“I never?—”
“I saw you with her, Art. That beautiful woman. I left in tears and rushed out to my car. I couldn’t drive for an hour because I was ugly-crying so hard. Then I saw you with the woman, and it looked just like the photos. That was the moment I believed it. All of it.
“I wanted to talk to you and confirm everything Polina had said, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t fucking embarrass myself like that, by trying to talk to you when you were clearly so happy with someone else.”
She’s right.
I’d brought Karolina back from Chicago with me. It all comes back now, how Polina had insisted that she travel with me in the private jet, that she would stay at the estate, though it was unusual for anyone not in the family to be granted access.
“That was never anything, Nina. You have to believe me. Karolina is an old friend, nothing more.”
I can feel how tense she is, how much this hurt her.
“I couldn’t watch anymore, Art. All of it was true. And I’d never felt secure in our relationship, I’d never understood why you wanted me, so I believed all of it.”
I rock her gently, swearing an oath to myself that Polina will pay for it.
I push her hair back from her forehead. I don’t want to scare Nina, but I need her to know my perspective.
“Do you know what I did the next day, when I couldn’t find you, Nina?”
She looks up at me. “What?”
“I broke into your dorm. In the student accommodation. You weren’t there and I knew it, because our men had been looking for you for a full day. Your stuff was gone, every trace of you, except this.”
I take it from the dresser. The bottle of Chanel perfume. Our second date, I’d gifted it to Nina, after going through a whole department store to find the scent that most reminded me of her.
“I gave it to you earlier that year and you wore it every day. It smelled like you. I kept it this whole time.”
And sometimes I would just inhale that scent to remind myself she was still out there somewhere.
Nina shakes her head. “It reminded me of you. That was why I couldn’t take it, Art. I sprayed that perfume automatically when I got dressed to leave and it hurt too much.”
“Want to know what I did after I grabbed this?”
She nods her head.
“I sprayed it through that room and then I slept in your bed. The mattress still smelled like you.”
Nina lets out a choked laugh, through her tears.
I nod. “Crazy, right? That’s not even half of it.” I rake a hand through my hair.
Things got bad when I thought Nina was gone.
But she’s back now, in my arms, wearing my ring, and that’s all that matters.
I trace my thumb over her lower lip, then I feel her tense against me again. She strokes a hand over my shoulder soothingly, as though trying to prepare me for something.
“Art, you know we can’t get married. This beautiful ring is lovely,” she looks down at her hand as though it might disappear at any second. “But it’s madness. It’s not how you start a relationship for the second time. We barely know each other anymore.”
I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her ring finger. This ring is not going anywhere because it belongs on her finger. “You can’t escape me, Nenoka.”
“I know that.” She rolls her eyes.
“So stop running. This could be so easy. So good.”
Nina lifts her eyes to mine and I see something I haven’t seen there in a long time. Trust.
