Tim scrunched his brow. “Uh, nineteen, I think?”
Only a few years younger than me.
“I heard she suffered some kind of trauma as a kid,” Tim added in a lowered voice. “Could be why she’s a little odd. But she’s my favorite of the girls. The others can be catty sometimes, but not Annika. Not a mean bone in her body, and she always has a kind word to say.”
My pulse pounded in my ears.
Whatkindof trauma? Had Papa been involved? Had he tried to hurt her in retaliation for Alexei firing him? I wouldn’t put it past him.
“What happened to her?”
Tim shrugged. “Don’t know. It was before my time.” He straightened abruptly, smiling and nodding as the girls pranced by—well, except for Annika, who wobbled on her obviously uncomfortable heels. My heart twitched. She looked utterly miserable.
Quickly ducking my head so the girls couldn’t see my face, I secretly watched Annika from beneath my shaggy hair. She didn’t even notice me, her attention seemingly focused inward—if the faraway look on her face was any indication—and followed her cousins as they all piled into another waiting SUV parked a few spaces away.
I blew out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, my skin tingling with awareness. Something about that girl tugged hard at my chest, twisting me all up into a tangled knot of emotions.
I watched them drive away, a strange emptiness filling me now that Annika was gone.
I didn’t evenknowthe girl. Yet, I felt an inexplicable affinity to her.
From that moment on, I woke each day hoping to catch another glimpse of Annika.
But those glimpses were disappointingly rare.
I only saw her from a distance.
And I never let her see my face.
I was okay with her not noticing me. Notseeingme.
In fact, I preferred it that way. The last thing I wanted was to frighten her with my hideous scars.
Joining the Bratva had been the best thing that ever happened to me.
If Sacha hadn’t taken me under his wing, I might never have gotten off the streets.
I might well have died in the ugly part of the city.
I would never have found friendship and acceptance like I’d found in the brotherhood.
And, most importantly, I would probably have never seen Annika.
The girl whose mere existence filled my heart with joy.
The girl who could send my pulse racing and my skin tingling with nothing more than a precious glimpse of her from afar.
The girl who was different. Like me.
Annika helped fill the emptiness that losing Damien had left behind.
She, above all, made my life worth living.
And she didn’t even know it.
CHAPTER SIX
Adrik