“Oh, this is way better than the shithole I was living in!” Darby exclaims as she runs from room to room, exploring the place. She’s always had a way with words.
“It’s pretty lovely here,” I agree.
We’re on the fifth floor of a brownstone situated on the corner of a busy street. I walk through the living room and open one of the tall windows, which leads out to a small balcony with a fire escape. The city hums below with car horns, faint sirens wailing in the distance and people shouting. It’s noisy and chaotic, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Just to get out from under my father’s roof makes it feel like a thousand pounds have been lifted from my shoulders. To not have my wicked stepmother breathing down my neck is enough to make me feel free. Even if it’s just for a little while until Pavel and I get married. Who knows, maybe I can delay the wedding or get it called off altogether. I can confess that the thought has entered my mind a million times in the past few days alone.
When Darby emerges from the hall, I tell her, “My father paid the lease for three years.”
“Wow, okay,” she says, astonished.
“Yeah, so you’ll be set even when I have to leave after I get married…” My voice trails off. I hate to think of leaving this place so soon after I move in, but I have to face reality.
The expression on my face must show what I’m really thinking; because next thing I know, Darby comes over and wraps her arms around me in a warm embrace. Darby’s hugs aren’t given away freely, because she hates being touched and people touching her, so I accept it gratefully and soak up every ounce of her love for me. “We’ll figure it out, Savina,” she promises.
I nod against her shoulder. “I hope so,” I whisper.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dimitri
I WOULD BE lyingif I said I wasn’t pissed about my brother agreeing to Savina moving in with her best friend. I never would have allowed it; much rather keeping Savina safe and secure in her father’s compound until our wedding day. It’s not that I don’t trust her. It’s that I don’t trust everyone else. I know how people are, especially men. I’ve dealt with the toughest criminals in the city, and I know they would eat Savina alive, given the chance.
Even though it’s wrong and extremely immoral, I decide to pay their new apartment a visit while Darby and Savina are conveniently out on a shopping trip. The doorman is an old associate of mine, so he lets me in with no problem. Apparently, he was told by Savina’s father to allow anyone from the Sokolov and Cipriano families free access to the building. I don’t know whether to worry about that or not, but I decide to put that on the backburner…for now.
Once I’m at her front door, it takes me all of a minute and half tobreak in. I make a mental note to pay the superintendent of the building a little extra to reinforce the door and upgrade the locks and strike plates. If I was able to break in, any shady character in the city could as well, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
I set my backpack down on the granite countertop, taking in every detail of the apartment. My eyes scan the open floorplan for the best possible places for what I’m about to install, and then I get to work. I’m on a time limit, because I have no idea how long it’s going to take the girls to finish their impromptu excursion.
It doesn’t take long to get the first three cameras installed. They give me perfect angles of the front door, the kitchen and the living room.
Then I move down the hall, bypassing Darby’s bedroom completely, and entering Savina’s room. I’m hit immediately with her soft, floral scent, and it makes my mouth water. Fuck, I can’t wait to taste her on my tongue.
My cock strains against my zipper as I carry my bag inside her room and set it on her dresser. In the process, I knock over a small book. Picking it up, I realize it’s a journal or diary of some sort.
Curiosity gets the best of me, and I flip it open, just peeking inside. It’s not like I’m not accustomed to violating her privacy, but something about reading her personal diary seems to almost cross a line.
I see my name scrawled in there numerous times, and I frown when I see most of it is badmouthing me.She really does hate me, I think to myself. I suppose it’s with good reason, however. I did make her life miserable in the beginning.
I’m about to put the journal back where I found it when something catches my eye. It’s a page titled “my fantasy.” Spreading the pages, I’m engulfed in her neat handwriting as she describes a recurring dream wherein, she’s chased through the woods by a masked man. Not just any masked man, however, butme. It’s like a dirty, forbidden fairytale come to life, and it has my blood rushing throughmy veins and straight to my cock. I guess she doesn’t totally hate me after all. A part of her secretly wants me.
My eyes greedily devour the page until I snap the journal shut, forcing myself out of her illicit thoughts. Savina wants me to chase her.Fuck, I think I can manage that.
I replace the book on her dresser exactly where I found it and get back to work. I stare at my equipment, debating whether I want video or just audio installed in her bedroom. The choice should be easy, and yet it takes me several minutes to decide. Grumbling under my breath, I choose to install audio only, not wanting to invade her privacy any more than I already am. I guess there is a line I’m not willing to cross, and I finally found it.
I plug a small USB looking device into her wall that’s hidden behind her dresser. That will give me audio only and will have to suffice for now.
Before I can second-guess my decision, I go back out to the living area and begin syncing the cameras and audio devices with the app on my phone. I’m nearly finished when I get an alert on my phone that Savina is nearby. My lookout and one of my only friends, Andrei, is keeping an eye on her for me since I don’t have a tracker installed on her phone. Yet.
Using a small vacuum, I tidy up all the sawdust left behind from drilling into the corners of the ceilings and quickly pack up my tools. I also fold up the stepladder I used and tuck it back into the utility closet by the front door.
Opening my phone, I test out each camera. And when I’m satisfied that they’re all online and working properly, I let myself out of the apartment and hustle down five flights of stairs and out onto the street.
I pull the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head and saunter down the street in the opposite direction of Savina. Stopping in a café, I take a seat in the back and wait.
The only good thing about Savina leaving her parents’ house is knowing she won’t have to put up with her stepmother’sbullshit. After seeing the cut and red mark on Savina’s face, I was ready to draw blood, maim,kill. But when I realized it was Cosette who was responsible, I decided I couldn’t kill the bitch…even if I desperately wanted to. I’ve killed many men in my lifetime, but I draw the line with women and children.
So, even though I couldn’t justify killing Cosette, I could, however, hurt her. And I knew just the way that would cut the deepest. Upon first meeting Savina’s stepmother, it only took me a few seconds of being around her to figure out what she holds dearest to her heart in this world. Or should I say…dearest to her liver.
At around three in the morning, I broke into the Cipriano home and poured all of Cosette’s prized alcohol down the drain, leaving the empty bottles behind. I knew it would drive her mad not being able to drink her precious poison. I like to think she went crazy, going from room to room, cupboard to cupboard, only to find all of it gone. And that causes my lips to tick up in a wide smile. The bitch deserves so much more for hurting Savina, but I’ll start with that.
