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“Lev Volcove was the man who scared you at the auction. The one who scratched your leg.”
A shiver runs down my spine just thinking about him. Why would my father surround himself with those people?
Julian’s next set of words shock me to the core. “I killed Lev for touching you. His family knows. Your father allied himself with them because they want my head on a pitchfork.” The seriousness of the situation hits me like a freight train.
“Let me talk to him, tell him that I’m happy here,” I plead, doubting he would even consider it. “The last thing I want is for something to happen to either of you.”
Julian pulls away as if I’m crucifying him with my words. “Nothing you say or do is going to change my mind. If your father truly loved you, he would’ve stayed and made sure you were okay, but instead, he tucked his tail between his legs and ran. There is a price to pay for hurting those that I care about, and his hourglass has run out.”
Tears well in my eyes, and I know that this is going to end badly. It feels like my heart is being ripped in two. I love Julian, but I love my father, too, even if he sold me to the enemy. You can’t help who you love, and I’m caught on a teeter-totter between the two most important men in my life.
“I’m going to end this today.” The darkness in his voice bleeds outward like a blot of ink on paper. It takes everything in me to remain standing before him, and when he turns his back on me and starts to walk away, something inside of me shatters. It’s like all over again, he is choosing his need to make my father pay over me. His need for revenge outweighs any love he has for me, and I know I have to do something, warn my father, tell him to end this before Julian gets the chance to.
As soon as Julian is out of sight, the wheels in my head start to spin in motion. I consider my options. There are not many. Leaving the grounds to search for my father will put me in more danger and cause bigger issues between Julian and me. I have to do something, though, because I can’t stand here while he puts a group of men together to scour the countryside for my father.
Turning on my heels, I rush out of the room but stop once I reach the door jam. It hits me then. I can’t leave, but I can call him. I can warn him.
The only phones in the house are the guards’ cell phones, but I’d bet anything there is a phone in Julian’s office. I could use it, that is, if the door is unlocked. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, I look both ways down the hall.
Seeing no one, I dart into the hall and rush toward the door that is Julian’s office. Praying like I’ve never done so before, I grab onto the cold iron wrought door handle and twist it.
I’m half expecting someone to jump out into the hall and find me or the door to be locked, but neither happens. A breath passes, and the knob continues to twist, the door creaking open as I give it a light push. My heart is galloping like a horse in my chest as I slip inside the room. I can’t imagine the punishment I will receive if Julian finds out what I’m doing.
The fear of being caught doesn’t outweigh my fear for my father. I will take whatever punishment is given to me if it gives my father a chance to escape.
Walking toward the massive desk, I locate the phone, the single landline in this place after Julian had the one in the kitchen removed. My hands shake violently as I grab the receiver and bring it to my ear. The dial tone fills my ear, and I push the buttons and dial my father’s number.
Worry wells like a molehill inside of me. The phone rings, and rings, and rings, and just when I think he won’t answer, I hear his soft tone filter into the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Daddy!” I cry, “You have to stop this. You have to stop coming for me, trying to save me. I’m happy here. I love Julian.”
“Don’t say that. You can’t love him. He has you brainwashed, he only took you for revenge, that’s it. He doesn’t love you, Elena. You need to escape. Find a way out, and I will find you, wherever you are.”
The muscles in my throat tighten, making it hard for me to breathe, to swallow. “Revenge? He took me as revenge?” I can’t seem to wrap my head around his words. I know Julian believes my father killed his mother, but still… me as revenge?
