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Chapter 23
Iwas a grown-ass man. One who’d been stabbed before and shot at a few times. And never once had my legs been wobbly. But standing here in front of this hut’s door, hand balled into a fist ready to knock, was more than I could physically handle. I felt sick to my stomach. What if she’d turn me away? Tell me she hated me?
Then you’ll handle it like a man, but at least you’ll have tried.
My arm was shaking when I finally gathered the courage to knock. It was a soft, insecure knock. Not a powerful let-me-in kinda knock.
At first, I heard nothing; then there was rattling and footsteps. But the door remained shut.
“Andrei?” Mila’s soft voice mumbled through the door.
I swallowed against the knot in my throat. “No. It’s...it’s—”
The door opened, and there she stood. I blinked rapidly as if to make sure this was real and not just another of my dreams. But her smell was proof that it wasn’t. The mix of her perfume and the fruity notes from her shampoo told me that this time she was real.
She looked stunning. So beautiful, even though she was wearing a casual, gray jogging outfit. Her blue eyes widened as she stared at me. My chest tightened with the fear she might slam the door shut, so I quickly held up the letter from Andrei. She ignored it, kept staring at me, glittering tears forming in her eyes.
“Mila,” I finally found my voice. “I’ll leave and never bother you again if that’s what you really want. But if there’s still the slightest chance that you might not hate me for the rest of your life, then I beg you, please let me talk to you. Everything I told you about my feelings were—”
“Noah!” she cried out and threw her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her against my chest. My head pressed into her hair, taking in deep breaths of her smell. Her scent was like a magic cure to my pain; it made me feel as if I was coming alive again.
“I’m so sorry,” I muttered into her hair. Her shoulders heaved up and down as she sobbed.
“I’m sorry too. I wanted to return your calls, come find you. But I couldn’t. Not before Andrei had a chance to find me first.”
I kissed her on her head.
“You have no idea how much it hurt being away from you,” she sniffled. “I felt like I died inside.”
“That makes two of us,” I said. She pushed away a little to look at me. Her eyes met mine. There was still doubt in them. It hurt all over again.
“You have to believe me, Mila. Please. That’s all I’m asking of you, then I’ll leave you alone. I promise. You can tell me to go to hell, and I will. I promise. But please,” I sounded desperate, as if I was begging for my life. “Please believe me when I tell you that I love you.”
Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she threw herself into my arms again.
“I love you, too,” she cried. “I love you so damn much it hurts.”
She pushed away again, but this time enough to look behind me as if there was someone else. Andrei? But there was nobody there, so she closed the door behind me.
“My lawyer told me what you did for me. You could’ve given me away, or Andrei, but you didn’t.”
“It was the right thing to do,” I said, wiping one of her tears away. To be able to feel her soft skin again was more than I could have ever asked for in life.
“Is...is that letter for me?” She pointed at it.
I nodded and handed it to her. “It’s from Andrei.”
“You met him?” she asked, shocked.
“You...you didn’t get to see him?”
Her gaze dropped as her head shook. Without thinking, I reached for her hand and gently grabbed it. She laced her fingers with mine.
“He’s just protecting you,” I said.
Mila opened the letter. Her eyes moved from line to line. She read the whole letter three times then threw herself into my arms again, a new round of tears flooding down her cheeks.
I held her, pressed against my body, not letting go. The rise and fall of her chest started to slow and grow softer, then she placed a hand on my chest and closed her eyes.
