Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 52062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
He moves fast, closing the distance between us before I can react. His hand closes around mine, and he presses my palm flat against his chest.
His heart pounds beneath my fingers. Hard and fast and desperate.
"Feel that." His voice is raw. "Feel how hard it beats for you. How it breaks for you when I think I might lose you."
For one moment, I let myself feel it. The thunder of his heart against my palm. The warmth of his skin. The way his eyes search mine with something that looks so much like love, it makes me want to scream.
I yank my hand free. “I need time to process all of this.”
“How can I help you do that?”
“Give me time to make it make sense.”
He nods. “I can do that.”
“When is my grandfather coming?”
“Tomorrow.”
I nod. But don’t say anything. I’m too numb. Because my life has just changed again.
“Malyshka—”
“Please, just give me some time.”
I don't wait for his response. I walk away from him and climb the stairs to the guest room.
The moment the door clicks shut, I slide down to the floor and let my emotions burst out of me. Tears for the man I thought I loved. For the fairy tale I believed in. For my parents and their secrets and the lies they built to protect me from a truth they never told me.
I cry until my throat is raw and my eyes are swollen and there's nothing left inside me but a hollow, aching emptiness.
I don’t feel safe.
When the tears finally stop, I just sit there in the gray morning light, staring at nothing.
I feel caged and numb and fuck… I need to get away from here.
Away from him.
From the lies.
From the danger.
But how do I get out of here?
"If you ever need anything. Anything at all. Call me."
Andrei.
I dig through the pockets of my jeans which are on the edge of the bed and find the piece of paper. My hands shake as I unfold it and stare at the numbers scrawled in blue ink.
Nikolai took my phone. But there's a landline in the kitchen.
I unlock the door and listen, and when I’m sure Nikolai isn’t outside my door, I slip from my room.
I hear his voice down the hallway in his study. He’s on the phone, speaking Russian and talking fast.
Moving as quietly as possible, I hurry along the landing and sneak down the stairs to the kitchen.
The phone is across the room on the wall. Standing in front of it, I pause. My mind is spinning with everything I’ve just learned. Again, my world has flipped and I’m probably not thinking straight. I’m existing on pure adrenaline. Because I’m in danger. Because there is someone out there looking for me, and when they find me, they’ll kill me.
But they already know I’m here.
They’ve already breached Nikolai’s walls.
Already hunted me in the darkness.
I think back to the man stalking me as I hit under the bed.
About the fear that took over my body as I waited for him to find me.
They will come back.
With a shaking hand, I quietly pick up the receiver and dial Andrei's number with trembling fingers.
It rings once. Twice. Three times.
"Hello?" His voice is groggy with sleep.
"Andrei." My voice comes out as a cracked whisper. "It's Holly."
"Holly?" I hear him sit up, suddenly alert. "What's wrong? It's five in the morning."
"I need your help." The tears start again, sliding silently down my cheeks. "Please. Can you come get me?"
30
NIKOLAI
“I want every fucking security patrol we have back here within the hour,” I seethe down the phone line to Dmitri.
“Consider it done.”
“I’ll consider it done when they’re here, and I’m not looking at three dead bodies lying on my fucking floor.”
“The teams understand the need for haste, Nikolai,” he assures me. “You can trust that things are in motion. The lodge will be impenetrable once everything is in place.”
“I want to reassure Holly,” I say out loud.
I’m never going to get the look on her face out of my head. The complete and utter look of betrayal because I kept all of this from her.
“And you can reassure her, Nikolai. Nothing will get past the perimeter patrols.”
“That had better be the case,” I growl, and hang up.
In three strides, I’m out of the den and walking down the hall to Holly’s room. I stop in front of her door, my heart pounding harder than it did when I was hunting intruders through my own home an hour ago.
I knock.
No answer.
"Holly." I press my palm flat against the wood. "We need to talk."
Nothing.
"Holly."
I try the handle.
The door swings open.
The room is empty. The bed is untouched. The window is closed.
My blood runs cold.
I search the room. The bathroom. Under the bed. But I already know what I'm going to find.
Nothing.
She's gone.
She's fucking gone.