“Was there anything else? Did you want me to dig more into this?”
“No, thanks, that answers my question.”
After the call, I pace up and down the garden for a while. It’s growing darker now that the sun has set, and when I turn to look at the mansion, I see Katerina sitting on the bedroom balcony, curled up on the outside sofa near the edge, a book in her lap. She looks beautiful in the soft lighting. My heart yearns to make her smile. It yearns to give her the chance to have her dreams fulfilled.
What her brothers took from her wasn’t fair. She didn’t have to stop altogether.
In that moment, I decide that I’m going to fix this for her. Whatever it takes, I’ll make her dreams come true. She is too beautiful, too special to have her dreams snatched away from her like that.
And maybe by doing this, she will begin to understand that she means more to me than she thinks.
Chapter 8 - Katerina
“Did you have plans today?” Yulian asks, setting a mug of tea down on my bedside table while I blink at him in sleepy confusion.
“Um,” I grumble, rubbing my eyes, trying to wake up. “Um, no, I didn’t. Did you make me tea?” I ask in confusion.
“Yes, just the way you like it. Do you want to come out with me?”
“What?”
“Get dressed. Come down when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting.”
He doesn’t wait for me to reply. He leaves the room, and I wonder what he’s up to and where he’s set on taking me.
Is his plan finally coming together? Whatever he originally kidnapped me for, is it happening today? Am I in danger? Is he done with me?
Panic floods me as I sit up, and my fingers knot in the edges of the blankets.
Calm down, Kat. He didn’t make you tea, so he can take you out and bury you somewhere.
I pick up the tea and sip it. He gets it perfect every time.
I don’t even know how he knows how I like my tea. He just got it right.
Observation? A good guess?
I feel like there’s so much I don’t know about him, but I’m scared to let myself think about that stuff, because what I should be thinking about is going home.
It doesn’t take me long to get ready. I’m spurred on by the nervous tension knotting my stomach, worried about what this day has in store. When I come downstairs, Yulian is sitting in the living room, reading the news on his phone. He looks relaxed. Not how someone who is about to murder me should look. Not that I would know what that looks like, but I don’t think this is it.
“I’m ready,” I smile tightly.
“Great, let’s get going.” Yulian stands and heads for the front door. I follow awkwardly behind.
“Where are we going?” I ask, watching him open the passenger door for me.
“Get in, don’t worry, you’ll like it,” he grins at me.
“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” I sigh, ducking my head down and climbing into the car.
“I didn’t realize you needed reassurance. Are you worried I’m up to no good?” His grin is wider now. Somehow, his amusement puts me at ease a little. Joking around. Playful. Again, not exactly the demeanor of someone intent on killing me.
All the way there, he still doesn’t tell me where we’re going, and it’s only when he parks outside a massive mall that he turns to me and says, “Does it look like a place you should be worried to go to?”
He’s being very cheeky now.
I throw him a glare, with my nose scrunched and a petty look on my face. “Here,” he smiles, handing me a black credit card.
