Page 40 of Scarlet Thorns
But minutes later, he returns. Moving with that same smooth grace, he approaches the sofa where I’m still curled beneath a throw blanket. Something small and white changes hands so quickly that I almost miss it— a slip of paper pressed into my palm with deliberate secrecy.
Our eyes meet one final time, and I see something there that makes my breath catch. Not goodbye, but promise. Not ending, but beginning.
Then he’s gone, disappeared into the night like the phantom he’s always been.
With trembling fingers, I unfold the paper. Four words written in strong, masculine handwriting:
Download VanishMe app user ID@osip
I stare at the words until they blur, my heart racing. He’s giving me a way to reach him. A door into whatever world he inhabits when he’s not wearing masks in shadowy rooms.
I don’t know what VanishMe is or how it works. I don’t know who @osip is or what he’ll expect from me. But as I sit here in the aftermath of the most incredible sexual experience of my life, I know one thing with absolute certainty:
I’m going to find out.
Chapter Sixteen
Osip
The guilt eats at me as I drive through Boston’s sleeping streets.
My hands shake against the steering wheel— not from fear, but from the weight of what I’ve done. What I’ve felt.
The woman from Room Five. Her skin under my hands, the connection that burned through me like live wire. I’ve never experienced anything like it— raw, honest, spiritual in ways that sex has never been before.
And that makes it worse.
Galina gave me permission. Told me that she understood men have needs, that she wouldn’t ask questions as long as I remained discreet. But permission doesn’t erase the sense of betrayal.
It wasn’t supposed to feel like that. It was supposed to be release— physical, meaningless, forgettable. Instead, it was everything I didn’t know I was searching for, wrapped in lace and candlelight and the kind of trust I don’t deserve.
Chert voz’mi!
I broke every rule I’ve ever set for myself.
The VanishMe information burns in my memory. Giving her access to me outside those walls, outside the safety of anonymity— it’s the kind of mistake that destroys carefully constructed lives. The app makes messages disappear after sixty seconds, but the connection remains. The door stays open.
What the fuck were you thinking, dolboyob?
My phone buzzes against the dashboard, but I ignore it. Stanley, probably, calling with more paranoid accusations about missing money. Or Melor with updates about Igor’s “suicide”that will require more bribes, more lies, more threads in the web I’m weaving to keep my world intact.
But all I can think about is her voice, broken and honest:I want you. I want all of you.
The memory makes my cock twitch despite the guilt crushing my chest. She offered herself completely— no games, no manipulation, no hidden agenda. Just pure need, honest desire, the kind of vulnerability that’s rarer than diamonds in my world.
I pull into my driveway and sit in the darkness, staring at the colonial mansion that should feel like home but never has. Behind those windows, Galina sleeps peacefully, trusting her husband to honor their arrangement, to keep his sins away from her pristine world.
She deserves better than this.
Better than me.
The front door is unlocked— unusual for Galina, who’s paranoid about security since her pregnancy started showing. I make a mental note to speak with her about it as I step into the foyer.
“Galina?” My voice echoes through the hallway.
Silence.
The house feels different. Colder. Like something is wrong. I check my watch— almost two in the morning. She should be asleep, dreaming whatever dreams pregnant women have about futures I’ll never understand.
