Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
VIKTOR
When I arrive home tonight, the sunny smile Avelina usually has for me isn’t there. It’s replaced by something else I don’t even know how to describe. It twists my gut. “Avelina?”
As she walks across the bedroom, she blinks like she’s waking from a daze.
Then, like she realizes I’m here watching, her whole face shifts. But not back to the sunshine. Not the kind of light she normally carries in her eyes when she sees me. This is…forced. A crack in the sunshine that usually radiates from her. “I’m fine.”
But I get the sense she’s not telling the truth. In front of the dresser, she starts to unclip her hair, her fingers shaking just enough for me to notice. Something inside me feels sharper now. “I texted you. You didn’t read it?” I ask.
Her hand stills. “I did.” She doesn’t look at me when she speaks. Just stares at her reflection in the mirror, eyes too wide, too bright.
“Have I…upset you?” Panic starts to race through me like a pack of wild horses. I’m bad at understanding emotions. Fuck, I must have done something wrong…
Her eyes flicker to mine in the mirror, and there’s something in them. Guilt? Fear? But I can’t make out what I’m looking at. “No, it’s not that. You didn’t do anything wrong, Viktor.” Her voice catches, and I immediately step closer to her. “Viktor, something happened...”
Every muscle goes taut, and I freeze. “What?”
She turns from the mirror to fully face me. “He’s b-back.”
My mind scrambles to put a name to who ‘he’ is. Geliy? Or does she mean someone related to the attack on the compound?
Her arms wrap around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“Who?”
Her eyes drop to the ground. “Gennady,” she whispers. “He’s here. In the States. He came to the rink tonight. I’m sorry—I went out without the guards tonight. I thought I’d be okay.”
“I don’t understand. Who’s Gennady?”
“He’s…a former coach from my skating days. It’s complicated. I left skating to get away from him.”
Whoever this man is, or whoever he thinks he is, I can tell he’s dangerous to her. My eyes narrow. “You say he was at the rink?”
She nods. “He came with the Russian team for some international competition.”
“Did he hurt you?” My voice is lethal as it comes out. I step closer without thinking. “Did he…touch you?” I look at her closely. Looking over her arms, exposed beneath her tank top.
“No...”
“What did he want?”
She swallows thickly.
“He threatened you?” It’s a stab in the dark, but her hesitation is all the answer I need.
My jaw clenches so hard. “Avelina, what did he say to you?” Whoever this Gennady is, he’s as good as fucking dead.
Avelina might not be mine officially, but I’ll not stand by and let some coach from her past threaten her.
She looks up at me. “He’s been keeping tabs on me. They’ve been watching me. He said…that…they can see Sofia has the same promise I did.” Her voice chokes as she says her little girl’s name.
I blink, trying to piece together the puzzle. It’s difficult because we’ve talked very little about her past. But I don’t let that frustration show. It’s clear she’s rattled—and very scared. “The same promise? What does he mean?”
“He said she’s…special. That she’s got the same potential that they saw in me. That he’d take her. And me. I d-don’t have a choice.”
My heartbeat is replaced by a wildfire begging to be let loose as rage races through me. “He threatened Sofia?”
She nods again, and her chin trembles.
Panic rises in me like a tidal wave. And I’m no good with crying. Or emotions.
But I shove my discomfort aside. Because I know what I need to do.
And I tug her closer, a soothing hand running down her back.
“I didn’t know…how to describe the hell I went through with him. I didn’t want you to think I was being dramatic.”
“I’d never think that, Avelina.”
She flinches, not because I’ve raised my voice, but from the rawness that scrapes my throat. I’ve killed men for less than scaring someone I care about.
“He’s a dead man if he comes around you or Sofia again.”
“Viktor—”
I shake my head. Gently, I tilt her head up off my chest, searching her eyes. “If he comes near you again, he’s goddamn dead. He comes near Sofia or Leon, I’ll put him in the fucking ground myself.”
Her body trembles, but she leans into my touch, finding comfort in it. And that settles me more than I’ll ever admit.
“I’m scared,” she whispers. “For Sofia. For Leon. And for myself. You don’t know what it’s like, Viktor. The things they did.” A violent shiver rolls through her. “The way they trained us… The way they broke us.”
I wrap my arm around her tighter, feeling the wetness of her tears through my shirt.
“Tell me. I want to know.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t.”
The nightmare from a few weeks ago makes perfect sense now. Whatever happened between Avelina and this man left a lasting scar. Maybe not physically, but emotionally.
“It’s okay,” I murmur. She relaxes into my arms, letting me hold her tightly.
And because that’s the comfort she needs, I give it willingly.
In the morning, I stand across from Grigory in the office.
I haven’t told him everything. But I told him just enough that he’s agreed to let me bulk up our security and defenses. Someone is after Avelina, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Gennady or anyone else threaten her.
Grigory’s gaze is fixed on me. He doesn’t press me for more details. No questions. No explanations. Because he understands how important this is to me—and how important Avelina is to me.
“Say the word, Viktor, and we’ll start bulking up.”
“Then we’ll do it immediately,” I grit out. “I need to find every possible way to eliminate this threat to my girl.”
I freeze.
Did I really…?
I shake my head. She’s mine for as long as she’ll have me, whether she knows it or not.
Then I force my mind to return to the issue of security because I haven’t got a second to lose. I start to run through every possible way to keep this place safe.
But the math doesn’t change.
The threat will never go away.
And Avelina and the children will never be totally safe.
Which means one thing, and one thing only.
That Gennady has to die.
Ten days. It’s been ten days since Avelina’s gone back to the rink.
I don’t say anything. I don’t press.
But I know she’s scared. Even after I told her I’d go with her. That I’d protect her.
I watch her carefully as she wistfully sighs at the ice-skating showcase on TV. She misses it. I can see that in the way she stares at the screen in the rec room. The color has leached slightly from her cheeks. And the light has faded from her laugh.
And seeing that makes my chest feel too tight.
If she won’t go back to the rink because she doesn’t feel safe, then I’ll bring the rink to her.
I type furiously on my phone, setting it all into motion.
A few days have passed. I find her in the garden, humming softly
“Hey.”
She looks up, trowel in one hand, dirt smudged across her cheek and the edge of her turquoise glasses. “Hi.”
“You busy?”
Her head tilts. “No. I’m just trying to keep these daisies alive.”
I crouch beside her. “You’re doing a good job so far.”
“What are you guys building on the north side of the property?” she asks. The demolition crew just finished clearing the space this morning.
“A new gym for the guys.” I cross my fingers behind my back at the lie. And I find myself getting excited at the surprise I have coming for her.
Later that evening, we sit in the rec room, our fingers laced. My thumb brushes over the back of her hand. Touch—it’s something I want to do more and more when I’m with her.
After Avelina puts Leon and Sofia to bed, I make my way to the garden. The twinkling lights strung overhead greet me, and I inhale the damp smell that came after the light rain earlier.
Truthfully, I know she’s just giving me space. And I gladly take it. Not because I don’t want to be around her—I do—but poker night’s noise has me inching higher and higher on that scale.
I settle on the bench, watching the flowers sway in the soft breeze. My lips twitch at the clump of daisies to my left—her haphazard patch that’s taken over the bed without remorse. Their vibrant white petals and beaming yellow centers. It’s beautiful. A splash of color among everything.
I push a hand through my hair. Every spare thought, every drifting moment, keeps circling back to her. To her and the kids. To her beneath me in the dark sheets. To her sundress catching the sun in the garden.
The daisies draw my gaze again. The white. The yellow. Alive in a way my thoughts haven’t felt in…forever.
Usually, my mind is logical. Structured. Grayscale.
But now?
Now, it’s…color.
When I think about her, I see the soft blues from her dress. Peach tones of her skin. The bright pink of her smiling mouth.
I blink.
Is that what this is?
Is this what love feels like?
Bright. Loud. Uncomfortable.
And yet…so damn right.
Avelina has done a lot of things to me. I meant what I said to Grigory—I think I’m falling in love with her.
But more than that, she’s changing how I see the world. Turning my black and white world into technicolor.
There’s something unfamiliar in my chest. Pressing against my ribs. Swelling and aching.
That feeling?
Love.
And it terrifies me.
Because if I name it—even just in my head—then I have something to lose.
Avelina. Sofia. Even little Leon with his banshee wails.
They’ve become mine. I want them to be mine.
And if anything were to happen to them because of me—if I wasn’t careful enough, fast enough, brutal enough…
I rake a hand through my hair and stare out into the dusk.
I refuse to let that happen.
And I’ll burn the whole damn world down before anything happens to them.
But still, there are those whispers in the back of my mind.
That I’m too different.
That Avelina might be kind and patient now, but that might not last.
That I might not be enough.
I’m not used to this kind of peace. Not used to belonging anywhere.
I can learn.
I can try.
But…it’s fucking scary.
Even if I’m still learning how to love, even if it’s scary—especially because it is—I want to try. For her and for whatever heaven she gives me.
Even if it goddamn wrecks me in the end.
Because she’s worth it.