“He’s warming up to you. Keep him going until he lets you go and then leave. Run as far and as fast as you can. Move if you have to. But just get out. He’s dangerous. Far more dangerous than you think he is.”
I want to cover my ears, ignore the words, ignore the warning bells going crazy in my head and my gut.
The light turns green, and silence falls again as the car starts forward.
“Thanks for coming with me today,” I say after a few minutes, hoping to change the subject. “I know the chaos wasn’t exactly what you expected.”
I expect a laugh and some sort of playful reply. But Vasya only huffs. “You think I had a choice? When Evgeny gives an order, he expects it to be followed.”
He certainly does, I think, then brush at my cheek to cool the heat collecting there at the thought. I would have done anything he asked last night just to keep his hands on me.
“It must feel good that he trusts you to keep an eye on me,” I say, looking for another subject to focus on.Anyother subject.
“Oh, this isn’t about his trust in me. No, he’s punishing me.”
I blink. “Punishing you? For what?”
Vasya’s gaze flicks from the road to me, lingering momentarily before dancing away again. “I said some things I shouldn’t have said. Showed some interest in something he’s already claimed, apparently.”
“Evgeny wouldn’t?—”
I know the words are wrong as soon as they’re out of my mouth, and Vasya’s reaction is swift and vicious.
“He would,” he snarls, and I involuntarily lean away from him, wishing I had more space than just the Rover’s center console between us. “You’ve known him only for a short time. Don’t think what you’ve seen is the real Evgeny. You don’t know what he’s like.”
The promise and the fury in his hissed words and in his eyes send chills crawling over my skin.
Then Vasya blinks as though waking from a dream, takes a deep breath, and visibly forces himself to relax.
“Sorry.” He sounds weary, and I can still hear a tightness in his voice.
Vasya flashes me one of his puckish grins as though nothing happened, and I attempt to smile back. I’m afraid it’s strained, though. I feel whiplashed by the sudden changes in the man’s moods.
We lapse into silence as Vasya navigates the boxy Rover through the traffic and merges onto the freeway.
I’m still not quite sure what happened, but I keep my attention on the window, on the buildings beyond the multiple lanes oftraffic. Evgeny is moody and often annoyed. Jordan is always angry. My father is grumpy. But Vasya? I’ve just seen a glimpse of something darker under his bright, funny exterior, and I’m not sure what to think.
Everyone has two sides, light and dark. But I can still feel a chill from what I glimpsed in Vasya’s eyes.
The chill is still there when we get back to the estate, and I feel an odd sense of relief when I see Evgeny sitting at the kitchen island, working at a laptop.
His eyes rise to mine when I enter the kitchen. But instead of a cold look, I see… relief?
“I have returned her to you, safe and sound.”
I jump when Vasya comes up behind me, turning my head just in time to see his extravagant and mocking bow toward Evgeny, whose lips thin into an annoyed line.
“See ya, Eva,” Vasya says, throwing a wave over his shoulder as he ambles away, one hand in his pocket, as though nothing at all happened in the car.
“Was everything all right at your home? Is your family well?”
Evgeny’s question pulls me out of my thoughts. It takes me a moment to realize what he’s asking, and another to reply, because I’m surprised he asked at all.
“Uh, kind of. There’s still a lot to deal with. Thanks for letting me go, though. I appreciate it.” It’s an honest show of gratitude, and Evgeny nods.
“You may go when you have need, as long as you return. And as long as someone accompanies you. And as long as I have what I need from you. You just have to ask.”
He turns back to his laptop and begins typing again, obviously dismissing me.
