Chapter 34
Abbie
While I’m reluctantly zipping up my bag, my phone rings.
Thinking it’s Aurora because she’s the only person who calls me often, I answer. “Hey.”
“Where the fuck are you?” my father’s voice rumbles over the line.
Shit.
“Ah…Father.”
“Who gave you permission to leave St. Monarch’s?” he demands.
“I’m almost twenty-two,” I argue. “I can make decisions without your permission.”
“Get back to St. Monarch’s. Today!”
The call ends, and I inhale a deep breath before dropping the device on the bed.
Hi, Abbie. How are you, Abbie?
Jesus, would it be so hard to show me some love?
I swear, sometimes I wonder whether I wasn’t adopted. I’d never treat my child like this.
Suddenly Nikolai asks, “What’s wrong?”
Not wanting to cause him worry when he has the deal in Africa happening tomorrow, I shake my head. “I’m just going to miss you.”
“You can still change your mind and stay,” he taunts me with the perfect dream.
For a moment, I consider his offer.
What would I be going back to? Training at St. Monarch’s, which I have no interest in…my parents, who don’t give a fuck about me?
Aurora. You’re going back for Aurora. Her wedding is in two weeks.
“Ask me again after Aurora and Misha’s wedding.” Nikolai lifts a surprised eyebrow. “Do you mean that?”
I walk to him and wrap my arms around his neck. Smiling at my man, I say, “Yes. I’ll come back if you still want me in two weeks.”
“Permanently,” he demands. “I won’t let you go a second time.”
I can’t describe the feeling of knowing there’s one person on this planet who wants me. Who loves me so much, he can’t live without me.
“I love you, Nikolai,” I say, my entire heart in my voice.
He lifts his hands to my face, framing my cheeks. He looks into the depth of my soul. “Moya zhizn’. Moya dusha. Ty mayo vse.”
Before I can ask what the words mean, he translates, “My life. My soul.
My everything.”
Standing in his arms, I know I would say yes if he asked me to marry him.
A kaleidoscope of butterflies erupts in my stomach, the thought becoming my new dream.
Nikolai presses a tender kiss to my lips, then lets out a heavy sigh. “Let me walk you to the private jet before I give in and keep you here against your will.”
It will never be against my will.
We grab my luggage, and I swipe my phone off the bed. When we walk out of Nikolai’s home, that’s become a haven of peace and love, there’s a sinking sensation in my stomach.
I don’t want to leave.
What if the demons come back? What if this was only a temporary fix, and I can’t function without Nikolai?
He takes my hand and weaves our fingers together. As if he can read my mind, he says, “If you need me, call me day or night. I won’t have any signal during the flight. If something happens while I’m out of reach, call my mom. She’ll come to get you from St. Monarch’s.”
God, I’m going to miss him.
Nikolai carries my luggage up the stairs and hands it to the flight attendant. “Sit, moya lyubov’,” he orders before he straps me in, ensuring the safety belt is secure.
He crouches in front of me and stares at my face as if he’s trying to imprint me in his memory.
“Call me the moment you land in Switzerland.” “I will,” I promise.
“Sir, we’re ready,” the pilot informs him.
Nikolai leans over me, pressing a desperate kiss to my mouth.
It’s just two weeks.
“I love you, Abigail,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.
Tears sting my eyes. “I’ll see you soon. Don’t miss me too much.”
Nikolai straightens up and places his hand over his heart. “That’s impossible. I’m half a soul without you.”
Jesus.
I swallow hard, my throat straining as I watch him leave the aircraft. Too soon, the plane moves down the runway, and as it lifts into the sky,
I let out a heavy sigh.
The flight feels longer than it should, and with every mile the distance grows between Nikolai and me, I miss him more and more.
The moment we touch down in Switzerland, I turn on my phone and dial Nikolai’s number.
He answers on the first ring. “You can still come back.”
“I wish,” I mutter as I get up from the seat. I grab my luggage and exit the plane. “I miss you.”
“Not half as much as I miss you.”
Smiling at the St. Monarch’s guards, I climb into the SUV Nikolai arranged for me and grumble, “The next two weeks might actually kill me.”
“I’ll try to visit after I’m done with the deal in Congo.”
A smile spreads over my face. “I’ll make it worth your while.” “In that case, I’ll see you on Tuesday.”
I let out a chuckle as the vehicle takes me to the castle. “I’ll call you as soon as I’m back in Europe,” he promises.
“Have a save trip, and don’t get hurt,” I say, worried about this meeting he’s having in Congo. “I love you and want you back in one piece.”
“Don’t worry about me. Love you, baby,” he murmurs before ending the call.
I tuck my phone into my handbag and glance out the window.
Suck it up, Abby. Focus on Aurora’s happiness and making her wedding day special.
Maybe I’ll get to know Inna. With Nikolai being close with his sister, I feel it’s important that we get along.
The SUV pulls up to the front steps of the castle, and one of the guards opens the door for me. I notice a row of SUVs parked around the fountain but don’t think anything of it.
“Thank you,” I say to the guard as I climb out, and taking hold of my luggage, I head inside.
Excitement starts to bubble in my chest because I can’t wait to tell Aurora everything.
I open the door to my suite and step inside before I shut it behind me. When I turn around, the blood drains from my face. My lips feel numb as I whisper, “Father?”
Looking like a thundercloud that’s about to rain on my parade, he stands up from where he’s sitting on a sofa.
I hear movement in my bedroom and see guards packing the rest of my clothes.
“You’re coming home,” my father barks. His face turns red as he stalks toward me. I take a step back and am absolutely stunned when he slaps me across the face. “How dare you whore yourself out to a Vetrov!”
I cover my stinging cheek with a trembling hand, anger rushing through me. “How dare you hit me!”
My father’s soldiers pour out of my bedroom. Two carry my luggage while the other three head straight for me.
I swing around and yank the door open, but I’m grabbed from behind and lifted off my feet. Letting out a scream, I try to kick and headbutt the guard whose name I don’t even know, but it’s of no use as I’m carried down the hallway.
“Let me go!” I shout angrily, the man’s touch repulsive and threatening to make all my demons come back.
“Calm the fuck down,” my father snaps. “You’re a fucking embarrassment.”
My heart is pounding out of my chest, as I’m carried out of the castle and shoved into one of the SUVs I saw parked around the fountain. My father slides in next to me, and in absolute shock, I watch as he takes a gun from the driver.
Sitting casually, the weapon pointed at me, he sneers, “Either you behave, or I’ll kill you myself, but there’s no fucking way I’m allowing a Vetrov to have my daughter.”
What. The. Fuck.
My lips part, but no words come out.
“That’s what I thought,” he mutters before barking at the driver, “Go!”
Jesus, have I just been kidnapped by my own father?
“This is ridiculous,” I protest. “You can’t–”
“I can do anything I want, Abbie. You’re my daughter.”
“I’m not your property,” I cry, my mind still reeling from what just happened.
“You are, and the sooner you come to terms with that, the better.” “For you or me?”
His stubborn gaze locks with mine. “For you.” He lets out an angry huff. “After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”
“Everything you’ve done for me?” I hiss.
“Stop with the tantrum,” he chastises me like I’m a little girl that’s upset because he won’t buy me a toy.
We stop at a different airport, and I’m once again manhandled as I’m yanked out of the car and forced onto the private jet.
“Asshole,” I snap at the guard as he shoves me down in a seat.
The second the guard turns his back on me, I dart from the chair. When he grabs me, I swing my arm back, slamming my elbow into his nose.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I shout, my body vibrating with anger.
I’m tackled from behind and fall with a hard thud. I scream with panic as my trauma rears from the darkest shadows in me. When a knee presses into my back, and my hands are tied together, the memories of the rape flash through me like a horror show.
I’m hauled from the floor like a ragdoll and shoved back into the seat. My breaths explode over my lips as I struggle to regain control over the demons.
My father shakes his head at me, the expression on his face pure disgust, as if I’m shit beneath his shoe.
The flight to Italy takes forever, and my arms are aching from being restrained by the time we touch down.
The guard I elbowed doesn’t come near me again, and a different one hoists me over his shoulder like I’m nothing but a sack of potatoes.
The touch from a strange man sends shivers of revulsion through my body.
I wait until we’re on solid ground before I slam my knee into his chest. The bastard grunts but doesn’t drop me until we reach my father’s G- Wagon. I’m tossed into the back seat, and a moment later, my father climbs in.
“I never should’ve sent you to St. Monarch’s,” he mutters.
In hindsight, it’s one of the few good things my father did for me.
Otherwise, I never would’ve met Nikolai.
Nikolai.
Where the hell is my handbag?
I try to remember what happened to it, but I can’t recall.
Jesus, my phone is in that bag.