Page 66 of Shâhzâdeh

I accepted his hand as he helped me into the back of the SUV. “I know, I didn’t want you to leave him unprotected.”

Shoaib looked surprised at how honest I’d been and I wasn’t sure why. “Your honesty brings gladness to my heart. I vould elaborate but I vill need to do so vhen zhe time is right. Let’s get you home.”

I sat up in a cold sweat.

Looking around, I could tell, even though I was groggy, that my dreams hadn’t woken me. The issue with Patrick hadn’t triggered my memories and I’d been enjoying my dream. I’d been smiling, enjoying dinner with Xerxes and his cousin and wife. It was almost like I was living in a different timeline of the night that had gone so badly. Something had snatched me away from the beautiful scene with them and back into reality.

There was a muffling noise coming from the front of my apartment.

The fuck was that?

I threw the sheet off of me, easing out of the bed, keeping my eyes trained on the door to my room. Out of habit, I always kept it locked and now I felt as though that was my saving grace to whatever was on the other side of the door. I fumbled around on my nightstand for the gun I kept there, clutching it in my hand as it shook.

You’re fine. It’s just random noises. Stop tripping.

I swallowed deeply trying to keep the nerves down but they were bubbling in my stomach like a cauldron over a fire. I thanked God for the thick carpet that covered the floor of my room and tried to move soundlessly toward the door. When I reached it, I pressed my ear to it and waited to hear something else.

I waited and wondered if I’d imagined it all when I heard that muffled sound again. I didn’t want to be like the crazy white girl just trapped in the room waiting to die, but I also didn’t want to open the door and the killer to be right there. I dropped to my knees to see if I could see feet beneath my door and prayed I wouldn’t be met with the eyes of a madman. There was no one there, but a bright light that wasn’t on when I went to bed was now shining brightly in my living room.

What in the hell?

The gun gave me strength I shouldn’t have had and I slowly opened the door to my bedroom. The air felt heavier as soon as I did. As though the door was keeping out something oppressive, a heavy spirit from my sanctuary. And I’d just unleashed it my haven.

“It is alright, Vanya. It is me.” That voice had me completely thrown off because I didn’t understand how in the hell he got in my apartment.

“Xerxes? What the fuck are you doing in my house!?” I kept the gun at my side and took two steps forward but that weight of something heavy kept me from rushing up the hallway.

“I know it seems like zhis is bad—”

I paused before I reached the front of the hallway because he had to be delusional. “Seems? I should call the police—”

“Do not. I am trying my hardest to protect you but you are not making zhis easy at all. Please, ziba. Trust me. You know I would never harm you. Go back into your room.”

He was right. I did trust him. It didn’t make any sense for him to allow his driver to bring me home instead of taking me somewhere else that he had more access to me. Of course, I didn’t know this man could break into my apartment.

Did you really think a locked door would stop him, though?

“You don’t want me to come out there, but you think that I should stay in this room unaware of what is going on?”

“Yes.”

I peered toward the direction of his voice wondering why it sounded so strained. “How does that make—”

“We discovered somezing too late to prevent zhe start of somezing bad. I am here attempting to keep you safe.” The urgency was clear but the desperation in it was something new.

“What happened?” I hated him feeling this need to constantly intervene on my behalf. The feeling of being too weak drove me to take another step closer.

“If you come out here, I need you to promise you will not overreact.”

His voice was entirely too damn calm and I had to wonder what the hell I was about to agree to. “This sounds impossible.”

“You are stronger zhan you zhink, Vanya. Tap into zhat and zhen come to me.”

My apartment was small, only two bedrooms but I felt as though I could’ve been walking the green mile when I took my first step after I’d paused.

His voice carried further from the living room and I wondered if he was talking into a speaker or if there was a hotline I had to his thoughts. I headed in his direction slowly, keeping all of my weight on the balls of my feet in case I needed to make a quick escape. The t-shirt that I’d worn to bed was long enough for me to grip the hem of it and not flash my goods to whoever was here. Because somehow I knew he wasn’t here alone. My theory was proven correct when I saw Nevaeh’s smiling face at the top of my hall beckoning me closer to her.

“Mrs. Warren?”

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