Page 38 of Essence of Fear

The regret came too late.

“How many days?” Pav asked.

“Five.”

Fuck.

“And that was his punishment once she had gotten free, and we went after him. Ten years for every day he held her,” Konstantin muttered. “Fifty years total in these cells, being kept alive only to make sure he wished he was dead for every single one of them.”

“Seems appropriate.”

“We thought so. There’s a problem, yes?”

“And what is that?”

He turned to look at Konstantin when the man kept quiet.

“The problem is that Viktoria thought he was dead. That’s what we told her. It was better for her to believe we’d killed him, when eventually, that’s what would happen to him once he’d served his time. She puts on a good front, doesn’t she?”

“She does,” Pav agreed.

“She’s so cold that you almost don’t want to be near her at times. The things that come out of her mouth? They cut you. And they’re not paper cuts, they’re deep, and they’re meant to kill. She does it to everyone else because it’s how she protects herself. Better to keep people away than let someone close and be hurt again. But she does it to us … she does it to us because she blames us. She doesn’t want to say it, she never has, but I know it. She blames us, and she should. We let it happen. And now he’s free.”

Yes.

That was … quite a problem.

“Someone is posted to watch her, right?”

“Yes,” Konstantin replied.

Pav nodded. “I would like to help.”

“I thought you might.” Konstantin made a noise under his breath, adding, “I didn’t acknowledge what I saw on the steps earlier tonight because I didn’t know what to say. A couple of years ago, she was an entirely different young woman. I don’t recognize who she is today, except when she’s near you … she reminds me of who she used to be. Tonight was a lot like how I didn’t want to point out the way you talked to her when she was here that day to do your tattoos, or how she reacted to you.”

“She’s terrified of me.”

“And she doesn’t want to be, either,” the man murmured. “I thought … this—you—might be a changing point for her, if given the chance. That’s why I invited you tonight. Another way to put you in her path. What would it hurt, I thought?”

Pav gave the man a look over his shoulder. “You shouldn’t meddle, Konstantin.”

“Sometimes, you have to.”

“Yes, but should you? That is a different thing.”

“I’m going to meddle again, but for different reasons this time,” Konstantin said, shrugging. “Starting tonight, actually. I’ll add you to her post—she’s comfortable enough with you that even if she is scared, she’ll allow you in. Someone should be inside the house with her, but I need the night before I can upset her entire life again with the truth.”

Pav blinked. “You want me with her tonight?”

“I don’t care what happens after the front door closes, as long as it’s what she wants to do, Pavel. I only care that she doesn’t know the truth about what’s happening outside her door until I’m ready to tell her. I should be the one who does it. She already hates the rest of us … I’d like to give her someone who she won’t hate when she finally knows everything. She doesn’t hate you.”

Yet.

7.

HOW TIGHT did I put the cap on this damn thing?

Viktoria glared at the bottle of vodka as she twisted on the cover harder in an attempt to get it off. She didn’t think she was strong enough when drunk to put a cap on so tightly that she couldn’t get it off when sober, but here she was, once again proving herself wrong.