I don’t know what the hell to do with them, but I can’t let anyone know what he did to me. I’d die of embarrassment. So I trudge into the bathroom, looking for a laundry basket where I can dump them. And finding none.
I do, however, notice all my toiletries in here, on two designated shelves, making my new reality even more real.Ugh!How am I supposed to feel about this? I’m married to him now, and we had sex. No, scratch that. Wefucked.
He fucked me, and I enjoyed it so much I begged, moaned for him. Came all over his cock, just like he wanted.
What the hell is wrong with me? How could I feel that way, knowing what he took away from me?
I want to feel ashamed, but the ugly truth is, I don’t. Because every time I see something that belongs to him—his shampoo, the shower cap he pressed to my pussy last night, and the wedding ring on my finger—it makes my heart flutter as if I’m back in high school, developing my first crush.
It’s stupid, and it can’t be happening. I know it can’t.
So instead of continuing to think about how I wish I’d woken up next to him instead of alone, I brush my teeth, hop in the shower, and get ready for the day after leaving the sheets in a corner on the bathroom floor.
Just like my toiletries, someone brought the clothes from the other bedroom. I fasten the last strap on my sandal when the door swings open and my thoughts vanish.
Corinne’s face greets me with a smile.
“Good morning, Mrs. Rykov,” she says, walking deeper into the room.
Mrs. Rykov. She means… me.
“It’s Victoria.”
She opens the windows and the curtains, inviting the day in, then comes back to make the bed.
I hold my breath, thinking she’ll ask me about the sheets, but she just takes off the pillow cases as if she doesn’t see anything missing.
“Mr. Rykov is already downstairs if you would like to join him for breakfast.”
“I… You mean I can go out of the room by myself?”
She chuckles. “Of course you can. This is your home too, now.”
As if.Still, the fact that I can wander off on my own brings hope to my chest.
“Okay. But Corinne…” I say, feeling the heat return to my cheeks.
“Yes?”
“The bed sheets…”
She hugs the pillowcases at her chest and throws me a knowing smile.
“Don’t worry about it, Victoria. No one else will see. And… you did what you had to do.”
I did what Iwantedto do, but of course, I don’t tell her that. Instead, I thank her and head downstairs, eager to explore and find the breakfast table by myself.And to see him again, a small voice says from the back of my mind, which I try to silence as best I can.
The house is eerily quiet as I make my way through the halls, my sandals tapping against the polished floors. I walk with caution, not knowing where I’m going or who I might see. I don’t even know everyone who lives here.
A feeling of unease floats around me, almost as if it’s telling me to turn back around. I try to brush it off, because I don’t want to be stuck in a room anymore.
But minutes later, when I see a figure staring back at me at the end of the hallway, I realize that feeling was my intuition. And I should’ve listened to it.
It’s Wolfgang’s father.
He looks like he was going somewhere, but he halted there just to see me.
I stop, too, not knowing how to react. All I know is the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. I want him gone—his cold eyes fucking terrify me.
