Page 103 of Alik

He was there to hurt me.

I let out a whine as my heart expands until it ruptures, and I break into little pieces on the floor. My chest physically aches. My mouth dries. My legs feel unbearably heavy.

I can’t be here.

“Olive,” Alik gently says, his voice near. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

When his hand cups my knee, I jerk away from him, my eyes flying open. “Don’t touch me.”

He flinches like I’ve slapped him and pulls his hand away. His eyes flicker like he’s searching for the right words to say, but there are no right words. Only truth. And I’m no longer too blind to see it.

“Please,” I rasp out, pressing myself against the bottom cabinet to get as far away from him as possible. “Please just go away.”

He stares at me a moment before his eyes lower in defeat and he stands. He turns to the door, but before walking away, he looks at my feet. “I would never hurt you, Olive.”

He drags the body away from the entrance and stuffs it into the utility closet before he leaves me cowering like a frightened animal in his kitchen, the door softly clicking shut behind him. I don’t know if I’m truly frightened or if I’m just heartbroken, but I know one thing for certain.

I can’t stay here.

25

ALIK

The look on her face hurts the worst.

My feet dangle off the dock at the lake house, a mere inch above water that reflects the moonlight. Although I sit in silence, without even insects that have disappeared for the winter to keep me company, my head is loud with Olive’s voice.

Don’t touch me.

As if I’d burned her. Her fearful eyes reflecting my image back to me was the only indicator that she wasn’t in fact, staring at a monster.

I lost her. In an instant, I lost her.

I should’ve told her the truth when we were on this deck last night. Maybe then she would understand, she’d have allowed me to explain.

I am not a good man. I believe I’ve said that to her more than once. At one time, it was my mission to hurt her. Mydutyto hurt her. I am a soldier for the Bratva, a weapon, a tool. Call me whatever you want, it all means the same. I was loyal to my orders, to my Pakhan.

Now… I’ll kill them all if it means keeping her safe.

How could she not know? How could she not see that anything I’ve done in the past isn’t who I am now?

I could never hurt her.

I close my eyes and run my thumb and forefinger across my lids, stress aging me ten years. Footsteps sound on the dock, but I don’t turn around. I already sent Fox away. If it’s another brother here to kill me, he can have his shot.

“You holding down the fort?”

A sigh rushes past my lips as I lower my hand from my face.

Roman.

He comes up beside me and sits, tilting his head toward the night sky. “Jesus, that’s a lot of stars.”

“What do you want, Roman?”

In my periphery, I see Roman turn his head to me, but I don’t meet his eyes. I stare at a ripple in the black water and watch the moonlight shimmer off it.

“Sergey left me a voicemail claiming he found the DEA Princess’s things at this address. Now he isn’t calling me back.”

---