I thought loving her would make me soft, weaken me and make me careless. I was wrong. Nala could never be myweakness. She makes me stronger. She’s my trigger, the reason for me to be absolutely ruthless. It’s the only way I can send the message that she's off limits. Threats won’t ever get a chance to reach her. Attempts on her life—not happening. I won’t deal in single punishment anymore. Anyone who thinks about touching my girl won’t just answer for themselves, everyone they love will pay the price. I’ll have no mercy.
Pchyolkais not the way to get to me.
CHAPTER 19
NALA
"You're going to freeze to death out here."
Roman stands in the doorway of the cottage, arms crossed, watching me spread the blanket across the cold ground. The December air bites at my exposed skin, but I don't care. I'll take the cold if it means I get to enjoy this freedom.
"No I won’t. You won’t let me.”
I smooth out the edges of the blanket. "Bring the other one. We have to double it up.”
He gives me an annoyed look but turns around and comes back with an even thicker blanket in his arms.
“Thank you.” I kiss him and watch as he starts laying it out without me asking.
"If you freeze, I'm leaving you out here. Maybe then you’ll start taking winter seriously.”
"I do take it seriously. That’s why I don’t drink cognac. I use you to warm me instead."
His lips twitch.
I grab his hand. “Come one, Roman. Sit with me. You like the cold. You always have your jacket open.”
“I don’t like it. I’m used to it.” He sits beside me. “You’re not used to it. You just like not being inside.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. “Well, you can’t blame me for that.”
“No.” he says. “I can’t. There’s only one person to blame for that.”
There it is. The reminder I was trying so hard to block out and not think about tomorrow. I lift my head from Roman’s shoulder, studying my gloved hands. “Did I ever tell you about what I did to pass the time in the basement?”
“No. You sure you want to talk about it?”
“Yeah. It’s okay now. I don’t mind.”
‘What did you do?”
“I made up stories inside my head. Not like stories in a book. More like… different lives I could’ve had.”
"I want to hear it.”
“The summer before I uh…” It’s still hard to say the word, to admit what happened to me. “Before I was kidnapped, I went to cheer camp.”
“What’s that?”
I laugh softly, suddenly feeling silly. “Cheerleading. It’s kind of like dancing and gymnastics. It’s popular in America. Especially at football games.”
Roman frowns. “Oh. You mean those girls dancing around for no reason.”
“Well, it’s not for no reason,” I say, smiling. “But yeah. That’s what I mean. I wanted to try out at my school. I was good.”
“In one of your lives, you’re one of those girls at football games?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I didn’t get that far in that fantasy. In this one, I go to high school. I’m captain of thecheerleading team. I’m really popular and I have a lot of friends. No one remembers me as the weird girl who could see things others didn’t.”
