Page 46 of Beast

I chuckled, thinking we must be talking about different Ivans.

“Ivan Volkov?”

He nodded. “The same one.”

Wow, sometimes I think that nothing can surprise me, then something like that does.

He put his hands on my shoulders and said, “Dorogoy, don’t go too far.”

He was trying to smile and act like he wasn’t concerned, and failing miserably.

I craned my head up higher to try and reach his six-foot-two-inch frame, which was hard for me, unless I stood on a step or two above him.

“Here.” He pressed his lips against mine, stopping me from straining my neck.

As he pulled away, I smiled, but I was worried at the same time. I had to go out by myself, so I simply nodded to him as I left the room.

Tomas was right, I shouldn’t go too far, because as much as I was trying to act like a big girl and all that, I was scared. Frightened ever since he mentioned my dad. I’d lied to Tomas, but I knew if I told him the truth, he wouldn’t forgive himself for turning to my dad, and he wouldn’t forgive me for lying.

And for some reason, that bothered me more than anything ever had before. Funny. I had never cared what Tomas thought of me. Now, I wanted more than anything to please him and see him happy.

I put on my sandals and then headed through the door. I ran down the stairs and then, before I knew it, the sand started to run through my sandals. Usually, I would take them off as soon as I hit the stairs, but this time, my idea wasn’t to head to the beach but through the woods at the back. It didn’t take long for me to get tired from walking before I found myself drifting from the beach and into the woods. I didn’t want to go this far from the house, but the memories and thoughts I was fighting so hard made me feel restless and unable to make sense of anything.

“My baby girl is leaving me. Soon she’ll be in America with those wolves.” Dad smiled as he walked into his office with me trailing behind him.

I stood coldly by the door. I’d hoped not to see him. I’d hoped he wouldn’t turn up at my uncle’s funeral. But he did, and it made me hate him even more.

“Anywhere to be as far away from you as possible. The sight of you makes me sick.”

“Printsessa, why do you talk to me like that?”

I moved closer to him. There was so much hate and anger inside of me. I hated my uncle for staying, for knowing that his big brother could kill him, and for allowing him to do it.

“Because you killed the one man I ever loved! You put him in his grave and then you come to his funeral with your crocodile tears. Acting as if you’re sad that he’s dead. I didn’t want him dead. I wanted it to be you!”

With my last word, he struck me. We moved closer with every word and then he lashed out at me.

I held on to my cheek and asked the question that I regretted from the moment the words left my lips.

“Was that how you killed him? Hit him? Tortured him? Just like you’re about to do me?”

“Shhh, they can hear you out there!” Mom warned as she came into Dad’s office and closed the door. I cut my eyes to her, ignoring her words, as I wanted him to answer.

“I took my gun. This gun in my hand, and I did this…”

He undid the safety and pointed it to the temple of my head. Our eyes were locked, and I could see he wanted to do the same to me as he did to his brother.

“Vladimir, what are you doing? What are you saying?” Mom asked as she pulled me away from his gun. My eyes were closed, as I thought he was about to kill me. I could see it in the way he looked at me; the idea of his little girl no longer thinking he was king was probably worth removing me from the world. He wanted his girl back, but as I tugged away from Mom and left them both standing there, I turned and headed to the door with tears streaming from my eyes. I moved swiftly, partly out of fear and shock about the trail of events.

This time he pretended his hand was a pistol. It was a warning to me, and the last time I’d see him.

I knew the next time I did, no more would he be using his hand to pretend to kill me.

Tomas had told me about obeying his dad and having to do everything he said to survive. I only had one bad encounter with Dad brought on by not being his perfect little girl and following his rules. I’d turned a blind eye to any hint of murder or the type of person he had been until then. No more could I do it when Uncle Maxim died, though.

I had to go back to the house and confess it all to Tomas, but I was too tired and I sat down and rested for a bit. He had been good to me, he didn’t have to tell me about my dad, especially when he’d told me about the beatings and tortures he’d faced at the hands of his father. If we did have a future together, then it needed to be built on honesty.

The sound of crunching leaves interrupted my thoughts. There was only one person who had footsteps and could be trudging through the woods the way he was, and that was Tomas.

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