chapter 23
Matleon
“So, you love her?” I ask Zo, sipping my Darjeeling first flush tea.
He’s planning to marry Avi in two and a half months. He’s already talked with uncle and aunt about it. Soon he’ll announce it publicly, but that’s not why I’m asking. And he knows it, which is why that smirk is plastered on his face.
“Yes, I do.”
I nod, taking another sip. “How do you know?” I ask.
His left eye twitches slightly. He’s trying to see through me, trying to figure out where this question is coming from.
“How do you know this is love and not some kind of obsession where you just need her to function properly?” I press. Obsession is understandable. Love is not. Obsession makes sense.
“It is some kind of obsession,” he murmurs, looking into the distance.
“But it’s obsession with love. Without love, obsession is a cage.
With love, it feels like freedom. When she’s close to me, I’m free from all the calculations, the noise, the chaos in my head.
With her, my mind is quiet. I feel at peace. ”
He meets my gaze. “And I want to give her the same freedom. I want to become her peace, not her cage.”
My chest tightens, as if someone is clenching my heart. “What if she doesn’t want to stay with you?”
“I’ll make her realize that I can give her that peace. She could give me her heart back, and I’ll protect it with everything I have. I’ll treasure her, and her precious heart.”
“And what if she doesn’t want to trust you?”
At this point, we both know we’re talking about me.
He smiles, the smallest tilt of his lips at the corner.
“First, I’ll ask for forgiveness for my past actions.
Then I’ll reassure her with words that I won’t do something like that again, and I’ll tell her how important she is to me.
After that, I’ll show her with my actions.
Eventually, she’ll understand, and she’ll return my feelings. ”
“Are you sure?”
He nods. “Also, I’ll admit in front of my brother that he was right and I was a jerk back then.”
I shake my head, matching his seriousness. “I don’t think so. You don’t need to do that. And if your brother says something like ‘I told you so’ or ‘I was right back then,’ just tell him to fuck himself.”
“So that he knows I’m an asshole. Perfect point. I need to keep my image as a dick intact,” he says with a smirk.
I laugh. “Fuck you.”
Iselyn
A knock comes at Avi’s door, catching our attention.
“It must be Leo,” Avi says.
The door opens, and sure enough, it’s Leo. His eyes find mine. “Let’s go, Angel.”
Wen interjects. “No. She’s not going with you. We’re having girls’ night today.”
He nods and leaves.
We all look at each other. Avi smiles. “That was very nice of him.”
I nod, lost in my thoughts. He was behaving very differently at the dining table an hour ago.
This morning, I found myself again in his arms, but I said nothing and continued ignoring him, even though last night he had forced me to speak—or, to be precise, argue—with him.
I kept my plan of treating him like air intact.
At breakfast, I kept talking with Wen, deliberately ignoring him.
Then he left for the office. I spent my morning talking with the gardener of my plants.
After lunch, Wen and I came to spend time with Zo and Avi.
When Matleon returned from the office, he helped Zo with his physiotherapy.
Avi told me he did this every day, coming home early from work to spend three hours with Zo before having dinner with him.
Tonight, I caught him watching me many times. His eyes seemed to follow me constantly. That wasn’t new, but the look in his eyes was different, there was something bothering him. And now, I don’t understand why this stupid heart of mine is feeling so heavy.
The door opens again, and Zo enters in his wheelchair, smiling at Avi. Wen and I exchange a glance, watching them share smiles.
She looks toward us. “Guys, give me a minute.”
We nod, and she jumps down from the bed to follow Zo outside the room.
Just then, Wen’s phone rings. She picks it up. “Hello, Mom?”
Aunt Pheny says something to her, to which she replies, “I’m busy with girls’ night. Can’t I do that tomorrow?”
“Oh, okay. I’ll send it.”
She cuts the call and looks toward me. “There’s an important book of Mom’s in her room. I need to send photos of the pages to her. I’ll come back after that.”
I nod. She gets down from the bed and leaves.
Now I’m alone. But soon after, the door opens again. I think it’s Avi coming back, but when I look up, dark, smiling eyes meet mine.
Realization hits me like a truck. He made both of them leave. He enters and shuts the door behind him.
“How did you make Wen leave?” I ask, a mix of awe and anger in my voice. I understand how easily he can get Avi out using Zo.
He comes closer to the bed. “I called Mom and told her that her daughter is not letting my wife spend time with me. If she keeps my wife away like this, how will I make my married life happy?”
He stops beside the bed. “I have something to show you. Come with me.” He extends his hand.
I shake my head and look away from him. “I don’t want to see anything.”
He says nothing, just stands there, hand still extended. I glance at him without moving my face.
The next second, he moves forward like a lion attacking its prey.
A cry rips from my throat as he grabs my ankle and pulls me toward him.
Before I can even process the shock of being dragged along the length of the bed, he lifts me up and throws me over his shoulder.
My head spins, blood rushing to my brain, my vision blurring as heaviness clouds my eyes.
I push against his back, trying to move upward. “Put me down, Matleon!” I yell, my voice trembling slightly from both fear and fury.
He squeezes my ass. “Shush. Zo and Avi are fucking. Good girls don’t disturb others’ sex.”
A shiver runs through me, goosebumps rising across my arms and back. I thrash even harder. “You’re not only touching me, but you’re also manhandling me!”
At this point, it almost feels absurd to mention the deal about him not touching me, it’s completely gone out the window.
“I’m going to divorce you!” I yell as we leave Zo’s mansion.
He gives my ass another squeeze, the sensation sending heat all through me. Fuck this thirsty body.
“There’s no such thing as divorce here,” he says in an amused voice, like I just made a joke, which, technically, I did. There’s no law in this country above Matleon. And if I tell my family I want to divorce him because he touched me, they’ll just give me even funnier looks.
My head spins from being upside down, my lower belly throbbing where it’s pressed against his shoulder. My hair brushes my face as I claw at his back, trying to push away.
“I’ll walk, I promise. Put me down!” I gasp, hitting him with weak, frustrated fists.
He sets me down. I sink to the ground, gasping for air, holding my head as my heart pounds violently in my chest. Matleon watches me with a smile, this one is real, predatory, and maddeningly calm.
He extends his hand. “Let’s—”
Before he can finish, I break free and dash toward Zo’s mansion. My chest heaving with exertion. There’s a 99% chance he’ll catch me, but I’m a Mikhailov. I won’t bend without fighting for that one percent.
His laugh echoes behind me, deep and amused, and the rapid thud of his footsteps follows. Panic and exhilaration mix in my veins. I push harder, my breath cutting in sharp gasps, my leg muscles screaming.
In the blink of an eye, his long stride closes the gap. I’m lifted off the ground, my stomach twisting as he spins me midair to keep us from crashing. My arms flail instinctively, a yelp escapes me, my pulse hammering in my ears.
He sets me down gently but firmly, his presence overwhelming. Leaning close, his lips brush my ear. “I’ll give you one more chance,” he whispers, low and dangerous, and I can feel the weight of every word vibrating through me.
He moves away from me. “Run, Angel. Don’t let this devil catch you.”
And I run, this time toward the woods. My flip-flops are doing nothing to help me. I glance back after a few trees, and now he has started running too. I push deeper into the forest, the trees growing denser and the shadows darker with every step.
I spot a short, climbable tree and scramble up it within seconds. The dim glow of the crescent moon barely penetrates the canopy, leaving the forest almost pitch-black. I smile to myself, catching my breath through my nose. This won’t help Matleon either.
I slip off my t-shirt, holding it in my hands, keeping my focus on the faint sound of his footsteps behind me.
My heart hammers violently, skipping beats, and it jumps even higher when I hear him getting closer.
Every nerve in my body is on high alert.
Sweat trickles down my back, but the cool night air brushes over me, calming and cooling my heated skin.
I stop breathing when he comes near my tree. I can see him scanning the shadows in the dim light. My head starts to feel hot from lack of oxygen, I hold my breath, praying he doesn’t look up.
He doesn’t. He steps forward—one, two, three steps—and I leap down silently right behind him. Before he can turn, I wrap my t-shirt around his neck, tying a single knot with the leverage of my hands, effectively choking him.
I pull the knot tighter. He laughs, a full-throated, maniacal laugh unlike anything I’ve ever heard.
The sound echoes through the forest like thunder.
Even birds fly away from their nests, startled by the monstrous noise.
I tighten the knot further. His laughter grows louder, more frenzied, yet unbroken.
And then, in one swift motion, I fall from winning to losing.
He turns. My grip slips. And the next second I’m slammed back against the very tree I was hiding in.