AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At Alek’s command, I shatter and rasp his name as my vision tunnels. An indescribable euphoria grips my body, cresting like an ocean wave on a stormy sea.
With a groan, Alek stills, and hot liquid fills my center.
This is the high addicts chase, and I’m addicted to Aleksandr Kurochkin.
Except he is the drug that will keep me alive.
Chapter 33
Willow
Three Months Later
I come down the stairs, securing a pearl earring in my ear—the same one grazed by a bullet. The hospital was able to stitch up the cartilage on the top, but it has a minor deformity now. I thought I would be more upset about it, but it turns out I’m not as vain as I thought.
To me, it’s a small battle scar that signifies inner strength and sacrifice. It means I survived that tragic day, even with the odds stacked against me.
Dad is waiting by the door. He looks tan from our romp around Europe this summer. I loved getting to spend quality time with him for the first time in years, just the two of us, although it was hard to be away from Alek for so long.
“Where’s Galina?” I ask.
“Still getting ready upstairs. You look beautiful.”
“I clean up alright.”
I step off the final stair, punctuated by the sound of my heels on the hardwood floor. For tonight, I chose a modest sheath dress. If I’m going to be hanging on Alek’s arm all evening, I need to look less like Willow the Nympho and more like Aleksandr Kurochkin’s respectable girlfriend. At least for the TV cameras.
But I made sure to wear my pendant necklace from him. Running my fingers over the stones has become a comforting habit.
“Do you have the thing?” I whisper.
He winks and taps his pocket. “Yep. All set.”
Galina’s footsteps echo on the floor above us, and the two of us fall silent when she appears at the top of the staircase.
“You look stunning, my dear,” Dad says.
“Love the floral dress,” I add.
She glows beneath our compliments, and when she reaches the bottom of the stairs, Dad offers us each an arm. “Shall we, ladies?”
He leads us down to the car, where Ivan is waiting for us at the curb.
“Mr. Baker, you are a lucky man,” he calls out, giving us a wide grin.
“Indeed I am.”
A buzz of energy is sweeping the city, one of hope and optimism, and it’s put everyone in a good mood. Today is the special election for president, and we’ve been invited to attend the Labor Party’s election ball.
With Dad showing up in the capacity of U.S. Ambassador, he’s making a statement with a public show of support. After the chaos of the revolution, the Labor Party split into two factions: one that supported violence and radicalism under Hans Müller’s leadership and one that opposed it.
The faction opposed to violence won the party’s nomination, beating out Hans Müller. Both my dad and Alek threw their support behind Otis Schultz, though the Russian-backed political parties launched a vicious smear campaign against him. Even so, he’s kept a strong lead in the polls all summer.
When we arrive at the event, the outside of the hotel is lit up in blue and red, two of the three colors from Andarusia’s national flag. A red carpet leads into the building from the sidewalk, where cars are dropping off event attendees. The media are spilling into the street, with camera flashes going off like lightning and newscasters from various outlets reporting live to the rest of the world.
Ivan inches forward in the long line of cars, letting us out when we reach the entrance. Dad is the first outside, so he can help Galina and me out of the backseat.
“See you, Ivan!” I call out behind me.
