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My belongings are half-packed on the bed when Nikolai comes thundering into the room with a very similar look of rage and contempt on his face. I never did find out how he found out the truth about myself and his father. I never found out who told him or what had happened, but it doesn’t matter now, not really.
I remember waiting for the accusations to come pouring out of him, but instead, it was me who kept frantically talking. I begged for my life—pleading with the man I thought at the time that I was wildly in love with. I only tried to run at first because I thought that some time apart might mean that he would allow me to explain what happened. He was a man who understood revenge better than most, and so I had stupidly hoped that he would understand… that in time we could try to pick up the pieces of our love.
What had I gotten for it? A nearly crushed windpipe and a fractured skull.
Tears pour freely and instantly the moment that terror overtakes my body.
I try to blink them away, but it only takes me from one horrifying bedroom to the next. I feel like I should be begging and pleading, but I'm not sure what I've done wrong this time.
As he thunders into the room, I instinctively scramble back and away from him. He's not having it. There is no levity or teasing. Whatever happened while I was locked up in here... that's itfor me. I can tell. As Daniel grabs my ankle, a knot of fear forms in my throat. He drags me to the foot of the bed.
“No… no, no, no!” I mutter and try to kick at him in protest. He grabs my injured ankle firmly, and I yelp in pain. I can’t fight him as he hauls me toward him. I’m powerless to stop him as he throws me up and over his shoulder. He carries me down the stairs without so much as a word. I try to grab onto door frames, furniture, anything that I think I can reach, but he’s moving too fast for me to even attempt an escape.
I claw at the wallpaper, but it doesn’t do me any good.
He kicks open the front door where there’s a black Range Rover waiting just outside. He opens the rear door and throws me in so gracelessly that I collide angrily with the floor and seat. He slams the door, and it locks me inside. As soon as I can get onto my knees, I start to feel around for a door handle, but it doesn’t do anything. The windows don’t roll down and the doors won’t open.
I start to panic.
The car accelerates so quickly that I slam sideways. The pain starts in my shoulder and travels down my arm like lightning, so bright and hot that I want to cry all over again. I have to bite my bottom lip to keep from screaming in pain and fear. That will almost certainly enrage him even more.
He doesn’t roll down the partition as we drive. I can feel the car racing up through the mountains again. All of those fears and worries from our first date come rushing right back. I wish I knew what had changed his mind. I know it won’t change whatever is coming for me, but I would like to know what the nail in my coffin is. Perhaps I can ask him before he does whatever it is that he’s planning on doing.
I curl up on the floorboard and wait for the car to come to a stop. My mind gladly supplies every worst-case scenario it can conjure up for me. When we stop, he slams on the brakes so hard that I have to fling my arms out to keep from collapsing. He switches off the car, and I can hear his furious steps as he walks around to the side of the car he threw me into. He slams the door open and reaches in blindly for me.
“No!” I scream. “Please! Daniel! Don’t do this! Please!” I wail loudly. The fear has taken over my body completely. He reaches for me, and I try to dive away, I try to avoid his hand, but he lunges for me and grabs me by my knee. I almost crash to the ground once more, but he rights me at the last possible moment. He takes a grip on my arm so hard that I can feel my pulse against his fingers.
It’s not the same place as before. This cliff smells like the sea. There’s salt carried on the breeze and there are cliffs everywhere. The railing is much lower here. If somebody were to stumble even a little bit, they would fall right over the edge. Just looking in the direction of the drop makes me want to throw up. I had hoped that if he chose to kill me again after that first date, he would consider doing it somewhere else.
I hate heights. I don’t want to have to explain that to him while I’m begging for my life.
Should I even beg? What do I have to live for?
His hands are shaking.
I hadn’t noticed it at first, but since we’ve stopped moving I can feel it now.
I look up at him. The salt in the air makes the tears falling down my face stick to my cheeks. The evening air is cold and bites at my bare legs. I want to go back to my boring room.
“You’re good, you know,” he says harshly. “You’re far better than I thought to give you credit for. I should congratulate you on that much.”
He sounds like he’s having so much difficulty controlling his words. I don’t know what words he’s holding back, but I know that I won’t like them.
“What? What happened? Daniel, you’re scaring me… please don’t do this…”
He closes his eyes but doesn’t lessen his grip at all. “You’ll just say anything that you think will help your situation, won’t you? You really don’t have any fucking boundaries or morals, do you?”
“What? Daniel…” I’m confused. I don’t know what has changed or who has gotten to him. I stare at him, hoping that he will look down at me and maybe then I will understand what’s happening. “You’re the…” I swallow hard against my fear. “I’ve never lied to you… you’re the only person that I’ve never lied to…”
“Is that right,Sofia?” he corrects.
“Apart from that!” I say. “That wasn’t just you… that was trying to get some sort of life back! I haven’t lied to you except at the beginning—”
“And I should trust you why? All you’ve done is lie… to everybody… and I’m just your latest fool, it would seem.” He finally looks at me, and it makes me regret wishing for his gaze. I flinch from the coldness in his eyes. He’s looking at me like I’m gum on the bottom of his shoe. “You lied about not having any contact with Alek after all. I never would have believed awordthat you said! I should have had my way with you and ended you like I was told!”
He draws me closer, and I can hardly breathe.
“Not only that,” he seethes through his clenched teeth. “Not only did you lie about not having contact, but you lied about knowing my sister—you fucking introduced them!”
