I blink back tears.
Forever.
When I walk into the bedroom, the darkness swallows me. Cool air caresses my skin and eases some of my anxiety. I wander toward the bedside dresser, where my phone is charging. A light switch clicks behind me, and light bathes the room.
I stare at the screen of my phone. “I should call Mr. Austin.”
“It can wait.”
I shake my head. “No, it can’t.”
“Liya…”
I brush past Pavel and head downstairs. I don’t care what he has to say. Willow is safe. Her father deserves to know she’s alive so we can arrange a time and place for them to be reunited.
It’s the least I can do.
Chapter Seven
Pavel
Liya hasn’t returned.
If this were the penthouse, if things were actually normal—or as normal as they can be for a pakhan and his wife—then her absence wouldn’t irritate me.
But it does.
And I find myself pacing as a result.
We still have so much to discuss. We’ve hardly had the time to get into it. With Zoya held captive by Cardona and Willow recovering from her own close brush, it’s been absolute mayhem around here.
I run my fingers through my hair while pausing in front of the mirror.
I have to try. I scrub the stubble on my chin and neck.I have to know where we stand—and what’s going to happen next.
The way my heart rattles my chest makes me feel the kind of things I usually have no issue shoving away. Pain, fear, regret, anguish—it coalesces into a gaping cavern, one that threatens to swallow me up.
Liya is my light.
She chases away my darkness.
I can’t lose her.
I turn away from the mirror and flick on the light switch. Of all the times to get emotional, now isn’t it. But when would be the right time? After Liya gives birth? After she goes to college?
After she gets murdered by Cardona?
I chase away the thought as soon as it pops into my head.That’s not going to happen. I will protect her. Even if she doesn’t love me anymore.
Time stretches ahead of me, a series of days that I can’t picture clearly. I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going to happen in the future. I don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow.
And instead of seeing it as a thrilling problem to be solved, I merely regard it as a necessary evil.
Because if Liya won’t be with me, then I don’t see much of a point.
I take a few deep breaths and then slip into the hallway. The guest room door is cracked open. Soft snores float from the room. I check on Willow to make sure she’s all right and then head downstairs, where I find Liya in the den with her head in her hands.
A light tap on her shoulder causes her to jump. She clutches her chest and sighs shakily. “Jesus, you scared me.”