His brow furrows deeply as he looks past me to the open door and the rushed voices just outside. He glances at me and says, “We should probably both make ourselves scarce.”
“You go ahead,” I tell him. “I know you’ve got to get to Iggy’s and everything.”
He nods slowly, then I see his eyes stop on the bruise on my forehead. Oh, dear. If he sees this, then Anton certainly saw it.
“I’ll be fine once she’s gone,” I tell him.
“All right. I’ll see you soon, then. I’m going to head out through the kitchen.” And with that, he leaves. I’m left to stand here and wait for Anton to return, and not gonna lie, I’m worried, but I have to talk to him. I have to know what the hell all that was about.
This woman just came in here and claimed Anton. Implied, even, that this house as hers. I rub my neck as I think about the cold knife against it and I feel the sting of the scar it left. She was actually about to kill me over him.
At least it’s pretty clear that Anton doesn’t want her here any more than anyone else. Thank God he showed up when he did. I dread to think what might’ve happened if she’d continued her rampage on me.
He finally walks back into the living room, straight to me. He reaches out to me and I flinch, stepping away from him.
“Are you all right?” he asks. I nod quickly.
“I’m fine.” It’s clear that he doesn’t want her. Isn’t it? Why did she call him her fiancé? Is there any truth to that? Is he about to tell me that she’s just some insane woman that he doesn’t even know?
He looks at me, lowering his hands. “Are you sure? That cut on your neck?—”
“I’m fine,” I repeat. “She… she said she was your fiancée. Is that true?”
I’m waiting to hear him say no, to give me all the excuses that they always give once they drive some poor woman mad.
“Not anymore,” he says. “We were together a year ago. Now we’re not.”
“She doesn’t seem to think that’s true. She seemed pretty insistent that you two are still together.”
“She’s wrong,” he says simply. “And a bit delusional.”
I want to cry. I want to go into a corner and crumble to pieces. I can’t stand this feeling roiling inside me.
“Natalya, she will not come back here,” he says to me. “You have nothing to worry about.” He reaches out to me again, brushing my shoulder with his hand. I bat his hand away.
“Y–You said that I would be safe here.” My voice is cracking. Shit, where did those sobs come from? I swallow hard in an effort to contain this agony. “You said that you wouldn’t let anyone hurt me?—”
“I never could have predicted Kat coming back here under any circumstances?—”
“She attacked me, Anton. Did you know how violent she was? Oh, yeah, I mean, she was your fiancée, so you had to know what she was capable of. Why didn’t you tell your men out there to look out for her? Why didn’t you tell them to shoot her if she set foot on the estate?”
He just stares at me, his mouth tightening into a thin line. He doesn’t have an answer. Mr. Confidence can’t even answer thatquestion for me. Maybe there’s a reason for that. Maybe under all that bravado, the truth is that he’d rather be with her.
“You were with her once, is that it?” I press. “She holds some special place in your heart?—”
“She hasnothingI want,” he says. “She’s been a bane on my life since I came home. If I had known she’d come here and threaten you like this?—”
“Deep down, you knew. You knew that she would do something like this if she caught another woman in your house.” I cover my mouth as the sobs start to cloud my words. Oh, God, I’m going to disintegrate right here at the foot of his stairs.
“I did not know,” he says to me. “Natalya, I would never put you in harm’s way. That’s why I sent her away the way I did. She won’t come back like this again, I promise you?—”
“Stop,” I say. “Just stop it. Please. I can’t do this.” The tears are coming down in torrents now. I just… I can’t… I…”
I don’t finish the sentence. I turn around and rush up the stairs and to my room, closing the door and locking it behind me. I stand with my back against the door, waiting for him to follow me and start banging on the door. He doesn’t. I’m left standing here weeping in my solitude.
I cry it out for a few minutes, then I go and lie down on the bed. I haven’t even been here longer than twenty-four hours. It’s got me wondering if I’m better off here than back with my father. I don’t want to have to worry about who’s going to kill me.
I curl up and wrap my arms around my stomach.She almost killed you, tiny one. I couldn’t even protect you from her. She could have killed us both. She still might.
