Chapter 187 Beginning Of The Fallout

• They lingered in the dining room for a while, with Holly attempting to reach her father several more times. Each time her calls went unanswered, something in Andrei died, and a terrifying darkness took residence in his heart. But no matter how many times Clarke rejected Holly's attempts to make things right with him, she refused to give up. Coming clean with him had quickly become her single most important purpose in life, for the foreseeable future at least. So all Andrei could do was sit helplessly and watch her desperately cling to the hope that her father would return her calls, both their hearts breaking a little more the longer the hands on the clock ticked on, and her phone remained dead silent.
• After twenty minutes of tense silence—twenty minutes of waiting for the phone to ring—Andrei finally had to call it.
• "Milaya, he's not going to call back," he said, turning in his seat slightly to face her.