Prologue
Anastasia
Six months earlier
I push open the door to my father’s office as I flee the conversation. Tears are stuck in my throat and my stomach just keeps sinking. Matheo’s heavy footsteps follow behind as he runs after me, but he knows I won’t stop to listen anyway.
“Anastasia!” My name bounces against the hallway walls as he calls for me, but I don’t stop running.
Leaving the mansion behind me, I take one of the guards’ cars, though I have no idea which of them it belongs to. I turn the key and drive away instantly, my vision blurry with tears.
It doesn’t take long before I see Matheo’s dark-blue motorcycle following behind the car, but it doesn’t come as a surprise as I already knew he would follow me.
He knows where I’m going, he knows the place I always run away to when my head gets too loud and the world turns too noisy. The beach. I park the car to the side before I step outside and slam the car door shut with a loud bang.
I walk towards the beach with quick steps, desperate to feel the calmness that will surround me any second. When I finallyfeel the sand scraping between my toes and I hear the waves crash against the rocks, and the salty smell fills the air... that’s when my thoughts finally settle. I sit down in the sand, and my arms hug my knees in an instant.
We need to lock you up. His words echo in my head over and over.And I don’t know for how long.
It was too much for a free soul like me to accept. I crave adrenaline, I crave spark. I crave a life full of unpredictable things. And now he’s taking away everything that makes a life worth living.
I stare out over the sea as the sun is about to set. I can feel someone’s gaze on me, but it’s not Matheo’s. This feels different.
I ignore it.You’re just imagining things, Anastasia.Still I look to each of my sides just to make sure.
I have no idea how I will survive god-knows-how-long, locked up in my father’s mansion. The thoughtsdon’t bring anxiety now when my fingertips find the dry sand beneath me, but I need to solve the problem and I need to survive this new chapter in my life. I know I have the strength to do it, but that doesn’t mean I want to.
Will I have to wake up at seven a.m. just to keep some routine? Will my father set me on chores? “Sweep and mop the floors until they’re clean, do laundry and shine up.” I can hear his nagging voice already.
Maybe I’ll read a book a day, or maybe two or three? I’ll for sure have the time. Maybe I’ll add a few new paintings for my father’s gallery? Maybe I’ll have Matheo play some guitar while I knit?
And perhaps when I find myself in the kitchen, cooking meal after meal, I’ll wonder...When will my life begin?
“At least I have more hobbies than I can count on my fingers,” I say out loud as I speak to the ocean in an attempt tosoothe myself. And I know Matheo is listening though he doesn’t answer. Always the silent watcher.
“Maybe we can do puzzles? Play dart? Maybe you can learn some ballet? I would for sure have a nice laugh seeing your stiff body try that,” I laugh at my own words, but I know he hears the frustration and worry behind them.
“You will get through it, and I will be by your side.”
“And do what, exactly? Stare at me on my father’s demand?” I look back at him, and his jaw tightens.
“Well, perhaps you’ll find me and my stiff body practicing some ballet.” He smiles, but it’s forced.
“You don’t get it. You’re always in that mansion anyway.” I say as I throw a small seashell into the ocean. “I need a sex on the beach,” I turn around and find his eyes again, and his cheeks turn rosy.
“Now?”
“Yes, it’s my favorite.”
“Uhm, why have you never told me? We could’ve done it many times.”
I stare at him, eyebrows drawing in as I look at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Having sex on the beach?”
“Oh, lord,” I let out, my palm hitting my forehead.
“What?”
