Russian Roulette: Family secrets [2021 version]

Ch. 55: Do you know why I named him Gareth?

If the room had been quiet before, it was like the vacuum of space after the bomb Vasili had dropped. Everybody stood in stunned silence. Not even a gasp escaped.

People barely breathed.

"I know we made an agreement, you, Reginald, and myself. I've stuck with that. It was the best for Gareth. He got a title and a heritage much better than being the illegitimate child of a nobody who fell in love with his mother. For thirty-three years, I've done everything for that boy. I've guided him and protected him. Helped him lead and become the amazing man he is." Vasili breathed hard and squeezed more furiously on Zariyah. He had no control. He felt so angry and hurt, not to mention betrayed.

"Not once have I heard him call me 'dad' or acknowledge what part I had in him being in this world. And I'm ok with that. Gareth loved Reginald and has a good life because I gave away my rights. But by God, Zazi, that doesn't change the fact that he's my son. Mine!"

Harshly, he pushed Zariyah away, and had Jace not caught her when she stumbled to regain her footing, she would have fallen. Vasili could not touch her. She had known about Grychenko. And she had slept with another man while she was with him. Not that he could justify his anger on that. Zariyah had cheated on Reginald with Vasili too. That she had cheated on him was only fair punishment for Vasili's lack of morals. 

Karma.

And though that ripped at him, he was not angry with her for that. Disappointed, yes, but not angry.

Vasili fumed because she had kept information from him when it might have helped Gareth. Yes, he would probably have felt as betrayed as he did at that moment, had she told earlier, but they would not have spent days searching for their own asses if they had had the information.

Vasili loved Gareth as a father should. Nothing made him prouder than knowing Gareth was his.

Knowing was enough for him.

That knowledge he had survived on since Gareth's birth, when he could not claim him as his. He hurt because of his love, and Zariyah had contributed to his lifelong misery.

Vasili's feelings were obvious to Zariyah, and her heart plummeted at the realization. She saw it in Vasili's hard, blue-greyish eyes.

Vasili had lost all respect for her.

"Vasili, please..." she begged.

"No. You were with him when you saw me. I can't deal with that."

"I wasn't. I swear. We were just friends before, and when you broke up with me out of that damned sense of honor, I went crying to him. And it happened. I dumped him the minute you came back."

"I loved you. Giving up you and Gareth was the hardest thing I had to do."

Shocked, Zariyah fell back against Jace.

Loved.

Past tense.

He had not only lost respect for her, but he had also taken away his love. Tears formed and Zariyah's lip quivered. It was one thing to be outed as an adulterer in public and accept the shame of that, but having her love rejected in front of people she knew was too much.

"You don't love me anymore?" Zariyah sounded crushed. Her voice was small and shook from withheld tears. Sadness shone through her words.

"No. You've put our son in danger, and you've lied to me. I can't love you."

Cracker suddenly stepped up to Vasili and put his hand on his arm. "That's harsh, bro. Don't go there just because you're angry now. Don't throw away a lifetime of love in a heated moment. Trust me on this. Some of us would wish for what you have." He nodded at Zariyah, who just stared at him with shocked gratitude. "Apologize to the lady. She's sorry, and she clearly loves you. Be a man and get over it."