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He smiled down at me. “You’re coming too,” he said, pulling me to him.
“I am? Really?” I started to get slightly excited about being able to leave the house after almost a week stuck there.
“Your surprise is waiting. It can’t come to you; you must go to it.” He kissed my forehead just as Viktor and Stephen were pulling up in front of the house. He took my hand and led me to the SUV that Viktor was driving, opening the back door for me. I hopped in and slid over so that he could get in beside me. Ivan got in the front seat, while Andrei and Misha got in the vehicle with Stephen.
“Where are we going?” I asked. Adrik’s arm was around me, pulling me closer to him.
“That would ruin the surprise, my love. You will see,” he said as both vehicles pulled away from the house.
We drove away from the house and closer to the heart of the city. This area of downtown wasn’t too far from the restaurant I worked at, but I didn’t have much reason to come here. I would sometimes run through downtown when I was waiting for Grant to pass out. The buildings got taller and the people more numerous on the sidewalks. We passed by a small café, with a giant sign above it that read “Vinny’s.”
“Hey, is that the best sandwich shop ever?” I asked as we drove by.
“The one and only,” Viktor said from the front seat.
A few blocks later and we were pulling into an underground parking garage. I was trying to pay attention to where we were, but honestly, I had no clue. There was so much to look at, it was hard to keep track of everything. We parked; the other vehicle parked next to us. Everyone headed toward the elevators. There were three to choose from. We took the one that was by itself, away from the other two.
In the parking garage and in the elevator, the guys essentially surrounded us. Two in front, three in back, at all times. Adrik had his arm around me, so I just walked with him, but it felt like we were moving as a unit and not seven separate people.
During the elevator ride up, I noticed that all the guys had smirks on their faces. Like they were all privy to a joke that I hadn’t heard yet. It made me wonder what was coming once those elevator doors opened. We stopped at the next to top floor and everyone got off the elevator, except me and Adrik.
“Give us a call when you’re ready,” Viktor said as they all exited the elevator.
I looked at Adrik, completely confused. He just pulled me closer as the elevator doors closed. “One more floor and you’ll see,” he said.
As the elevator doors opened, we were met with two guards, who both nodded at Adrik. We walked down a short hallway to another door. As he opened the door, he smiled at me, and motioned for me to walk through the door.
When I walked through the door, I could see that we were in a penthouse. There was a very spacious, very open floor plan, with incredible views of the city in every direction. I stood in one spot, just taking in the views, as well as the layout of the penthouse. My eye caught a familiar picture frame next to one of the couches. I walked to it, picking up one of the few pictures I had of my mother and me. I felt tears threatening to fall as I turned to Adrik.
“I don’t understand.”
“This is where you will live now, assuming you want to, of course. You’ll be closer to your friends, and I can see you throughout the day here too.”
“You live here?” I said, still astonished.
“Da. This is where I spend most of my time. This is my building. The lower floors are offices and apartments. The top three floors are restricted to only my people. You’ll be safe here. I had the guys pick up the rest of your stuff from your apartment and bring it here. Please don’t be mad, but I left your shitty furniture,” he said, running his hand through his hair.
“I can’t believe you would not want my very expensive thrift store furniture in this place,” I said, still trying to choke back tears but trying to smile through it.
He walked to my side, wrapping his arm around me. “You can leave whenever you want, just please take at least one of the guys with you when you go. We still don’t think going back to work is a good idea, but you can at least see your friends again. I wish you could walk freely once again, but I still don’t trust this situation. There’s more to it that we don’t know yet. I would die if something were to happen to you,” he said, kissing my temple and holding me close.
I stared at the picture in my hands, not sure what to say, still fighting tears. I was so happy that I could be closer to Max, and I would be able to see Ms. Jackson and Mr. Turner again, even if it meant I had to take one of the guys with me. Ms. Jackson would be happy about that. I was so touched that he thought things through enough that he had the guys get my stuff from my apartment. I didn’t have much, but a few things were very valuable, if only to me. I looked up at him, tears still welling up in my eyes.
“Please tell me those are happy tears,” he asked, his face showing his nervousness at my reaction.
I put the picture down and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. I just nodded my head as I fought back the tears. After I gained control, I looked up at him, a few tears still in my eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He wiped the last few tears from my eyes and kissed my lips gently. “I will give you the world, solnishko.”
As I stood looking at him looking down at me with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes, I realized that I loved this man. I was hopelessly falling in love with him. I never wanted to go another day without him.
“Come. You haven’t seen everything yet,” he said, pulling me with him to show me the rest of the penthouse.
I couldn’t get over the views of the city as we walked through the penthouse. “This must be beautiful at night,” I said, staring out the windows as he pulled me through the penthouse.
“I can’t wait for you to see it tonight,” he said. He proceeded to show me everything the penthouse had to offer, stopping at his bedroom. When he showed me the closet, he motioned for me to walk inside. When I walked in, all my clothes from my apartment were hanging in one section of the closet, with space for more.
“You did this?” I said, smiling at him.
