"I hate it when she's right."
My sister Karolina looks up from where she's making a sandwich for her son Paul with an amused expression on her face. "Who? Mama or Yeva? 'Cause they're both almost always right. About everything," she adds.
"Well this time it's Mama," I answer leaning against the kitchen counter.
I shouldn't be here at my mother's house. Stan told me it was best to keep my distance from Viktoria since I'd decided to stand by and help Rose but I had to go somewhere that felt relatively normal. Being at my apartment alone just give me more time to think about the kiss with Rose. And being at the studio where it happened was completely out of the question.
"What happened?" she asked setting the sandwich at the table and calling Paul to come eat.
"I don't even know where to begin."
"How about the beginning, Dimka," she suggested a little sarcastically.
I shake my head as Paul comes running into the kitchen. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Talk about what Uncle Dimka?" Paul asked sitting at the table. I moved from the counter to sit beside my young nephew as he took a huge bite out of his sandwich. "Is this about Vika again?" he asks around a mouth full of sandwich.
"Everything is about Vika lately," my sister Sonya says coming into the room.
"Well it's not her fault," Karolina sighs like she's said this many times recently.
Sonya settles herself on the other side of Paul and raise both brows at our oldest sister. "Really? It's not. Because it seems to me that Vika chose to hang out with the troublemaking rich kids, she chose to not report what happened to her, and she chose to become a bully instead of admitting she is a victim too!"
"Sonya!" Karolina chastised. "You should no better! You never blame the victim! No one asks to be-" She catches herself before saying the word 'rape' in front of Paul who is looking at each and every one of us hoping to understand what's going on.
I suddenly miss being young and oblivious but just as quickly I realize I was never really naïve to how cruel the word can be. My sisters and I witnessed first hand how they're monsters in the world when we should've been normal children with normal child experiences. As the eldest children, the three of us had always hoped to keep Victoria from growing too fast, from experience all the harsh realities we experienced.
Despite all the hoping it looks like we failed.
Sonya takes a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm not blaming Vika what that..." -she pauses a moment to choose her words carefully in front of Paul. "for what that monster did to her but it's like she hasn't been paying attention to anything we've said to her, to anything going on around here! She's the one that should know better! She should've stayed away from those people like we warned her! How could she be so stupid to let this happen-"
"Sonya!" Karolina and I both shout as our youngest sister appears in the doorway to the kitchen.
Viktoria looks different from the last time I've seen her. It's only been about a week but there's definitely something different in the way she looks. She looks tired, dark circles around her eyes, thin from probably not having eaten much. Emotionally, she looks...numb. Almost as broken as when I'd first met Rose.
That's the only word to describe the look in her eyes, her eyes that use to be as bright and warm brown as the rest of us Belikovs.
Broken.
"Don't stop now," Vika says walking to the refrigerator. "Keep talking Sonya. Tell me how I'm such a terrible person, how this is all my fault," she laughs bitterly without any humor.
When Sonya doesn't say anything Vika looks at me. "You realize that if you agree with Sonya, if you think I brought this on myself, then that means your little playmate is at fault here too. In fact this is all her fault."
"Vika, stop. Everyone just stop," Karo says breathing heavily.
Paul is still trying to decipher what's going on while he nibbles on his sandwich.
"Yes, everyone just stop talking about me behind my back," Vika says.
"We're not talking bad about you..."
Vika looks pointedly at Sonya.
"Except for Sonya," Karolina amends.
"Well excuse me for being in shock! I'm in shock that this is even happening and I'm shocked by how stupid you're being by not going to the police!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, that I'm not the perfect little sibling you all expect me to be."
"Vika we don't expect anything of except to do the right thing," I try to tell her. She looks me and smiles a little and in that moment I realize I really am losing my youngest sister; the sister that use to follow me around everywhere I went, the sister whose birthday is so close to my own that we celebrate it together.
"Really? You have something to say too. You're the last person I want to talk to now."
Honestly, despite Stan's warnings to keep my distance, I missed my family home and my family. My plan was just to drop by quickly and avoid Victoria at all costs; avoiding my sister as much as I've avoided directly contacting Rose in the last few days.
Christian's been with Rose when she comes to work at the studio and Stan has told me that the press hasn't gotten word of where Rose lives yet but it's only a matter of time. Two officers were posted outside the studio to keep the media at bay.
Right now I wished there were two officer's here to keep us from hurting each other like this.
"Why the hell are you so mad?" Sonya asked. "You shouldn't be."
"Really? I shouldn't be pissed that my brother is a traitor!"
"I came to you, we've all tried talking to you but you won't open up," I snapped. "And then that stunt you pulled with Ivashkov with the pictures! Really Vika?!
For a second I can see the regret in her eyes but just as quickly it's gone. "She deserved it for not minding her own business."
"What's happened to you? When did you get cold like this?" The three of us, Karolina, Sonya, and I are looking at our youngest sister as if it's the first time we've really looked at her since she started high school. She's different.
Even Paul is looking at his Aunt like she's changed.
After one of the longest moments of my life, Viktoria stiffens, makes all the emotion disappear from her eyes again and shakes her hair out of her face. "Just stay the hell away from me. All of you. Go back to that whore."
Her sudden shift in mood is so startling that it isn't until we hear her bedroom door slam that any of us moves.
Sonya is the first to speak. "I love our family reunions. We really have to do these more often."
Paul, who sits wide-eyed and staring off in the direction Vika left in, speaks next. "Why is Vika so mad?"
His mother sighs as she starts to clear the counter. "She's just...going through a tough time. Somebody hurt her and now she's taking it out on us," she explains.
"But why is she being meaner to you Uncle Dimka?"'
"Probably feels betrayed," Sonya mutters.
"Sonya...just stop. Please. Enough." This is when the big sister role comes into play and I appreciate her the most.
"Everything mean Viktoria says, Uncle Dimka, I'm sure she didn't mean it Uncle Dimka," Paul assures me. He slides a piece of his sandwich to me in offering. I just smile, take one small bite and then push his plate back toward him, ruffling his long hair.
Despite my nephew's reassuring words, I can't get over the idea that I really am betraying Viktoria. I told myself over and over that by helping Rose I'm helping everyone else Ivashkov's hurt but maybe I'm really just causing more damage, hurting Vika, getting a little too close to Rose...
"I gotta go," I say standing.
"Don't let Sonya and Vika drive you away," Karolina says. "Really, Dimka, stay," she pushes.
"Yeah, let's just forget all of this crap going on and play a game of Monopoly," Sonya says dryly. "Don't let me keep you from seeing the truth, in the role you're playing in this."
Karolina shoots Sonya a look that silences her for a bit.
"I have to get out of here anyway," I say grabbing my keys and coat.
"So soon? Things were just starting to get interesting," Sonya speaks up dryly.
"I promised Christian I'd help his sister move," I say ignoring Sonya's comment.
Karolina rolls here eyes at Sonya before turning to me. "We really hoped you stay long enough until Mama and Yeva come home so we can just...be a family for a little while like we use to."
She has as much hope in her voice as Paul and even Sonya have in their eyes. I hate to disappoint them but I feel like if I don't leave now things will only get worse.
"Me staying won't help anything. I just need so time to clear my head."
"Whatever," Sonya murmurs leaving the room, tugging Paul behind her as he waves goodbye to me.
Karolina nods, understandingly. "Alright but don't stay away too long, Dimka."
"I won't. And I'll still call everyday," I promise as I head for the front door.
"You better," she warns socking my arm smiling. "I almost forgot. You said you came over to talk about something, that something was bothering you. What'd you want to talk about? What happened?"
The thing about my oldest sister is that out of the four of us she's the one that takes the most time caring about others even if it means carrying the burden on her own shoulders worrying. Telling her about what happened with Rose won't help anything. If anything, it'll cause more problems and the last thing I need is another warning not to get too close to the girl I made a promise to stand beside.
"It's nothing major. I can figure it out on my own," I tell her.
Things are pretty chaotic now but the least I can do is try to shoulder a lot of the burden and problems. I don't need to give my sister something else to worry over.
She nods, knowing I'm lying about it not being a big deal, deciding to let it go for now.
"Okay, but remember Dimka, you can't save everyone. Sometimes there are people beyond repair. Isn't that what Mama tried to do with Alexandre and look how that turned out," she mutters bitterly.
I cringe at the mention of our father but don't say anything for a minute.
"Just keep in mind that we aren't mad that you're spending more time with this Rose instead of Vika...well Sonya is kind of mad but she's always mad about everything. The rest of us understand. We just don't want to see you hurt if you can't help her the way she's expecting you to."
That's just the thing.
Rose isn't really expecting anything from me. I've made promises to help her and show her to fight for herself but until yesterday I don't think she expected anything but friendship in return. I'm the one who's expecting so much from myself, to save everyone I can no matter the trouble it may bring.
I just hope I don't fail.
"I'll keep it in mind, Karo." I lean down to kiss her on the cheek. "Tell Mama and Yeva I stopped by and I'll try to visit again soon," I say as I head toward my car, thinking of what I'm going to do about Rose the entire time.
A/N: You guys are awesome! And I suck for not updating but I am back on track. I had some downtime from school and kind of slacked off on updating anything but now that school is keeping me busy I'll actually be more likely to update, if that makes sense. When I'm stressed, I write.
Okay so one reviewer was right: as I was rereading the last chapter it really did sound exceedingly angsty but that's kind of a given considering the plot of the story. Despite that one reviewer I'm glad so many of you guys actually liked the chapter. I just want to say thanks and to offer the two important reminders: 1) there's a fine line between constructive criticism and just being mean 2) if you don't like a story you don't have to read and review.
Also: I've kind of started doing the alternate Dimitri and Rose chapter thing like I did with Twelve Months of the Year. Lemme know if it becomes confusing and if I need to go back and mark who's POV for each one.