trusted Galina.”
“So Mom told you if things went wrong, send me to Russia?”
“No.”
“To Galina. Wherever she was.”
“And you turned that into a marriage.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed Sokolov to accept the settlement.”
Vadim finally moved.
One step.
Elara looked at him.
He stopped again.
Taras glanced at Vadim.
“He would never have taken you if he knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you had never agreed.”
Elara stared at her father.
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“You invented men.”
“Yes.”
“You made me sound promiscuous because—what? You thought that would make him less guilty?”
Taras’s face hardened.
“I thought it would make you seem experienced enough to know what you were doing.”
“That is disgusting.”
“I know.”
“You knew I’d never even been kissed.”
Catherine looked startled.
Juliet closed her eyes.
Taras said nothing.
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
Elara felt something old inside her finally turn into anger.
Not shame.
Anger.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you told him I slept with your men.”
“Yes.”
“To make the deal easier.”
“Yes.”
Elara’s eyes filled.
“Did you hate me that much?”
Taras looked at her.
“No.”
She laughed.
“No?”
“I thought he was the safest man I could send you to.”
Even Vadim looked surprised.
Taras continued.
“I knew Sokolov’s reputation.”
“That is supposed to comfort me?”
“No.”
“I knew his mother.”
“You refused to speak to her for seventeen years.”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of Mom?”
Taras looked at Evelyn’s photograph.
“Of myself.”
There it was.
Not redemption.
Not innocence.
Something uglier because it was real.
“I spent my life building a company,” Taras said.
“Then Evelyn saved it in three conversations.”
His mouth twisted.
“I loved her for it.”
A pause.
“And I resented her for it.”
Elara said nothing.
“When she died, I could not look at that debt without seeing the worst year of my life.”
“Then repay it.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You mean you wouldn’t.”
“No.”
Taras looked around the mansion.
“I mean I rebuilt too big.”
That answer surprised everyone.
He gestured toward the house.
“The properties. The expansions. Your sisters’ schools. The clubs. The image.”
His mouth tightened.
“I spent seventeen years proving the Fagans had never needed saving.”
“And now?”
“Now I owe a man four million dollars and have less cash than anyone in Chicago believes.”
Catherine sat down.
Juliet whispered, “Jesus.”
Taras continued.
“When Vadim demanded settlement, I knew one of two things would happen.”
He looked at Elara.
“I could sell most of what I built.”
“Or sell me.”
His face crumpled for half a second.
“Yes.”
That was the first time he did not rename it.
Elara’s voice became very quiet.
“Why not Catherine?”
Catherine stiffened.
“Why not Juliet?”
Juliet looked down.
Taras answered.
“Because Catherine has a business tied to mine.”
Catherine stared.
“Juliet had just begun seeing Mark.”
Juliet flushed.
“And me?”
Taras struggled.
“You had no one.”
There it was again.
No attachments.
No one.
Elara nodded slowly.
“You thought I had less to lose.”
“Yes.”
“You thought nobody would miss me.”
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“No, Elara.”
“That is exactly what you told him.”
“I thought you would survive it.”
“Because fat women don’t need love?”
Taras recoiled.
She continued.
“Because quiet daughters don’t have plans?”
“No.”
“Because I was already damaged?”
His eyes closed.
“No.”
“You called me that for years.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
He opened his eyes.
And for the first time, Taras Fagan looked small.
“Because your mother used that word about me.”
Elara froze.
“What?”
“The night she bought the train tickets.”
His voice shook.
“She told me my pride had damaged everything it touched.”
He laughed once.
Brokenly.
“After she died, every time I looked at you, I saw her face.”
Elara could barely breathe.
“So you gave her insult to me.”
“Yes.”
“That is pathetic.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Taras reached into the cedar box.
From beneath the lining, he removed a small gold locket.
“I kept this because I could not bear to look at it.”
He placed it in Elara’s hand.
She opened it.
Inside was a tiny photograph of Evelyn holding nine-year-old Elara.
Her mother was kissing the top of her head.
On the opposite side were five engraved words.
LET HER CHOOSE HER LIFE.
Elara’s vision blurred.
Taras looked at the locket.
“Your mother’s last instruction to me was not about money.”
He swallowed.
“It was about you.”
Elara closed her fingers around the gold.
“Then why did you violate it?”
Taras looked directly at her.
“Because I convinced myself that sending you to the Sokolovs was what she meant.”
Vadim’s voice finally entered the room.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
His expression was cold.
“She meant safety.”
Taras met his eyes.
“Yes.”
Vadim stepped closer.
“You gave her captivity and called it protection.”
Taras did not argue.
Elara looked between them.
Something still bothered her.
“My mother trusted Galina.”
“Yes.”
“She told you to send me to Galina if everything collapsed.”
“Yes.”
“Then why marriage?”
Taras looked toward Vadim.
“Because I thought Galina would reject the bargain.”
Vadim frowned.
“Why?”
Taras’s face changed.
There was still something left.
One last thing he did not want to say.
Elara saw it.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Taras looked at the locket.
Then at the silver key.
Finally at his daughter.
“I did not choose you first.”
Elara’s pulse jumped.
May you like
Taras whispered, “Your mother did.”
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