Chapter 13 – Violet #2
“Violet?” Noelle’s face appears on screen, eyes wide and voice full of relief. “Holy shit, I’ve been going crazy trying to reach you!”
I nearly choke on a breath. “What are you talking about? I’ve been texting you for days.”
Since getting my old phone back, I’ve been tempted to call Noelle using it, but something tells me the phone is being monitored. Otherwise, Kaz would not give it back to me.
Noelle frowns. “I text back every single time. I even tried calling. Messages bounce. Calls drop. It’s like…you can message me, but I cannot respond to you.”
I freeze. “What?”
“It’s like a ghost line,” Noelle says. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
My fingers tighten around the phone. My stomach drops. “I thought you were ignoring me,” I whisper.
Noelle shakes her head. “God, no. Never. Vi, are you okay? Where are you now? Have you—”
“I can’t talk long,” I interrupt, suddenly paranoid. I glance at the door. “I…I don’t know where exactly,” I admit quietly. “Some estate outside the city. Remote. Guarded.”
Noelle’s eyes widen. “What? Vi, what the hell is happening? Can you send me your location? I’ve gone to the police, but I don’t have much information to give them, so there’s literally little they can do. Vi, I’m freaking out over here.”
“I know,” I say quickly. “I know, I’m sorry. But these people…the police can’t do anything.”
My heart skips at the thought of the police raiding the estate, even though I know that’s not remotely possible.
Noelle gives me a look. “Start talking. Now.”
I swallow, then glance at the locked door again.
“The people I saw that night,” I begin, keeping my voice low, “the ones I caught on camera before the shooting…they followed me.”
Noelle stiffens.
“They found me. Kidnapped me.”
“Oh my God, Violet—”
“They’re part of the Bratva.”
Noelle’s eyes widen on the screen. “Wait—which Bratva?”
The urgency in her voice startles me. “I….” I blink. “The Southern wing.”
Noelle’s face goes dead serious, the color draining from her cheeks. “The Rusnaks? Kazimir Rusnak?”
I nod slowly, thrown. “Wait. How do you know that name?”
Noelle hesitates. Then exhales sharply like a dam breaking. “Violet, there’s something you need to know about me.”
My heart kicks. “What do you mean?”
She leans in closer, voice low and taut. “I’m not just—”
Before she can say anything else, the door swings open, and Kaz steps in.
And freezes.
His eyes zero in on the burner phone in my hand. In that exact moment, the air shifts. I don’t even know what’s on my face—guilt? Panic? My stomach drops.
“Noelle—” I whisper urgently. “I’ll call you back—”
I fumble quickly and end the call, ignoring her protests. Kaz doesn’t shout. He doesn’t lose his temper or rip the phone from my hands like I half expect him to.
He just…calmly takes it from me. Fingers brushing mine with that strange, cold gentleness that always makes my pulse race.
“Who were you talking to?” he asks, his voice unreadable, turning the phone over in his hands.
I swallow and tell the truth. “Noelle. She’s my roommate and one of my best friends. I’ve been trying to reach her since I got here. I didn’t want to…cross you. I just wanted to let her know I’m safe and to ask why she never replied.”
His eyes stay fixed on mine. “And?”
I exhale shakily. “She said she’s been trying to message me back for weeks. That she calls every day. But nothing ever goes through. Her calls bounce. Her texts vanish. It’s like….” I shake my head, frowning. “Like the phone only works one way.”
Kaz looks down at the burner in his palm. His expression doesn’t change, but something shifts behind his eyes. He continues to turn it over in his hands.
“And where did you get it?”
I hesitate.
“Arina,” I admit. “They gave it to me in secret. Said it was risky but better than nothing. They just wanted to help me, Kaz.”
Still, Kaz doesn’t react the way I expect. He just stares at the phone, unmoving, the air around him turning still and heavy.
I brace myself for him to take it. To smash it. To lock me back in my room or accuse me of lying.
But he doesn’t.
He steps closer and…slips the phone back into my hand.
“You can keep it,” he murmurs.
I stare up at him, surprised. “Why?”
He shrugs, though his expression remains thoughtful. “Because I trust that you won’t do anything stupid with it.”
Something tightens in my chest.
I nod, slowly.
Then his expression softens. His thumb brushes along my cheek. His eyes study me as if he’s memorizing the shape of my soul.
“Are you hungry?” he asks, voice lower now.
I blink at the shift. “What?”
He leans down and kisses me—just once. A soft, unhurried press of his lips against mine that knocks the breath right out of me. Gentle. Intimate. Like I didn’t just get caught with a burner phone seconds ago.
He rests his forehead against mine.
“Are you hungry, solnyshko?”
I nod without thinking. Because yes, I am. But more than food, I just want this strange peace to last a little longer.
And I want him.
There’s a knock on the door. Kaz sighs and rolls his eyes like a petulant child interrupted during play. “Come in,” he calls.
The door creaks open, and Milo steps in, his expression unreadable as always. “Maxim and Arina are back,” he announces.
Kaz’s jaw tightens slightly. “Good.”
He turns to Milo, slipping his hand around my waist like he’s staking a claim. “Tell them to wait in my study. I’ll come to them after lunch with Violet.”
Milo gives a short bow. “Understood.” He glances at me briefly, then exits without another word, closing the door behind him.
It’s terrifying how easily he flips between that dangerous man I once feared—and the one now holding me like this is some quiet little world that belongs only to us. He’s said that in his world, I come first. And that’s the part I’m still trying to figure out.