I’ve barely thought about Tony since this nightmare began, too consumed with survival and my confusing feelings for Mikhail.
But now the memories flood back, sharp and painful.
“Tony was my hero,” I begin, my voice thick with emotion. “Four years older than me, always looking out for his little sister. When our father started drinking, started disappearing for days at a time, Tony stepped up. He made sure I had lunch money, helped me with homework, scared off the boys who tried to bother me.”
Mikhail’s thumb traces circles on the back of my hand, encouraging me to continue.
“He died six years ago. Car accident on the interstate. Some drunk driver crossed the median and hit him head-on. Both died.” I close my eyes, but I can still see the police officers at our door, can still hear my own screams. “He was twenty-four, recently engaged, and was planning to go to law school.”
“I’m sorry.” Mikhail’s lips brush my temple. “That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair.” I pull back to look at him. “Your sister. My brother. The violence that just keeps taking and taking. When does it end?”
“I don’t know.” His honesty surprises me. “I thought revenge would end it, that making your father pay would somehow balance the scales. But it didn’t bring Nicole back. It just created more pain.”
“My father…” I swallow hard. “He wasn’t always bad. When I was little, before the drinking got really bad, he used to take Tony and me to the park. He’d push us on the swings for hours, never complaining. But he changed. He got involved with the wrong people, started owing money, started making terrible choices.”
“He hurt you.” It’s not a question.
I nod, thinking of that closet, of the suffocating darkness. “He scared me. But he was still my father. And now he’s dead, and I’ll never get answers or closure.”
We sit in silence for a long moment, two broken people clinging to each other in the aftermath of violence.
Outside, wind howls through the pine trees, and somewhere in the distance, an owl hoots.
“I care about you.” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “I know I shouldn’t. I know this whole thing started as revenge and force and violence. But somewhere along the way, you became more than my captor. You became…”
“Everything.” He finishes the thought, his voice rough with emotion. “You became everything to me, Sophia. And that terrifies me.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone I love dies.” His green eyes are haunted. “My parents. Nicole. And if something happens to you because of me, because of my world…”
I silence him with another kiss, this one deeper, more urgent. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise me.” His hands frame my face, his touch desperate. “Promise me you’ll survive this. That you’ll live, even if I don’t.”
“We’ll both survive.” I pour every ounce of conviction into the words. “Together.”
The kiss that follows is different from all the others.
There’s no anger, no punishment, no power play.
Just two people who’ve found something precious in the chaos, trying to hold onto it with everything they have.
Mikhail’s good hand slides under my shirt, his touch gentle despite the calluses on his palm.
I help him remove it, then carefully work his ruined shirt off his injured shoulder.
We move slowly, reverently, mapping each other’s scars and wounds.
When he enters me, it’s with a tenderness that brings tears to my eyes.
We move together in the dim light of the cabin, our bodies promising each other.
I love you. I need you. Don’t leave me.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on my bare shoulder.
