Page 12 of Solemn Vow

“I said I didn’t want a ride.” I can be honest enough with myself that the warm car ride was better than waiting for the next bus but telling him that would only inflate his already ballooned ego.

“Maybe you just don’t know how to let people be nice to you.” He takes the key from me when I have trouble getting the second lock undone. It quickly turns for him, and he pushes the door to the apartment open. “See. Nice again.” He hands me the keys back.

I roll my eyes and walk inside, ready to close the door on him, but his hulking form is already through the doorway and inside my living room.

“Come in,” I say sarcastically and shut the door.

He abruptly turns to me.

“You’ve been robbed.” He pulls his gun out from his holster, beneath his leather jacket. “Wait here.” He looks to the tiny kitchen and the small hallway behind it that leads to the bathroom and bedroom.

“I haven’t been robbed. Put that thing away!” I press myself against the door.

He swings his gaze to me, then back to the spot where my television and speakers used to be.

“Where is your TV and the coffee table? And the chest you had in the corner, they’re gone.” He holsters his gun. “You had a computer there.” He points to where the coffee table used to be.

The laptop was nice, but I can do almost everything on my iPad, and I was able to get more money for the laptop.

I unwrap the scarf from around my neck and remove my coat.

“I’ve been decluttering.” I hang up my coat on the peg beside the door and lean my back against it. “It’s fine. Now. Thank you for the ride, but you should go.”

“You decluttered your furniture? And how do you know Jimmy Agosti?” He slides his jacket off his arms and drops it on the recliner.

It’s a small apartment, so the removal of the television does make it look emptier.

I was surprised the couple that moved into the apartment two floors up actually paid a couple hundred dollars for the coffee table. Now it’s just the couch that’s too old to be worth anything, the recliner and the TV tray I use to hold my iPad when I want to stream a movie.

Old memories flicker in my mind. The years after my father died, I was completely on my own. Not that having him around had ever been more than a person in the house, but after he was gone, I had nothing.

Being a minor at the time, I had a choice to make. Get taken to foster care for the year and a half until I turned eighteen or take off on my own before the government got involved.

I split.

And now, staring at my near empty apartment, I realize I’m almost right back where I started.

“Marlena.” Viktor moves to stand in front of me. “You have a lot to tell me.”

I don’t though.

None of this is his problem.

And it’s none of his business.

Even if he acts like he cares. I know the routine. He’ll stick around until he’s bored, or he finds someone else, or he realizes what a shit show I am and then he’ll be gone. And I’ll be alone again, sweeping up my hurt into a dustbin full of past broken hearts.

He’ll pretend to be a pillar of strength, but when the time comes for me to lean on him, he’ll be a ghost and I’ll fall right on my face.

No, thank you.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, Viktor.” I slide my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

I need him to stop looking at me like this. Like he wants to help. Like he’s not going to budge until he’s found out what’s happening. Because the longer his eyes bore into me the harder it will be to keep up the walls.

“You like doing things the hard way, don’t you?” He hooks his hands on his hips. His thumb slides between his belt and his pants.

“Are you going to threaten me with your belt again?” I take a small step toward the kitchen. I might be able to get to my room and lock the door before he catches me.

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