Seven Years Waiting for a Fake Marriage novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: The Hall
Russ came on the second evening, and he leaned on every bell in the building until someone buzzed him in.
I was in the kitchen with my father, rinsing cups, when the knocking started.
It wasn't a knock. It was a flat palm slapping my door, over and over.
"Elliot." The voice was soft and reasonable. "It's Russ. I only want to talk."
My father dried his hands and stood up.
He is a big man, and I have never once heard him raise his voice to a stranger.
My mother came out of the hall, and I pointed at the study.
"Take Sam in there," I said. "Put the radio on. Shut the door."
She didn't argue.
She took the boy by the shoulders, and he went along with her, white to the lips.
I opened the door.
Russ stood on my mat in yesterday's shirt, with stubble on his round face and his glasses smeared.
He smiled at me as though we were old friends.
Across the hall, a door had opened. Then another one below us on the stairs.
"You're out on bail," I said. "You're not supposed to leave the state."
"I came to see my son."
"He isn't here."
"His coat is on your hook." He looked past my shoulder at the small blue coat. "I can see it from here, Elliot."
My father stepped up beside me and said nothing.
Russ turned his smile on him. It slipped a little.
"I raised that boy for six years," he said, louder now, for the stairwell. "I took him to the clinic. I sat up with his fevers. Her name's on the paper as his mother, and mine is on it as his father."
"Then the paper is wrong," I said. "There's a lab report coming."
Keep reading free with an account. Start Seven Years Waiting for a Fake Marriage from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend