“It’s just hard.”
“Why is it so hard? Talk to me, Natasha. If we’re stuck in this marriage forever, let’s at least try.”
Can I really tell Maksim about my suspicions with my father? It’s on the tip of my tongue. The urge to confide in someone. To not have to keep it all locked away inside of myself.
Maksim’s eyes are open. He wants to try for real. I could try too.
But when I open my mouth, my eyes dart over Maksim’s shoulder and I see the other man from last night. The other man who tried to hurt me.
He’s trying to sell watches to tourists and being aggressive about it when they say no. Right now, he hasn’t seen me but for how long?
I inhale sharply and spin away from Maksim, trying to keep my tears at bay.
“Natasha?”
“I have to go,” I mutter and start walking as fast as I can away from that man.
“Natasha.” Maksim quickly follows. “What is going on?”
I pick up my pace but it’s so crowded with all the other tourists that I end up bumping into somebody and falling hard onto my back.
Maksim kneels down beside me and reaches for my arm but I rip away from him.
“Don’t touch me,” I say louder than I mean to. That draws the attention of the man. The one who tried to hurt me. His eyes find mine and he smirks, proud of what he did.
Maksim follows my line of sight and sees the man, narrowing his eyes. The other man’s eyes widen when he realizes that Maksim is with me.
Maksim surges to his feet and runs after the man but the other man is faster. He manages to dive behind a group of tourists before Maksim can reach him. By the time Maksim gets past the tourists, the man is gone.
“Fuck,” Maksim says, coming back over to me. “That fucking asshole.”
I can’t hold my tears back and they come spilling down my face. Maksim’s eyes soften.
“Are you ok?” he asks. “Here.” He holds his hand out to me but I can’t take it. All I feel is cold. All I feel is fear.
My tears are drawing the attention of other people.
“Natasha.” Maksim gently grabs my arm and helps me to my feet. “Let’s go. Come on.”
“That man…” I whisper.
“I know. But he ran when he saw me. He’s not a threat. He won’t come for you ever again.”
“Because of you. Because you killed…”
“Hush,” he says, not unkindly. “Don’t say that too loudly. Other people don’t need to know. Now, let’s get back to the villa. Come on.”
I follow Maksim, not even realizing my body is moving. It’s not until we’re back at the villa that I realize I moved at all.
“That fucker,” Maksim mutters. “Scaring you like that. I would kill him if I got the chance.”
I flinch. Maksim has a darkness in him that reminds me too much of my father. While Maksim overall does seem nicer than my dad, that doesn’t make him a good man. I have to be careful around him.
“I can’t go back out there,” I say. “Not when that guy…”
“Ok. Well… we don’t have to. We can stay in the villa all day. It is our honeymoon after all. Your father already thinks we had sex because of the bloody sheet. We can just… hang out, I guess. We don’t have to do anything.”
I curl into a ball on the couch. “I just want to be left alone.”
