Then he falls to his knees, his face reddening by the moment. For an instant, I feel powerful, invincible. I think I could kill him right now if I wanted. A little more and he'd stop breathing forever.
But that's not the plan, and I'm not a killer. I release the air from my lungs and focus on calming down. Soon, he begins to breathe again, though he seems completely dazed. He tries to stay awake, but the sedative and lack of oxygen are taking effect. Within seconds, he's unconscious.
And as soon as Voronov falls, my legs give out.
I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor, trembling. My heart beats so hard I'm sure the guards can hear it from the hallway. I feel nauseous. I can still feel thesensation of his body pressing against mine, his breath on my face, his hands trapping me.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I breathe deeply once. Twice. Three times. The air around me stirs, responding to my panic, and I have to focus on calming it before it knocks something to the floor.
I can't fall apart now. I'm still in his house. I still have to get out of here. That's the priority. I'm not safe.
I force myself to stand up, though my legs shake like they're made of jello. A sudden dizziness makes me lean on the wall. I don't know if it's from using magic or from shock. Maybe both, the only thing I know is I have to wait a few seconds until the world stops spinning.
“Focus, Nell. Finish the job. Fall apart later,” I mutter through my teeth.
I head toward the wall with the unevenness, hurriedly wiping away the tears I didn't know were falling.
I feel the surface and find a small imperfection. I press and, with a soft click, a panel slides to the left, revealing a safe built into the wall.
It's exactly as the elf described.
By my calculations, I've been in the room about fifteen minutes. I can't risk Voronov waking up or someone coming in to check.
I close the wall panel with another soft click and return to the massage table. Voronov starts to wake up, looksat me confused. For an instant, I'm sure he's going to attack me, but he signals for me to help him lie on the massage table, where he falls asleep again.
“What... what happened?” he asks several minutes later, when I'm about to leave.
“You fell asleep, sir,” I respond with all the calm I can muster. “It's normal, the massage sometimes has that effect. We're done now.”
He blinks several times, trying to orient himself. By his expression, he doesn't remember what happened. Maybe it's the temporary lack of oxygen.
“I think I'll call you again,” he murmurs.
“It will be a pleasure, Mr. Voronov,” I respond as I gather my things as fast as I can. “If you'll excuse me, I have a client on the other side of town.”
In the hallway, Petrov waits to escort me to the exit. I'm almost out when another guard appears and asks him to stop.
“Shit,” I mutter, feeling my blood turn to ice.
“You forgot the tip,” he announces, extending his hand to give me some bills I don't even bother to count.
Already outside the house, I have to force myself not to run to Sabina's van.
“You did it!” she exclaims, getting out to open the door for me.
“Let's get out of here as soon as possible,” I order in a broken voice.
“Are you okay?”
I open my eyes and look at her. I don't even know where to start.
“Voronov tried to...” I begin, but my voice gives out.
My hands are shaking. Now that I'm outside, now that the adrenaline is starting to drop, everything hits me at once. His naked body. His erection pressing between my legs. His hands trapping me against the wall. The disgust. The fear. The absolute certainty that he was going to rape me and I couldn't do anything to stop it.
“Nell,” Sabina's voice sounds different now, soft, worried. “What happened?”
