Chapter 14
Y ulianna
Things had been quiet, but my stomach was tied in knots. Now that I knew what was at stake, my fear of losing everything that I wanted had me hanging on tighter.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” I said, clinging to Eddie. “If I had it my way, I wouldn’t go home at all.”
“I don’t want you to go either,” Eddie said, holding me close. I shut my eyes, forcing back the tears threatening to spill. “It’s just for two weeks, and then you’ll be back.”
“Tell me to stay, and I will,” I said as Eddie kissed the top of my head.
“You know that I want you to stay. But your family requested that you go home for Christmas, and I can’t ask you to go against them.”
Pulling back, I stared into Eddie’s kind eyes.
“I don’t have a good feeling, Eddie. There’s no reason for it, but I just don’t. My stomach is tied up in knots and my heart is racing.” I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling my father and telling him that I won’t be coming home.”
“Ana….”
“No, Eddie. I’m not risking our time together.”
My mother picked up on the third ring.
“Yulianna, sweetheart, why are you calling?”
“I’ve decided to stay here over break,” I said, bracing for a fight only to be met with silence. “I want to experience Christmas here at Wayward. They’re holding a huge feast, and I want to try the food. Plus, there is ice skating, and…please let me stay.”
“I’m sorry, Yulianna. Your father should be there any minute to pick you up.”
“What? Why is he coming here now? He wasn’t supposed to fly out until tomorrow?” The loud knock on the door had my heart jumping around in my chest. “What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. If it was up to me, then you would get to stay,” she said, ending the call.
Eddie opened the door, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
My father stood in the hallway with four of his guards. He glared at Eddie and then at me.
“You made me a promise, Edmundo. You broke it.”
Eddie looked at me before answering my father.
“Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t break your trust.”
“Take her,” Father ordered.
I screamed and ran for the bathroom, but the guards were fast and grabbed me.
“Let her go. You’re hurting her,” Eddie growled and punched one of the guards in the face.
The other guards tackled Eddie to the ground. It was like watching my nightmares play out as I was dragged from the room while Eddie fought and yelled.
“Let go of me,” I demanded and kicked at the guard holding my left arm.
He groaned as I caught the side of his knee. Twisting hard, I broke the second guard’s grip—a move that Paul had taught me—and ran back into my room.
My father knelt by Eddie’s head with a knife in his hand.
“Leave him alone. He’s done nothing wrong, and neither have I.”
More guards appeared, but these were from the school and included Dean Martin.
“What is going on in here,” Dean Martin asked.
“This student has broken your rules. Right under your roof, he has ruined my daughter,” Father sneered.
“Father, Eddie would never do that.”
“I haven’t, sir. I swear.”
“Your word means nothing when I have proof.”
He pulled a photo from his pocket and handed it over to the dean. It was a snapshot of Eddie and I kissing.
“It’s a kiss, so what? That doesn’t mean we slept together,” I said.
“Maybe, maybe not. The phone call I got said that he’s been staying in your room every night. Are you going to deny that as well?”
I swallowed.
“Mr. Mikhailov, I told you that I’d look after Yulianna, and I meant every word. I won’t lie to you, sir. Yes, I’ve spent nights in this room, holding Yulianna as she slept. But I swear we never had intercourse.”
“I don’t believe you,” my father said, glaring at Eddie, but he stood and put the knife away.
I had no idea what came over me, but I stepped into my father’s personal space, squaring off with him.
“Well, you should.”
His eyes narrowed into slits.
“I begged him to sleep with me.”
Father’s eyes grew wide with shock.
“Yes, your perfect daughter threw herself at him. But he is too good of a man to dishonor a promise. He refused my advances. Whatever you’ve learned is a lie, and you can think whatever you want about me but don’t you dare speak ill of Eddie. You will not meet a more noble character, and you’d be lucky to have him in the family.”
“You’re out of line, daughter.”
“I don’t care. I will not let someone spread rumors and lies.”
Father was quiet a moment before he signaled his guards to release Eddie. I rushed over and hugged him hard. This was all my fault. I knew who’d done this. Everything that I’d tried to avoid happened anyway.
“Yulianna, let’s go.”
“No!”
I held Eddie tighter, my hands balling his sweater up into my fists.
“I’m staying.”
“No, you are not.”
“Yes, I am,” I screamed, tears pouring down my cheeks.
I was on the precipice of a complete meltdown. Everything in me screamed to hang onto my happiness, my future…Eddie.
“Yulianna.”
“Sir, may I speak to Yulianna alone for a minute?”
Father stared at Eddie, giving him a steely glare that would’ve terrified most, but Eddie stood quietly and didn’t back down. I loved him so much for that.
“Fine, one minute, but willingly or not, you’re coming home, Yulianna.”
“If you order me one more time, I’ll revoke your right to be on the property, and you’ll never see me again,” I snarled at my father.
He sucked in a large breath, and if we had been back home, I wouldn’t see the light of day for months. But we weren’t in Russia, and I was fighting for the only thing in this world I wanted.
“Mr. Mikhailov, may I suggest you let them speak. I feel you’ll have a far better result if you do.”
My father didn’t move.
“Although I cannot officially revoke your permission until Yulianna is eighteen, my duty is to my students. You have come onto this property and manhandled a student from another family, which means...I can remove you for a minimum of a week while we contact Edmundo’s family and speak to the Curators.”
Father glanced at Dean Martin, and there was a hint of fear. Not much, but it was good to know that he could at least feel the emotion. His jaw twitched as he glared down at me.
“Fine, I will leave you alone. You get five minutes, no more.”
I held steady until the door closed, and then the shaking started.
“I can’t let him take me, Eddie, I can’t. I’ll never see you again, I know it, and….”
“Breathe, Ana…breathe.”
“No, you don’t understand. This is all my fault. I should’ve told you.”
Eddie’s hands were warm on my shoulders as he forced me to look at him.
“What are you talking about? What is your fault?”
Steeling myself for the truth, I sucked in a deep breath.
“This is Lawrence.”
Eddie’s face twisted in confusion.
“A few weeks ago, he attacked me outside of the library.”
“He what?”
Eddie’s fingers tightened, and his eyes turned murderous.
“He wants me for himself. He’s deranged and believes he is a better match for me. I fought him off and thought about telling the dean, but then I thought if my father found out, he would demand that I go home. I hid it from you because you would kill him, and I’d lose you. I couldn’t let that happen, and so I kept quiet.”
“The scratches on his face….”
Eddie’s mind was working to fill in the clues he had missed.
“I didn’t report it, Eddie, and I made a mess of everything. I should’ve listened to Paul. He told me to go to the dean.”
“Paul knew and didn’t tell me?”
“I made him promise not to tell anyone. Don’t be mad at him, please. He begged me to report it, but I told him that if he forced me, I would deny it.”
“Ana….”
He stepped back and stared around the room, looking as lost and hurt as I felt for doing this to us.
“Please don’t hate me. I swear the only reason I kept quiet was so that this very thing didn’t happen, but Lawrence found another way to hurt us. Now my father doesn’t trust you. Oh my god, what have I done?”
Eddie grabbed my hands.
“Stop. This is not your fault. Do I wish that you’d told me what that asshole, who has been masquerading as my friend, did to you? Yes, but this is not your fault.”
“If I leave with my father, he’ll never let me come back.”
“Dean Martin can only keep him locked out for a week. We need a plan.”
He was right. We couldn’t go off half-cocked.
“Okay…what should we do?”
“I can go out there and claim you as mine. To hell with him, his rules, and anything else. We don’t let him leave until he signs a marriage contract.”
I nodded even as fat tears rolled down my cheeks.
Eddie wiped them away and touched his lips to mine. “No matter what happens, know that I love you, and I will never stop fighting for us.”
“I’m so scared,” I whispered.
“Don’t be. You’re so much stronger than you think you are. No amount of distance between us can ever destroy what we have.” Grabbing my hand, he laid it over his heart. “ Tu sei la mia anima . You will always be my soul, Ana…always.”
Cupping his face, I kissed him hard.
There was a light knock, but I ignored it.
“We can’t do that. As much as I want you to, as much as I love that you would…my father will kill us both for embarrassing him and forcing his hand. I must apologize. We need to make him see that you never did anything wrong.”
“Are you sure about this, Ana? What if we run? We can go somewhere no one would ever look for us.”
The knock came again, and it might as well have been hell hounds on the other side of the door, ready to drag me down.
“One minute,” Eddie growled.
“No, I’m sure of this. If we run, he will hunt us and kill anyone who helps us before he kills you and takes me back. We need to get him back on our side and prove we weren’t lying. I’ll start by apologizing for yelling at him.”
Eddie smoothed back my hair, his eyes tracing my face.
“God, you’re so beautiful, Ana. I haven’t told you that enough.”
He touched his forehead to mine.
“I love you, Eddie. I love you with my whole heart.”
“You’re my everything, Ana.”
The knock was more insistent this time. We’d run out of time, and my heart was torn from my chest as I stepped back. My father wouldn’t break my spirit, and Eddie and I would have our happily ever after...even if it was the last thing I did.