“It was an early wedding gift,” she continued, then took one final drag of her cigarette. “And a symbol. Obviously.”
“A symbol…? A symbol for what?”
I held my breath as I waited for the answer, knowing deep in my bones it wouldn’t be good. When she exhaled again, she stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.
“Death, Victoria. A symbol for death.”
My fingers twitched in my lap, anxiety flowing freely through me as if a dam had broken. And as my mother kept on talking, every word she voiced felt like a stab.
“We either do this—let him take what he wants—or he’ll kill us. It’s either one of us… or all of us.”
3
VICTORIA
Present Day
“Oh, yes, Anya is already going to the hotel offices with her father. And this one…” my mother squeezes my shoulders in a rare gesture of affection. “Now that she’s graduating soon, she wants to leave us—go to Europe and become a professor!”
A riding instructor, but she refuses to call it for what it is. Especially in front of others.
I press my lips into a thin line, making eye contact with Alexei, one of my father’s contractors. Based on the forced smile he offers in response, it’s pretty clear he isn’t interested in frivolous conversation. Too bad Mom spotted him in the crowd before Dad did.
An arm wraps around mine, and I turn my head to see Anya by my side.
“Excuse me, could I borrow my sister for a moment? I promise I’ll bring her back.”
Mom’s smile widens as she waves a hand in the air. “Yes, yes, you girls go. Have fun. And save me some of that meringue, will you? People seem to love it.”
“Of course.” Anya nods, pulling me away.
We make our way to the other side of the living room, passing by the strangers at my twenty-second birthday party. An array of desserts decorate the buffet, all in different shapes and flavors, surrounding a lush chocolate cake with nothing written on it. Anya nonchalantly swipes a piece of raspberry meringue from the table and stuffs it in her mouth. Rolling her eyes, she lets out a clipped moan.
“I’m not saving heranything. This is divine. Try one?”
I tilt my head, watching her with a knowing smirk. “Is this why you pulled me away? For the meringues?”
“I was doing you a favor. You looked like you were in pain over there.”
“Yeah, well…” I sigh. “You know Alexei. He’s not much of a chatter.”
I cross my arms and turn my body, facing the crowd—a crowd filled with our parents’ acquaintances. A group of men, including my father, stand in a circle, smoking cigars and talking in their low, ragged voices over each other. The women, in pairs or groups of three, scatter around them, occasionally picking up champagne glasses from passing servers. I don’t think they even know it’s someone’s birthday. Let alone mine.
Normally, I’d be upset about the situation, since this party clearly has nothing to do with me. But for the first time in weeks, Mom isn’t smoking like a dragon with a nicotine addiction, and Dad is laughing with his associates. I didn’t think I’d see my family at peace again after the news they dropped on us a few weeks ago.
But that’s just the thing…
Nothing of what Mom said that day at the dining table ended up coming true. Wolfgang Rykov never came to claim Anya as his bride.
Weeks went by, and eventually, business resumed as usual… as if they completely forgave my father’s “mistake,” whatever that was. I try not to worry about it, but how could I not? We’re still living with danger hanging over our heads, and it seems I’m the only one unable to shake it off.
And Wolfgang…Wolfgang…
Those amber eyes still show up in my dreams. Always haunting, always demanding something of me, as if the brief conversation we had somehow bound us forever. His presence lingers at theback of my mind, and it scares me. I shouldn’t be thinking about him. What I found out about him tells me as much.
Even though there are no public records of him being convicted of anything, the way people talk about him only says one thing. He’s a killer. A monster with no remorse. And likely, a psychopath. I secretly asked some of Father’s goons, and that’s the impression I got.
They’ve heard of him, of course. Turns out he’s an important figure in the business world, owning a long line of companies both here, in Alemont City, and across the East Coast. How he and his family got that fortune… I didn’t need to ask.
