“I’m saying it’s dangerous for you to be out here on your own,” I answered, halting a few paces from her.
She raised her hand in frustration, then clenched her fingers into a fist before lowering her hand. “Okay, first, I wasn’t alone—thanks for scaring away my friend, by the way.”
Friend is a loose term. But by all means.
“And second, what could possibly happen to me inyourgarden? This place is a fuckin’ fortress. It’s crawling with your watchdogs who won’t take their eyes off me for a second!” she snapped, her words spilling out in a frantic rush.
I didn’t respond. Honestly, I was speechless. She was doing fine before I arrived and took away what little happiness she had in Katerina’s company.
She looked me dead in the eyes and said with a much calmer voice, “I’m not your prisoner, Nik. Stop treating me like one.”
After a moment of hesitation, she walked away from me, heading back into the building.
Indeed, she wasn’t my prisoner anymore. She wasn’t just the vessel carrying my baby, either. She was something more, something I was not yet ready to name.
Later that night, I found her asleep on the living room couch. And instead of waking her up, I took a seat across from her and crossed my legs in silence. I watched the innocent look on her face, the gentle curve of her body, and the rising and falling of her chest. Even in her sleep, she was gorgeous.
Mine.
In the dim glow of the table lamp, my gaze was unwavering, my mind reeling with the different possible ways to keep her safe. Her and the baby in her womb.
When she woke up a few minutes later and saw me seated across from her, she didn’t move. Even when we locked eyes, and neither of us looked away, nobody said a word.
However, in the quiet moment, something felt like a fragile truce we were both forced to accept.
Chapter 19 – Blair
Ever since he found out about the pregnancy, Nik had been watching my every move like a hawk. Everywhere I turned in the house, he was there—in the garden, at the gym, in the foyer. I couldn’t go anywhere without sensing his presence.
He’d made himself my personal bodyguard, observing me from a distance. At first, I felt suffocated, but as the days blurred by, I grew used to seeing him around more often. The only problem was that with all that attention on me, it was difficult to do my job.
So far, I hadn’t found anything linking him to the disappearances in the city. He’d once told me his organization wasn’t involved in such activities, and although I wasn’t sure whether or not I believed him, I still had nothing on him. Yet.
But just because he wasn’t guilty of human trafficking didn’t mean he wasn’t guilty of other crimes. Nik Tarasov was a bad man, and bad men deserved to be locked up for all their atrocities. At least that’s what I kept telling myself each time a part of me was starting to see him in a different light.
I’d broken his rules and defied him more than anyone else ever had, yet this monster had never hurt me. If he was the beast I thought he was, I wouldn’t still be alive now—especially after all the stubbornness I’d shown.
Why would someone as cruel as Nikolai Tarasov be so lenient with a girl like me? He was right when he said there were a million ways he could make me suffer without ever touching me. But why hasn't he punished me yet?
I wasn’t eager to get on his bad side; I just needed some answers because things weren’t adding up anymore. The man whose name struck fear into the hearts of many across the street was gradually becoming someone I could hardly recognize.
In all sincerity, deep down, I liked this new version even though I hadn’t admitted it yet. This child in my womb must mean everything to him, given the lengths he was willing to go to keep it safe.
Tonight, I was seated in the library, struggling to concentrate on the novel in my hand, but my eyes kept darting toward him. His presence was a welcome distraction, offering some sense of safety and peace. He was lounging on the couch across from me, cradling a glass of wine in his hand as he skimmed through a book.
Nik had been sitting here with me for the past thirty minutes, and he hadn’t said a single word since then. I was bored in my room and decided to feed my mind with a book. However, I hadn’t spent ten minutes alone in the library before he arrived.
I pretended not to have noticed him, thinking he would just check on me and then leave. But he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed a book from the shelf, poured himself a glass of wine, and sat down at a distance, minding his own business.
It had now been over thirty minutes, and there was still no sign of him leaving anytime soon. I honestly wanted to ignore him for as long as possible, but from the look of things, I was the one distracted by his commanding presence.
He seemed to be doing just fine on his own, acting like I didn’t exist, even though he was the one who encroached on my space. The sweet aroma of the wine he was sipping drifted into my nostrils, blending with the scent of his expensive cologne.
His physique was highlighted by the table lamp beside him, his muscles rippling beneath his V-neck shirt. He sat with his legs crossed, his posture radiating confidence and style. My eyes flicked to the jagged scar along his jawline as I wondered how he even got it in the first place.
His short black hair was slightly tousled, slicked back effortlessly as he sipped from his glass in peace.
Unable to endure the silence anymore, I lowered the book from my face. “Don’t you have someplace better to be—some important meeting to attend?” I asked him, my voice tinged with a hint of frustration.
