Page 72 of A Monster Is Coming

“You’re still here,” I said.

“Good morning to you too.”

“I’m sorry.” I noticed a mug already in front of him. “Coffee.”

“I’m already full. There is breakfast waiting for you in the oven.”

“You cook?” I asked.

“Sometimes, but Peter made this for you, and he told me to tell you to eat.”

Peter was trying to take care of me. I thought back to last night—how he walked back into the bedroom and then just wrapped his arms around me, like he didn’t want to let me go. I didn’t want to let him go, not for a second.

Walking into the kitchen, the scent of coffee was too good to resist. One peek in the oven and it looked like baked oatmeal. I got it out of the oven and scooped some into a bowl, before taking a bite. It was delicious with a hint of sweetness, apple, and cinnamon. A favorite of mine.

Loaded up with breakfast and coffee, I was tempted to stay in the kitchen, but I didn’t want Ivan to see me as I attempted to hide.

Stepping back into the main dining room, Ivan was still at the table. He looked so calm, so collected, and underneath that exterior of coolness, a monster was waiting to be unleashed.

“No one knows you were married before, do they?” I asked, knowing I’d already asked this before, but he didn’t give me an answer. I didn’t think he was ever going to give me one.

“No.”

“You don’t want them to know?”

“No.”

I nodded. “What do I do if Peter asks?”

“Simple, you don’t tell him what you know.”

“But that is keeping secrets from my husband.”

Ivan shrugged. “Will he still be your husband for long?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. I took a sip of my coffee and then scooped some of the oatmeal. Like I knew it would be, it was so good. I closed my eyes and savored every bite. “It was good.”

He smiled. “Peter’s a good cook. He learned to fend for himself. He doesn’t like to rely on anyone.”

This made me stop. “He doesn’t?”

“No, relying on anyone else always got people into trouble. You’re aware of some of Peter’s past, I assume?”

“Yes, he told me what his father used to do. How he turned it into a game for him.”

“Peter saw a lot of people he assumed were his brothers or sisters get killed, when in fact, they were just strangers. Lost souls if you will, that fell through the cracks of the system.”

“Is that what you were?” I asked.

Ivan smiled. “No, I wasn’t lost, I was nothing more than trash, tossed out because I wasn’t what my father wanted. I had a stutter.”

“A stutter?”

“Yes.”

“And your father kicked you out?”

“Actually, my father sent me off to be killed, but the guy who was sent to destroy me couldn’t do it. My only problem was a stutter. Probably the biggest mistake that man ever made, because I was young, and I knew in that moment my father was not going to see the last of me, and he didn’t.”

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