She took them silently, eyes avoiding mine.
I didn’t say anything else. Just walked back to the living room, heart still hammering, jaw tight.
What the fuck was she doing here?
A few minutes later, I heard the bathroom door open. She padded down the hall in my clothes—drowned in them, really. Her face was pale and drawn, and her eyes were locked on the floor.
Her usual spark was gone, that fire in her eyes snuffed out as if someone had poured cold water on it. She sat stiffly on the edge of the couch, shrinking into herself, and it struck me how empty she looked.
I gestured toward her. “Talk. What happened?”
She swallowed hard. “This morning… before I was supposed to go to school, I saw him. Felix. Moving into the guest wing. My wing.”
My jaw tightened. “He’s living with you now?”
She nodded. “Yes. He’s going to stay there until the wedding.” Her eyes filled with tears again. She dragged the sleeve of my hoodie across her face, wiping at them, but her voice still trembled as she tried to keep it together.
I didn’t like the sound of that. Not one fucking bit.
She looked up at me then. “I don’t want to marry him. He terrifies me. And now I have to live under the same roof with him.”
Her voice cracked, and the tears came. She tried to wipe them away again, but it was no use. For a second I almost knelt beside her and pulled her into my arms. I killed the thought before it could grow.
“I need your help.”
My heart kicked. “Help? How exactly do you think I can help here?”
Her voice was thick with desperation as she met my eyes. “I thought maybe you’d do something.”
I stepped closer, arms crossed. “Do something like what?”
She didn’t blink. “Like you did with Stanislav.”
I froze.
“What did you just say?”
A flicker of fire lit behind the tears. “I know it was you. I’m not stupid. You’re the only one who could’ve pulled it off. And now I’m asking you to do it again.”
“No.”
She stood up then, fast, face flushed and wet. “Why not? You killedhim. What—Felix is off-limits?”
I stepped toward her. “Malaya… be careful. You don’t get to walk in here and order a hit like it’s room service.”
Her mouth curled in rage. “Oh, but choking me with your dick—that was fine, right?”
My fists clenched at my sides. “I’m not your fucking soldier, Kira. You don’t own me.”
She slapped me. Hard.
And then again.
I didn’t move. Just stared at her as the sting bloomed across my jaw.
She shook with sobs and anger, tears running unchecked down her face as something fierce and overwhelming pulsed through her.
“What are you going to do, Maksym? Hit me back?”
