Chapter Fourteen #2
“It was constructed like that, hidden away,” he says, then drags his gaze to me. “To be something like a haven away from all the noise in the world when it gets too loud, even for me.”
My heart sinks into my stomach. Leonid talking about a haven? About noise in the world? Whatever this is, it’s so new and unexpected, I don’t know how to react.
“I thought your study was your haven?” I ask.
He shakes his head, grabs and apple from the bowl, and gives it a cursory look. “You can have a look at it tomorrow, and then you’ll understand why it can’t be.” And just like that, he takes one huge bite of the apple, then extends it to my lips. “Bite.”
I want to poke further, to understand the sudden invitation to his study. But one glance at him makes me push the thought aside, tossing it in the checklist of questions I can ask later.
I obey, taking a little bite from the same spot his teeth dug into a second ago. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he says, then gestures with his free hand. “I brought you out here hoping to make you comfortable enough to speak to me about what was going through your mind when you were drinking from an empty glass.”
“There was water in it before you came al—”
“Elena.”
I draw a slow, shaky breath, accepting that I can’t run from it any longer. He won’t let me.
“You,” I admit, and the weight lifts off my shoulders, making it easier to continue. When I fix my gaze on him, I hold it, taking advantage of the undivided attention he gives me. “I was thinking about you, Leo.”
Something unreadable crosses his face. I’m more aware that there are no guards around, no pesky surveillance teams breathing down our necks, just this quiet space. Just us in this special haven he created.
I wait for a scoff, a sarcastic comment, a tease...anything at all from him. But it doesn’t come, so I continue with a raised brow. “You’re not curious?”
“I am,” he says softly. “But I want to hear you out, everything you have to say. What you think, what you want...I want to know it all.”
His firm but gentle inquisitiveness stuns me, leaving me temporarily speechless. I clear my throat and blink rapidly.
“I’m tired of being scared all the time, having to look over my shoulder because I’m not sure what comes next.
” My gaze darts toward the bowl, but my appetite is gone, so I look back up.
“You know this: I don’t trust you, Leo. I mean, I want to, but it’s hard, given the circumstances that brought us together in the first place.
It’s not easy for me, but I want to understand you. Am I making any sense?”
He nods. “You’re making sense. And I hear you.”
I don’t know why, but those three words loosen all the knots I firmly tied where Leonid was concerned: I hear you.
Under the bright illumination of moonlight, I realize that he doesn’t only hear me. He sees me, too: every inch of my face, my skin, the rumpled oversized T-shirt and shorts hanging on my body. He takes me all in with one intent look.
“It’s not your fault.” His jaw ticks, and I hear a breath of hesitation. “You’re right. I did snatch you away from everything you’d ever known. I brought you into this. Practically forced you to live by my rules. You don’t trust me because I haven’t given you reasons to.”
“Leo, I didn’t mean to—”
“I’m saying your feelings are valid, Elena.
” His brows furrow and his gaze grows hard.
“This is the life I live, the only one I’ve known.
I was born in an environment where violence is the norm and forged with intense control.
Hardcore training, codes of discipline we have to live by, and brutal rules that don’t give a single fuck about emotions or empathy. ”
I’m too overwhelmed by his honesty to blink, or even breathe. If I do either, I might shatter the moment and never get it back. I hold on to the bowl for dear life, worried that I’ll fall deeper into the pool of emotions brewing in my heart.
“I can’t change it, but I can do something about it. Something that should help you understand me better. Would that help?”
At this point, if I were on my feet, my knees would certainly buckle. He doesn’t order me around, like I expected him to. No. He makes a suggestion and asks if it would help.
My head bobs up and down. “I guess so. What are you suggesting?”
“A job.”
I blink. “A job? I already have one.”
His gaze lingers on my lips. “I want to make another offer. A job where you get to work with me.”
My eyes widen. “Like an assistant position, sort of?”
He nods.
“You said it’s an offer. So I get to decline or accept?”
“You do,” he says, suppressing a smirk. “You have the power to say no to this, Elena. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
His words sound genuine, almost too good to be true. I frown. “What’s the catch?”
Leonid pauses, just for a second, then runs his fingers through his hair and shrugs. “We’ll get to spend more time together.”
I nearly choke on air. “That’s it?” I squeak, because obviously he can’t be serious. He’s teasing again, pulling my leg. “You’re proposing this job so we’ll get to spend more time together?”
“You said you wanted to understand me better. I’m willing to make that process easier, and that comes with being in the same space more often. I’d have to bring you in. Is that not a good thing, or are you changing your mind?”
“No...” I rush out, almost tripping on my own words. “No, I’m not changing my mind.”
“So that’s a yes, then?”
I nod and then summon enough confidence to use my words instead. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
Awkward silence.
He stares at me, and I stare right back.
“So I’m your assistant now?”
The somber mood seems to have fizzled out. He’s back to the relaxed version of himself who picked up broken glass from the kitchen floor.
A smile plays on his lips as he takes another huge bite from the apple. “Effective tomorrow. You’ll wrap up your duties at the marina and do a proper handover, then head right back to the house to join me in the study.”
“Noted.”
He extends the apple to me again, his hot gaze scorching my face when he says, “Bite.”
And I obey, holding his gaze as I sink my teeth into the same spot where he left a mark.
“I haven’t done your type of work before. I’m nervous. I hope I don’t mess up,” I say after chewing and swallowing.
“You won’t,” he says confidently. “I’ll teach you everything you need to know, from the men on surveillance rotation to the contents of every document and ledgers of our shipping activities. We’ll work closely together, so there’s no need to be scared. I’ll be right there to catch you if you fall.”
A blush spreads across my cheeks, and if he notices, he doesn’t say a word.
Instead, he rises to his feet and throws the apple core far into the night. I don’t see where it lands, but I definitely see Leonid stretching out his big arms.
“It’s getting chilly. I don’t mind staying out here longer with you, but your clothes aren’t exactly protective, and we don’t want you to catch a cold. We should get inside.”
My brain turns to mush at this caring display, and my words are too poorly coordinated to voice a protest. All I find the strength to muster is a nod.
He slips his arms across my back and under my crooked knees, then effortlessly lifts me from the hammock, bringing me flush against his hard chest. I start to reach for the bowl, but he shakes his head.
“Leave it. I’ll have one of the men bring it in.”
If my arms aren’t hugging the bowl, that leaves them with one option.
I look up at him and secretly admire every hard inch of this man who was formed with the sharpest and most brutal tools.
He was right about the night getting colder, but the second my arms go around his neck, the cold vanishes.
And so does the rest of the world around us.
The only thing that matters is him. And a sudden hope bursts in my chest, like a blooming flower in a garden tilting toward the blinding rays of sunlight, that maybe it is possible.
Maybe there could be a world where I get to know him beyond the dark suits, the guns, and need to always be on guard.
And if there’s even the slightest possibility that this man can be mine to have, to hold, and to cherish, I’m desperately eager to find it.
But then shame hits me, hard and fast. I can’t give in just because he showed me kindness.
He kidnapped me. No matter what, that’s my reality—and I have to get away.
Even though part of me truly wants to stay.