Page 31 of Thorns of Lust
“My hair will fall out,” I grumbled. “And it will be all Sasha’s fault.”
The ice banged angrily against the windows, matching my own frustration. I pressed my hand against the cold glass door. It was then that I spotted Papa’s car approaching. It sped down the road towards the house, like the devil was on its heel, until it came to a stop.
I began to pound the window. Papa exited the car, but I didn’t pay him much mind. Papa didn’t like me; he always frowned when he looked at me. When I saw a familiar tall figure with broad shoulders towering even over Papa, I banged the glass harder.
Vasili’s head turned slowly my way and our eyes met.
I grinned, jumping up and down from excitement. He gave me that warm smile he reserved only for me. Well, Sasha too but mostly me because Sasha was naughty and a troublemaker. Those were Vasili’s words, not mine.
Jumping off the windowsill, I rushed through the room and out into the hallway, just in time to see Papa and Vasili enter.
“Vasili,” I squealed as I ran to him and threw myself into his arms. Papa headed for his office, never stopping to greet me. I didn’t pay him any attention either. It was hard to think of him as my papa when Vasili and Sasha did everything for me. “Where have you been for so long, Vasili? I missed you.”
My oldest brother effortlessly lifted me up onto his big shoulders. “You just saw me this morning,” he teased.
“You left before you did my hair,” I scolded him.
“Seems you managed,” he remarked. “I like your pigtails.”
“Sasha did them.” Holding on to Vasili’s hair with one hand, I reached for my scalp again. “They hurt my head.”
“He needs to remember you’re a girl.” He turned around and it was then that I spotted him. The tall, dark stranger with green eyes as fresh spring grass. “Tatiana, this is my friend, Adrian.”
I stared at the tall boy. Maybe a man, I didn’t know. Adrian. I’d heard his name mentioned a lot, but I’d never met him. Papa trusted him, but Vasili didn’t like to bring anyone around me. Just family and guards that had been around since he was a boy. And he refused to leave me alone with them too.
“Hey, pipsqueak,” Adrian greeted me.
Instantly I straightened up. “I’m not a pipsqueak!” I retorted undignified. “I’m Tatiana Nikolaev.”
He chuckled. “You don’t say.”
I shot him a glare, but before I could say anything else, Vasili interrupted. “Sister, you’re gripping my hair so tight, you’re going to pull my hair out. It hurts my scalp.”
“Now you know how it feels when Sasha does my hair,” I snapped.
A heartbeat of silence and the hallway erupted with their laughter.
Since that day, Adrian had always been around. But not even he was allowed to stay alone with me. Not for a very long time. Even when Adrian and I became an item, Vasili wasn’t thrilled. However, he finally let me make my own choice.
Could it be that there was more to Vasili’s objection? Was Adrian’s job putting him on some kind of front line?
Pressing my hand to my forehead, I searched my memories for anything he might have said. For any clues that he was in trouble. Yet, nothing came. Absolutely nothing. Adrian did a good job of keeping his work separate from our personal lives.
Somehow our personal life became a dark room without windows. Nobody knew that my relationship with Adrian slowly deteriorated. At least I didn’t think so.
My memory flickered back to the day of the accident. Right before we left the party, I caught Vasili and Adrian arguing. Maybe my brothers knew our marriage was in trouble.
“It’s bullshit,” Vasili hissed, his broad back turned to me. “How in the fuck do you accidentally record that?”
Alexei and Sasha kept their gazes on Adrian. “Where are the documents?” Alexei asked in a cold voice.
“Better come up with them, motherfucker,” Sasha grunted. “Today.”
Sasha had to stop going around calling everyone motherfuckers.
Click. Click. Click. My heels clicked against the floor as I approached them. I could tell the moment they all realized I was within earshot because talk ceased. Silence followed.
Maybe I was the only blind one. Everyone knew something or everything while I walked around oblivious.
