Free Destiny's Whisper by Elizabeth Moynihan Page A

the guest room, complaining about stupid cords and bumped into him as he limped toward the bathroom. Her eyes widened in surprise at his presence and she smiled in welcome.
    “You’re certainly up and about early,” she said, placing a gentle kiss on his slightly rough cheek; her baby needed a shave.
    “Mom, do you know what time it is?”
    “Earlier than you’d like it to be, obviously. But if Chloe’s coming home today, I want the room to be ready for her. You know how I get when there’s company coming.”
    “Mom, we’re not having company, we’re having Chloe. She’s spent as much time in this house as Dani has. Remember?” Sergei asked quietly, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. What he wouldn’t give for just one more hour of sleep.
    “I know how frequently she’s been here; she may as well be family. But this is different, things are different,” Jordan tried to explain even as she tried to understand everything that she’d been told had occurred.
    “You’re right, things are different. But I think, for now, we should try to keep things the same, at least around here. Chloe’s going to need things around her to be familiar. She needs to know that not everything has been turned upside down in her life.”
    Jordan looked up at her son; tall, the image of his father at the same age, but his eyes held a maturity that surprised her. In their ebony depths she saw compassion and empathy and understanding and she smiled softly at Sergei. “Chloe’s lucky to have you for a friend.”
    “I’m not her friend, Dani is. I just happen to be Chloe’s best friend’s brother, but with any luck, I’ll be her skating partner,” Sergei announced quietly with a sigh, pushing his hair off his forehead with one hand.
    “You don’t sound exactly thrilled over the prospect of having Chloe for a partner,” Jordan expressed softly, her green eyes searching her son’s sleep-glazed ebony gaze, her arms crossing beneath her full breasts.
    “In all honesty, the only thing that would thrill me right now would be knocking Manning to hell and back–twice!” Sergei growled quietly, rolling his eyes at his mother’s censorious look. “But, obviously, Chloe is my–our–immediate concern, so my desire to kick a little butt is going to have to wait; as much as I wish it otherwise.”
    “Thank you,” Jordan offered with a small smile and gentle squeeze to his hand. “It makes me very happy knowing I don’t have to worry about you going after Manning, that’s up to the police.”
    “Unless Chloe files a complaint with the police and presses charges, that’s not even an issue. And at this point, I don’t know that she’s ready to take that big a step,” Sergei pointed out.
    “I can’t believe she’d let Manning get away with what he’s done to her,” Jordan argued.
    “Mom, he’s been beating her down for at least a couple of years; both physically and emotionally. I don’t imagine it’s easy for someone who’s come to believe they deserve that kind of treatment to suddenly just stand up and say they aren’t going to take it anymore. I think Chloe’s going to need some time to realize she’s not alone anymore and that there are people who are willing to stand beside her and back her up, at any cost. Maybe then, she’ll find the courage to point her finger at Manning and hang him for the sleaze bag he is.”
    “And if she never finds the strength to do that?”
    Sergei lifted his shoulders in a barely perceptible shrug, “I don’t know. I’m hoping the obnoxious brat who told me to fuck off when she was ten is still tucked away safely in some hidden corner, and that I can find her again. For as big a brat as Chloe was at that age, she could have chewed Manning into little pieces and not even left splinters of bones as evidence. I want to see her that strong and sure of herself again.”
    “And when she tells you to fuck off again?” Jordan asked optimistically.
    Sergei pondered the