Chapter 1 - Nico #2
Fair. I ignored him and continued walking.
A wedding coordinator hurried past us carrying flowers.
She didn’t even look in our direction. People saw what they expected to see, and confidence was camouflage.
We reached the second floor, and a long hallway stretched ahead with several doors on each side.
There was one security guard and a camera stationed right outside.
Nothing complicated.
The guard never saw me coming. Thirty seconds later, he was unconscious and secured in a storage room. I knew how to be efficient and quiet. Viktor checked the hallway.
“Clear.”
I already knew it was; my attention settled on the final door. It was the bridal Suite. The words were engraved in polished brass, and for the first time all evening, something shifted inside me. It was not hesitation. Never hesitation. But something else. Something far more irritating.
Anticipation.
I hadn’t seen her face-to-face in six months, and photographs didn’t count.
Surveillance footage didn’t count. This would be different.
Real. Immediate. Unavoidable. I opened the door expecting people inside, but the room beyond was quiet.
It was elegant and filled with flowers. A large mirror occupied one wall, and a wedding dress occupied the center of the room, Vera standing before it.
Less than thirty minutes until the ceremony, and she still hadn’t worn her dress.
It was strange, but I didn’t comment on it.
Instead, I waited for her to turn around at the sound of my footsteps.
Her eyes widened when she finally saw me, and for a moment, neither of us moved.
The world seemed to narrow. Reduce itself. Condense into a single point.
Her.
As our eyes met, six months disappeared. Not literally. It was nothing that dramatic, but something definitely happened. Something undeniable. I saw recognition and shock register on her face, which was followed by something unexpected.
Relief.
The emotion flashed across her face so quickly that most people would have missed it, but I didn’t. The realization settled somewhere deep and dangerous; I didn’t want to ponder it.
Relief.
Why the hell would she be relieved to see me? The question registered, but I discarded it. Questions could wait, and answers would come later. Right now, only one thing mattered.
“Hello, Vera.”
Her breath caught. The reaction was almost imperceptible. Still, I noticed. I noticed everything.
“Nico.” My name sounded different on her lips.
Softer than I remembered. I hated that I remembered. For several seconds, neither of us spoke, and the silence stretched. It was not awkward, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable either. Just heavy and loaded, filled with six months of unfinished conversations.
Vera broke first.
“You came.”
It was a strange thing to say and not how most people would react. Not how I had expected her to react either. It was not fear or anger or panic but a small declaration.
You came.
As though she had been expecting me. I studied her carefully.
“You sound surprised.”
A faint smile appeared, but it was gone almost instantly. “I’m not surprised.”
Interesting. Very interesting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the mood to explore interesting things. Not yet. I stepped forward, but she didn’t move. It was another detail I filed away. Most people would have retreated, but Vera simply watched me approach.
“Nico-”
“No.”
The single word cut through the room, and she fell silent.
Good. I wasn’t interested in explanations.
Not right now. Not until she was somewhere secure and I controlled the environment.
Not until I controlled the conversation.
I stopped directly in front of her, close enough to see every detail.
Close enough to notice she looked thinner and witness the exhaustion I had already noticed through pictures.
Close enough to notice the sadness in her eyes.
My jaw tightened. “You’re getting married.”
Her gaze never left mine. “Apparently.”
That answer annoyed me. So did the strange calmness in her voice.
Nothing about this situation should have been calm.
Nothing. I had been expecting her to lash out and threaten to get me thrown out.
I had expected her to beg me to not ruin her wedding.
Yet she looked almost peaceful, as if the wedding was the last thing on her mind.
As if a decision had already been made. As if something had finally ended.
I didn’t like it.
I liked it even less when she smiled. It was a small, tired smile, just as beautiful as her. It infuriated me.
“Don’t.”
The smile disappeared. Good. I reached for her, my hand closing around her wrist. My touch was firm, certain, and unquestionable.
For the first time, genuine emotion crossed her face.
It was not fear or resistance but something that looked suspiciously like relief again.
My instincts sharpened immediately, but I didn’t have time for any of this.
I didn’t have the time to sit and decode her feelings.
Before I could pursue the thought, voices echoed somewhere down the hallway.
Time. We were running out of it.
“We’re leaving.”
Vera looked at me for a long moment. “Nico, I am getting married.”
“Does it look like I care?”
“I can’t leave like this, Nico. You need to go and leave me alone.” There was no conviction in her voice. No anger or fear, except a dull tiredness which made everything worse. The lack of opposition was somehow more unsettling than a fight would have been.
“I’m not going to sit here and watch you get married to someone else, Vera. Not after what you did to me.”
I didn’t stop after that, and she didn’t resist much.
I tightened my grip slightly and guided her toward the door as the wedding continued somewhere below us.
Guests laughed and music played, and I was certain her groom waited at the altar.
But none of that mattered. I opened the door, forcing Vera Stavros to go with me.
And this time, I had no intention of letting her disappear again.