“I’m fine.”
Wow.
I didn’t realize that worked for men too.
“Is there anything I can do? You can talk to me, you know.”
He huffed before draining the rest of his coffee. He got up to put his cup in the sink and I panicked, rushing to find something to say. I grabbed at his arm as he went to move past me. I pleaded, “Nikolai, please.”
I didn’t want this, this cold stoic atmosphere was not what I’d come to expect around here. All Nik had done since I’d gotten here was try to prove that he could make me happy. Call me spoiled but I’d come to enjoy that. Right now he wasn’t acting like the Nikolai that I had come to consider as a friend, this Nik was the one I met a month ago.
If only he’d open up, learn to trust me enough to let the weight off his shoulders. There must have really been something weighing on his shoulders for the tension to be showing through this much.
“I said, I’m fine. Just...drop it, Ana.”
Ugh. I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I gasped for breath as I watched him walk away. Leaving me again. I was beginning to get fed up with him always leaving.
He was the one who wanted me. I did not ask to come here.
Maybe it was true, that I really wasn’t what he expected and that he was starting to regret it.
I had told him that from the beginning. Fuck, guys were stupid. Did they just think that women talked for the sake of it? We didn’t. I had plainly warned him and he had ignored me.
I wondered how long it would be before he kicked me out. Surely, I wouldn’t last another month here.
Fired up by the sadness that had turned to anger, I went off in search of Achilles. I needed a friend right now, and some physical exercise. It felt like years since I’d last been to the gym, it made me question how Nikolai stayed in such good shape. Because despite being an idiot and an asshole, that man was in fine shape.
Let’s face it he was a hot piece of ass. One that I wouldn’t be talking to, or touching, anytime soon. I growled, frightening Achilles as I fixed his lead to his collar.
Looking out the glass sliding doors, I decided today would finally be the day I discovered where the back path led.
Fuck Nikolai.
I was highly aware of Anastasia throughout the day. It drove me mad, to the point where I actually had to hide in my bedroom just to get away from her. I wanted to go to her, to comfort her and protect her. I knew she must’ve had questions but I wasn’t ready to hear them. It worried me that I might come across too overprotective in my answers, and that might’ve scared her even more.
The night of the attack, something in me broke. I’d never cared about something, or someone like I do Anastasia. It was an eye-opener, for that and for my oversight in security for the house.
The next morning, before Anastasia even came downstairs, I’d rang up a new private security company. I knew the owner, Jack, from years back. He’d been a good solid friend of mine, with no connections to my family, or to my world. I didn’t like that I had suspicions about my own family ties but this was the second attack in the span of a few weeks. There wouldn’t be a third.
So far, it had been money well spent. I felt at peace knowing that Anastasia would never be in such a vulnerable position again.
I got up to answer the prominent chime of the doorbell that rang throughout the house. Since I’d sent Heather home for some much-needed R and R, I had been left to field all calls and visitors. It was only a few minutes earlier that I’d been alerted by security that I had a visitor. Or, more accurately, Anastasia had a visitor.
My new security seemed to already prove their worth. With full-time guards keeping watch over the gates, the doors and the ground, plus someone stationed inside to keep their eyes on the cameras.
I had hoped the new security wouldn’t scare Anastasia into hiding, but she’d yet to move from the theater room all day. In a sense, I was glad, at least I knew where she was and that she was sure to be safe in there.
Before allowing Mr Sumner onto the property, I’d had the team run a full background on him. While they checked his credentials, I spoke to him briefly about his business here. Unfortunately, his priority was informing Ana of her Aunt Carol’s passing.
“Hi, I’m Mr. Sumner. I’m looking for Anastasia Exley. It was only by chance that I saw her name in the paper this morning.”
“Come on in Mr. Sumner. Yes, we’ve had a rough couple of days. If you don’t mind waiting in the living room, I’ll go get her. Please excuse the mess.” I let him in and pointed the way through to the living room. With all the extra security floating around, I was sure he’d be fine on his own for a few minutes.
Glass had been brushed off to the sides and the windows had been boarded up but the house was still in shambles. I was in the middle of sweeping up when I received security’s alert. The house wasn’t exactly fit for visitors, but I didn’t care all that much. I had bigger concerns than whether or not Mr. Sumner was comfortable.
I entered the theater room to find Anastasia splayed on her side, fast asleep. Kneeling down on my knees in my expensive slacks was not an idea that I ever would have entertained before. But that was before Anastasia.
“Anastasia?” I gently shook her shoulder. I hadn’t really wanted to wake her, but under the circumstances, I wasn’t left with much of a choice. “Anastasia? There’s someone here to see you.”
Her eyes opened wide, a sleepy shine to them. I could tell the millisecond my words registered, her face lit up like the sky on the fourth of July. Immediately I regretted my words. “No, it’s not what you think. This isn’t a good visit.”
Eyebrows furrowed, she arose from her curled up position on the sofa. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders first, to lead her to the living room, but also because I knew what was to come and the guilt had quickly started to eat away at me. I was a coward for not telling her myself, but I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t break her heart in such a way, I couldn’t have her hate me for doing it either. That was a feeling that I couldn’t ever see going away. The damage from something like that could’ve been irreparable.
I wouldn’t risk it. So instead, I took my place beside her.
“What’s going on? Nikolai, who is it?” Yes, the situation was odd but the biggest indicator that something was wrong was Nikolai’s inability to meet my eyes. His face was a mask shielding me from his expression. It scared me. “If this is about the other night, Nikolai, I forgive you. I know that it wasn’t your fault.”
The arm that hung around the back of my shoulders tightened its grip, pulling me further into his side. “There’s a lawyer here to speak to you.”
“A lawyer?” I echoed, suddenly very curious. I didn’t know any lawyers, not personally anyway, only the few that had passed in and out of my fathers’ office.
We halted outside of the living room as if he didn’t want us to enter. I waited for an explanation but didn’t get one.
“I’ll be right there with you, all the way. But if you need space, I’ll give you that as well.”
“You’re scaring me,” I whispered as we waited in the hallway.
He didn’t apologize, he didn’t say anything as he led me into the living room. I noticed the middle-aged man, the lawyer, straight away. He was seated in my chair, the only comfy seat in the living room. Immediately, I didn’t like him.