Another sob tore from her lips, so broken that Ivan felt his throat tighten just from hearing it. He ran his hands slowly along her back, trying to soothe her, but she lifted her head to look at him and spoke in a shattered voice.
"He blamed me, Ivan," she said. "He said… that I was responsible for her. Th-that… I-I should never have been born." Her voice cracked completely. "He called me the greatest curse of his life. And just like that, I not only lost my mother… I lost my father, too."
Ivan's jaw clenched so hard it ached as fury surged through him once more. Had he known this sooner, he would have given that bastard far more than just a piece of his mind the moment he dared to claim any right to her as family.
