I would never forget the day my father had burst into my room, blood covering his face. He’d laughed. Oh, my God, his laughter was a horrible sound and one I’d never forget. He’d been gleeful in sharing the news, telling me because of the circumstances, I wasn’t able to watch the strong, powerful Russian being tortured and killed. Oh, but that hadn’t stopped my father from dragging in a poor defenseless worker who’d been accused to providing assistance to the horrible criminal.
I’d been forced to watch him being…
I froze on stage, taking several deep breaths, even hearing the man’s screams in my head after all these years. If it hadn’t been for Fleur moving closer to the edge of the runway where I could see her, there was no way I could go on. Her eyes were full of concern and I finally waved my hand.
I managed to control my emotions, taking another step even though Golden Angel froze on the spot, now whimpering as she stretched to try to get closer to someone. While keeping a smile on my face, I turned my head toward the same position, completely blinded by the lights. Until a figure in the second row moved, allowing me to see a shadow.
A huge shadow.
A large man’s silhouette, a man with a neatly trimmed beard.
Momentarily stunned, I could hear my pulse throbbing in my ears. No. Golden was wrong. Kazimir was dead.
I’d been handed his bloodied shirt he’d worn just before my father had doled out my punishment.
Even though the horrible images tore through my mind, so did Kazimir’s words of possession that had kept me going for all these years.
“You will always be the innocent flower who found and healed me, a beautiful woman I could never forget. Perhaps one day, we’ll meet again. If we do, I promise you things will be different. You will be mine.”
How many nights had I envisioned him coming to save me like some stupid little girl? How many? Anger replaced uncertainty. I refused to allow the memory to destroy me once again.
He was dead. This wasn’t him. There was no fairytale ending, no chance at being able to say all the things my teenage mind that thought. God. What the hell was I doing to myself?
Laughing bitterly, I turned away, still able to keep my smile while walking with purpose toward the curtain.
Thankfully, Golden didn’t try to break free, but her anguished whimpers nearly broke my heart. “Non è lui, tesoro. Mi dispiace tanto.”
That’s not him, baby. I’m so sorry.
Golden looked up at me as if I had a magic wand, capable of altering the wretched outcome. If only she knew how much I’d once wished I could. Then I’d hated him for leaving. For lying.
For dying.
Hate was much easier to digest.
Once behind the curtain, the congratulations had already started, models and designers already ecstatic with the outcome. I could see through the crack in the curtains, the lights slowlylifting to a brighter level. Golden’s whine continued and while she was the best girl in the world, she was doing her best to rip the leash from my hand, longing to get to whoever she’d seen outside.
“You were fantastic!” Fleur told me.
I was barely listening. “Thank you.” In a fog, I moved away, pushing through the curtain and searching the crowd. I stood above them by several feet, but there were so many people standing in groups, yet to head to the ballroom for the reception that every male in the room blended together.
Golden stood still, only a few feet from where I was. Her tail stuck straight out, her ears up. Another whimper kept my attention, still scanning the crowd.
When she performed an action I hadn’t seen before by lifting her right paw as if pointing, I concentrated my stare on one location.
Just as a very tall man in a suit moved out the set of double doors. But not before stopping long enough to turn his head.
Woof!
Oh, no, no.
Golden’s bark was sharp and meaningful and there was nothing I could do to keep the leash in my hand. She dragged me toward the set of stairs, her pull so forceful I had to let go or fear losing my fingers.
My dog weaved through the crowd toward the door with ease. I pushed and shoved my way through, hindered by people trying to ask me questions and photographers attempting to take my picture.
When I finally made it to the corridor flanked by a series of glass doors, I couldn’t see where Golden had gone. Instead of feeling panic as I normally would after losing sight of her, a rush of adrenaline-laced excitement tore through me.
One tiny snorting woof could be heard over the roar of laughter and conversations and I rushed down the corridor to where she was standing, her heavy breathing frothing up the glass.
