Page 6 of Essence of Fear

“Izvini,” Vadim murmured, his gaze drifting down to her shaking hands she’d balled in her lap. “I never thought to explain to the men who work here about your … issue.”

Issue.

Yeah.

That was a good way to put her absolute terror of unknown men. Which was funny because the man who had caused this hadn’t been unknown to her at all.

“And I’m sorry it happened at all … this,” her father added, nodding at her.

Viktoria forced herself to speak—if she didn’t, she might not say a word for hours. “Can we just eat, yes?”

Vadim nodded. “We’ll eat, but then you’re going home.”

Home.

Where even was that anymore?

• • •

From up above, Chicago seemed bright in the darkness, what with the clusters of lights from the city. And yet, Viktoria knew the second she stepped foot into the city, the wind would remind her just how cold the place was on its good days.

The pressure in the plane’s cabin released just a fraction before it started building again. Viktoria focused on the sights down below, which were getting closer and closer as the plane dropped for its final descent. There was always a brief moment before the plane’s wheels touched down to the tarmac that would have her heart leaping into her throat, but for the most part, she enjoyed flying.

What could happen twenty-thousand feet in the air?

Very little.

She shot the guy sitting next to her a look. Well … except when she had a chatty neighbor. It wasn’t like she gave off the let’s talk vibe, but God knew this asshole had tried again and again to engage her. He’d finally gotten the hint when Viktoria had literally stared him dead in the eyes, put her earbuds in slowly, and then cocked a brow as she turned the music on in her phone before turning to face the port window.

She was sure it’d hurt the guy’s feelings a little bit. And if not that, then it certainly hurt his pride. She wasn’t the chatty type, honestly. She certainly wasn’t going to talk to some stranger on a plane just because she was sitting beside him, he was bored, and he figured she would be a good conversationalist.

Surprise.

She wasn’t.

Did that make her a bitch?

Absolutely.

Did she care?

Absolutely not.

Bitch and Viktoria had become synonymous in her world. People threw that word at her like it was a knife. They said it with the intention to hurt her—to cut. It was funny, really, because instead of letting it affect her in a bad way, she just turned it around on them. They wanted to see a bitch? They didn’t like that she was cold?

Okay.

Then she could be worse.

Nobody had ever thought to figure out the reason why Viktoria was the way she was, anyway. Other than her brothers, maybe. Not that they needed to figure it out—they already knew. Everyone else, though? It was easier for the people who didn’t know her to just label her with a slur, and go on their way.

She just owned it.

The remainder of the flight passed by rather quickly. Before she knew it, the plane had taxied into the gate, and they were allowed to deplane. Slinging the messenger bag that she’d used as a carry-on over her shoulder as she came down the arrival’s escalator, her gaze landed on the person waiting a few feet away from the bottom of the moving stairs.

She might have been surprised to see him, but she couldn’t be, given he always seemed to know everything anyway. Even when he wasn’t directly told something, her brother, Konstantin, just seemed to have … a way about him.

Kolya, her oldest brother, was the one who scared everyone because of his size, and ever-changing moods. His coldness could rival hers on his good days, but it was the sudden bursts of violence that he was very capable of that really lingered in the minds of those around him when he was long gone.