Page 98 of The Promise

The knock on the door came so quiet that she missed it at first—until the door creaked open without the person on the other side waiting for permission.

“Masha?” she called out.

But it wasn’t Masha.

Karine sprung up in bed, clutching the sheets tighter to her as a male figure sliced through the stream of light. Alec—one of the bulls who had been designated to watch her every move for the past weeks—entered the room without as much as a hello.

“What are you—”

He came towards her, his long, aggressive strides making Karine curl into herself until he was close enough to hold out a phone for her to take. The lit up screen was the only light between them, but it was enough for her to see the kindness in his face.

And the severe line knotting his brow, too.

Something had happened.

Or was happening.

Karine didn’t get the chance to ask.

“Here, take it. It’s Roman. You should speak to him,” Alec said.

Karine’s heart thudded to a stumbling stop as she plucked the phone out of Alec’s hand, still expecting some cruel joke to trick her out of the comfort she had just been offered. Wasn’t that the way of her world?

It sometimes felt like it.

She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake, babe. Are you okay?”

Roman’s unmistakable voice should have been enough to soothe Karine’s frazzled nerves, but instead, the jumpiness under her skin only increased to the point she had to exit the bed and safety of the sheets. Unconcerned about Alec, or the fact that her night clothes were simply made up of Roman’s oversized long sleeved shirt, the man simply turned his back to her. For a fleeting second, she felt bad for doubting him.

But she had more important things to consider.

Like the man on the phone.

“I’m okay—now that I know you’re okay.”

Roman’s dry chuckle crackled through the phone’s speakers, but it didn’t quite feel true, even when he replied, “I’m fine.”

“Fine is moot. What happened?”

Because clearly, something did.

“Dima found me. Made it a point that I acknowledged his arrival in New York.”

Karine’s gaze found the window where the shades hadn’t been pulled. Not that it mattered because there wasn’t any light for it to block out, and she was left staring at the blank canvas through the glass that was usually the lake in the day. Her voice didn’t feel like her own, though it was, when she asked, “What did he do?”

She really thought Roman would tell her the truth—though a part of her didn’t actually want him to. It was strange to constantly feel at war with herself. Whether it was the things she wanted, or needed—even her emotions.

Nothing felt sacred.

Controlled.

Hers.

But then Roman let out a hard breath, “I want to say it doesn’t matter, Karine, because it doesn’t, and I’m okay. I’m hoping that’s going to be a good enough answer for right now because we’re running out of time here.”

“For what?”