Chapter 20 - Ava
“Sasha!”
I hit the door intending to beat it down and screamed again. “Sasha!”
No one answered, even if the shadows dancing between the cracks showed sufficient proof that the middle-aged caretaker stood right outside the door, gossiping with Ivan. I heard their hushed voices and listened in when they said something about the Boss’s wife possibly being a nutcase. They must not have liked me very much and it stung a little after hearing that. Still, I remained undeterred.
Sucking in a deep breath, I went again. My throat burned and my voice came out with cracks, but I wasn’t going to give up. “Sasha! Open up this door, right now!”
The hushed whispers stopped, I waited, and the locks turned to reveal a displeased real-life version of The Principal in a movie, whose title I did not recall at the moment. Her blonde hair sat in a sleek bun atop her head, and unlike Arielle, Sasha wore low pumps and a drab blouse on a long, straight black skirt. I missed Arielle and her dull pinafore.
“You are making an awful noise, Madam.” Before Ms. Sasha Kalashnikov, I’d have never known what it felt like to be a child in middle school scolded by a Russian headmistress.
“Please,” I wore my best puppy face. “I need a phone. I really have to talk to Viktor. Even if it’s just once. I swear, I won’t tell on you, Sasha. But this... this is important. It’s urgent. He might be in trouble. His life is in danger.”
It wasn’t surprising when she didn’t even flinch at the mention of danger. For crying out loud, the Boss slept with a gun under his pillow. The entire household must have been used to the violence and chaos associated with Viktor Voronin-Varkov by now. Her frown deepened and the grim lines on her lips formed into a scowl, almost as if she disproved of me calling her boss by his name.
“The boss says give her food, water, and fruits. ‘She likes grapes and strawberries.’ But no phone. He says everything else but no phone for you, Madam. So, stay put. If you hammer on the door again, I vill tell the boss.”
For a minute, I was stunned by his instructions. He was mad at me but still left orders to make me comfortable. Why did he do that?
I realized Sasha had waited expectantly for me to say something else—maybe something she’d have the pleasure of saying “no” to. But my jaw stayed slack and before I got another word out, she slammed the door shut and inserted the key into the lock. With the way she carried out her job seriously, I might have suggested giving her a raise, if she didn’t have me locked up.
Turning around with a huff, I glanced at the analog clock hanging on the wall beside the dressing mirror. The sun had gone down two hours ago, and still, there was no word from him. Anxiety racked and dug its nails into my chest with every passing minute. I released a deep groan and hit the door as hard as I could. Anything to vent the pent-up frustration.
I heard a hiss and a thick Russian curse outside the door, but I ignored it.
A nagging voice echoed in my head, and I sat on the edge of the bed.
I should have been worried about my father finding out about Benjamin Hawk’s sinister plan or better yet, plotting another plan to escape from the ‘eternal bond’ I found myself in. But, no. I’d spent the past few hours thinking about no one else but him. I worried for him, cried when he left, thought about his safety, and even prayed—for the first time—for him to be fine.
Why?Why did my heart ache for him? When did the feelings begin to creep in? Whatever this was, it had to be craziness, right? I mused on the thought but wasn’t sure for how long before I fell asleep facing the ceiling.
The jingling of keys turning in the lock woke me up. My eyes popped open, and a scream nearly bubbled from my throat when cold green eyes replaced the view of the ceiling. Her bushy brows moved to the center of her forehead before she took a step back.
I sat upright and dashed her a glare. “You scared me.”
The caretaker scoffed. “I thought you vere dead.”
Rolling my shoulders, I eyed her surreptitiously as I stood from the bed. “Wouldn’t you have liked that?”
“Maybe,” her green eyes twinkled, surprisingly, with humor. “But the boss vould have my head for it. He is downstairs, in the kitchen.”
Everything in my body came alive when I heard that, and I didn’t wait for her to say anymore. Gently, I made my way down the steps and counted my steps to the kitchen. No need to seem too excited—even if happiness bubbled inside me. I didn’t forget. It was clear that he had minimal trust in me, didn’t listen to me, and had me locked up again. Viktor was a man with a mind of his own. He had scars that had molded him into the man he was, and he’d shown little and no effort in bringing me closer.
The bigger question: why did I want him to bring me closer?
I arrived at the kitchen, stood by the door, and had the breath knocked out of me when siren eyes met mine. Cold and heat journeyed down my spine to my toes and I found myself trapped in a bubble that had only me and him in it.
He sat on the high stool, leaning forward and dropping cubes of ice into a glass I was sure contained Vodka. Cautiously, I shuffled closer to the island, stopping a hairsbreadth away from him to have a closer look. There was blood—lots of blood—on his shirt, a faint dark bruise patch on his cheek, and an ugly cut on his forehead but, thankfully, judging by the surface wound, it wasn’t deep.
He nursed the drink in his glass and opened his mouth. “Greetings of silence seem to be the norm between us,” he said without looking at me.
“It should be the norm,” I murmured. “I’m the captive and you’re the captor. I don’t speak unless I’m spoken to. If I’m not spoken to, silence ensues.”
More heartbeats of silence settled.
He threw his head back, finished the drink with a mouthful, and dropped on the gleaming marble top. Then, he swiveled on the stool, facing me. “Spoken like a true genius. Except,” in the twinkle of an eye, his arms went around my waist and he pulled me closer, “that’s not how I remember it. If I recall correctly, the Irish princess had a smart mouth. She had a way with words, and I found it sexy.”
I refused to be swayed by his charm, the softness in his voice, and the intense look he gave me.
Eyeing the blood on his shirt, I said, “If you look like this, I hate to imagine what the unfortunate victim looks like...” The words dried on my tongue, and he read the accusation in my eyes, but his grip on my waist didn’t loosen.
“Your father does have bruises and one gunshot wound on the arm. But I didn’t put them there. Benjamin did.”
Relief flooded my insides. “That’s good to know.”
“Your father and I... I think we’ve found a way to stay in the peace. There is a possibility of a long-term alliance between us, but I fucking promised to haunt him if he dares plays me dirty. About Benjamin, we finally figured out what you were trying to tell us. He was playing us, and we made sure he got what was coming to him.” He motioned to the stain of red on his shirt. “This is his blood, not mine.”
I pointed at his forehead, unable to keep up with ignoring how the gash on his head disturbed me. “But this is yours. The cut on your forehead. Doesn’t it hurt?”
A small smile appeared on his tired face. “It does. A lot. Like I got stung by a fucking jellyfish.”
Despite myself, I laughed. And he kissed me.
His lips moved slowly against mine and I ran my fingers into his soft hair, leaning deeper into him. His kisses were like food to my hungry soul—food I didn’t know I missed and needed so much. The intensity of the ache in my chest caused me to pull away.
“We need to clean it up.” My voice was quiet but there were elephants in the room that had to be addressed. I just didn’t know the right time to address them.
“First drawer on the left.”
I fished out the first aid box and returned to his side, refusing to look him in the eyes when I started cleaning up the wound. His arms went back to my waist and my toes curled at the impact of the heat on my skin.
“I heard you wanted to talk to me.”
Sasha proves her loyalty.Maybe she told him about me beating the door down too. I didn’t know some women could be such blabbermouths. I had to reconsider that talk about getting her a raise.
Lifting a shoulder, I applied the band-aid on his forehead and returned the items to the box. “I was worried that something had happened to you.”
Silence.
Then, from out of nowhere—completely nowhere— he pulled me in a hug and nuzzled his face between my neck. For a good minute, I didn’t move—didn’t know what to do. This was the first time he had hugged me. Like a full-blown hug. It was warm and felt like he was giving more of himself than he ever had.
“Something did happen, golub.” He kissed my shoulder, and the rumble of his voice vibrated on my skin. “I realized that I hurt you. I should have given you a fucking chance and listened to you. Moy malen’kiy golub’ I don’t want a life without you. Never fucking did. Not since the first time I set my eyes on you. And trust me, I know, you have every reason to hate me after everything I put you through. But why do you still care?”
“What if I say I don’t?”
He gave me one of those knee-weakening smiles and lifted a brow at the first aid box on the island. “You don’t care about me.”
I shook my head and slowly traced the dark ink on his skin. “Nope. If given the chance, even Sasha will be more than willing to clean your wounds.”
“Really, Ava?”
He called my name intentionally, knowing how much that had an effect on me. Resilient, I maintained my stance.
“Say it then,” he prodded. “I want to hear you say that you don’t care about me.”
This was it. This was us addressing the elephant in the room. What I did or said now had the power to change everything between us. I knew he saw the truth in my eyes; I’d never been a good liar. I still cared so much, it hurt. It wasn’t rational or logical, and he was correct; I had every reason to hate him.
But maybe that was what this was.
“What I feel is a lot more than just care, Viktor.” I chewed my lips and, finally, grew the courage to look him in the eyes. “It’s just you. I try so hard not to, but all I can think about is you. You’ve infiltrated my thoughts, my feelings—my heart—and planted yourself there like some... some unmovable boulder. And the crazy part is, I don’t want you to leave. I want you close to me all the time. Just like this.”
He pulled me closer, brushed his lips over mine, and rasped. “Like this?”
I breathed, “Yes.”
“And why do you want me to be this close to you, all the time, golub?”
I cupped his cheeks, caressed the soft pillow of his lower lips, and searched his face. “I... I think I’m in love with you, Viktor.”
He pecked my thumb and rubbed my nose with his. “Wanna know something, dove?” I felt the rapid beat of his heart against my chest, smelled the blood, sweat, and antiseptic off his body, tasted the cherry of his breath, and heard the sincerity in his voice when he said, “I’m madly in love with you, and I swear on my life, I’m going to protect you and our baby with everything I have.”
My heart swelled and, for the rest of the night, I wanted just one thing, and that was to show him how much I loved him in more ways than one.