AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He waved off the apology. “It’s an honest mistake.” He sipped the glass of wine by his side then offered to refill Olivia’s glass. She agreed.
“My mother married young, at seventeen, and I came shortly after that.”
“Gosh, she looks amazing for a mom of five.” She watched his arm as he held the bottle over her cup and filled it. This could have easily been a date with some prospective man who was romantically involved with her—only it wasn’t. Christian was getting paid for driving her around, and this dinner was more an act of kindness than the beginning of a romance novel.
She slipped out of her thoughts and found him staring at her. “What?”
“I was only wondering . . .” He shifted in his seat, still looking at her. “I don’t know if it’s stepping out of bounds or anything, please tell me if it is, but I had a question.”
Olivia glanced up at him. “Go ahead.”
“It’s probably not a big deal or anything, just wanted to know if you had anybody back home in America.”
Olivia let a moment pass before giving him her response. It was kind of embarrassing. “There’s no one back there, especially not a man.”
He nodded, smiling. Olivia couldn’t tell if it was a smile of relief or not.
“What about you? Any Romanian beauty waiting for you after your tours?”
“Nope. Only my mother and my sisters.”
“You’re lucky,” she said with a sad smile. “I wish I had four sisters.”
“No you don’t, believe me. Last month when I came home, I found all my belongings scattered throughout the whole house. I started gathering them only to find myself attacked by four little monsters yelling I was ruining their scavenger hunt. Apparently, they used my stuff as clues.”
Olivia laughed. “As I said, you are lucky.”
“I am.”
Suddenly, Christian looked out the window and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
He eyed his watch. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go now. It’s already getting dark.” He took out his phone and cursed under his breath. “Dammit. No cell service.”
She also checked her phone. “Mine too, no service.” She waved her phone at him. He frowned.
Footsteps echoed through the castle, and they both looked up. Olivia stifled a yelp when, out of nowhere, Mihai was suddenly standing by the table, leaning forward with his hands behind his back. A strand of white hair fell over his face, making him look somehow menacing.
“I think you better be going now,” he said in a heavy, but understandable, accent, his yellow eyes fixed on Christian. “It’s late outside and soon the thick fog will set. Dangerous for a drive, I tell you.”
Olivia shuddered while looking at the keeper. His lanky shadow, which stretched out behind him, was thin and bent. It could have easily been mistaken for any of those crooked trees they’d seen on the drive up here. She tried to be open-minded, non-judgmental, but the thought of staying alone in the castle with that man made her squirm. And yet, Christian had a mother and several sisters to take care of.
“You should go, I’ll be fine,” she said. Christian exchanged looks with her, and then with Mihai, then nodded.
“I’ll be back tomorrow with Elena,” he said and started walking toward the hallway.
“Here, I’ll see you out.”
***
The darkness of the night was split by the headlights of the humming van. Christian was sitting behind the wheel, his gaze fixed on the wide-open entrance door of the castle—but more specifically, on Olivia and Mihai, who were standing in front of the door waiting for him to leave. The hallway’s warm, soft glow highlighted both of their figures. His van was vibrating and spitting smoke, ready to roll down the small forest road to the village. His eyes narrowed, zooming in on Mihai. The gigantic keeper was two heads taller than Olivia; it looked like David and Goliath standing in silence next to one another. Why was he even out there waiting for him to leave?
There is something about this guy, something I don’t like.
From the entrance, Olivia suddenly smiled, as if she had read his thoughts and wanted to tell him,It’s all good, I’ll see you in the morning. But was it all good? He felt a distinct heaviness in his chest at the thought that something could happen to her.
You’re being ridiculous; she’ll be fine.
