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Or maybe that’s what I wanted to see because I’d started to care about him.
More than just care.
Shit!
I walk faster, my arms wrapped so tightly around my waist that I feel like I’m crushing my own lungs. Another engine grows louder, and again I try to walk as if I’m just out for a casual stroll. A twenty-one-year-old girl, all alone. In the dead of fucking night!
A white panel van cruises by.
Calm down, Tee.
Breathe.
I fix my eyes on the paving stones ahead of me and stride with grim determination. But it’s a determination that doesn’t stop fear from prickling down my spine. My skin practically tingles with apprehension. I grit my teeth and force myself to keep moving with purpose.
Just keep walking.
The air around me feels charged with menace, no matter how hard I try to convince myself that it’s all in my mind. I pick up the pace, trying not to break into a jog.
I’m so focused on putting one foot in front of the other that I don’t even realize that the engine sound has stopped, until the sudden silence makes me pause. And it’s a moment of realization that comes too late.
The air is torn by the sound of the van door being slid open, followed closely by the sharp sound of footsteps on tar. I spin around just in time to feel someone behind me. But whoever it is, I don’t see their face. Because in the next moment, a bag is being pulled over my head.
The air seizes in my lungs as the fear I’ve been suppressing comes surging to the force. The night had been dark, but the world goes even darker as strong arms band around me, pinning my arms to my sides.
“No!” I scream, the sound muffled by the rough cloth over my face. I kick out, but someone grabs my legs. And then I’m lifted into the air and feel myself being swung like a weighted sack. A few seconds later, I land heavily in the back of the van and I’m being rolled onto my side. Someone binds my wrists behind me, and then my ankles are strapped together. I twist and writhe, trying to shout through the heavy bag over my head. It’s useless; the only people who can hear me are the ones who just threw me in here.
The door slams shut, the engine roars to life, and then I feel the van pull off at speed.
No!
I’m trapped, being whisked off to who knows where by someone who probably wants to kill me.
Kirill is going to be so pissed about this.
Chapter Nineteen
Kirill
I can’t fucking sleep.
It's like the walls are closing in on me. All I can do is pace around my bedroom, feeling more agitated by the second. I don’t like this feeling; it’s bullshit. I think I felt a shade of it once before, a long time ago, but never like this. It was never such a… distraction. I have to put an end to it.
You should have gone after her, mudak.
I can’t believe I let her stay with her friend in the guest suite last night. I should have gone after her, brought her to my room, by force, if necessary. Should have sorted this shit out hours ago. But I didn’t. My hands and face were covered in blood. I knew she won’t talk to me while I look like I just walked out of a slaughterhouse. So, I just watched her as she walked up the stairs and went to her friend’s room, slamming the door behind her. I then finished up in the basement, came to my room and I’ve been prowling around here like a fucking pussy since.
Chert voz’mi!
I rub my eyes, trying to clear the fog from them. I must stay sharp, to be ready for whatever the morning might bring. I can’t afford to be off my game. Not now. Not with everything that’s happened.
The thought of Tiana, of what she saw… I can still feel the weight of the blood on my hands, the stench of it in my nostrils. I’ve done this many times before, but never in front of someone so innocent, so pure. And now she’s seen me at my worst, and I’m not sure if she’ll ever forgive me.
Fuck that.
I will make her forgive me.
I glance at the clock. It’s just after dawn, and the sunlight is starting to creep through the curtains. Time to face the day, get this bullshit under control.
