Page 71 of Thorns of Lust
“This is where my father died,” he rasped and my eyes flickered around us, almost expecting the ghosts to appear. “His body was never found. He’s buried here somewhere.” His eyes grew distant as he glanced around us, but somehow it seemed the two of us weren’t seeing the same thing. “This is where my future was set.”
I furrowed my brows. “I thought your father was a drunk and mother–” My voice trailed off, not wanting to call her a junkie, but I couldn’t come up with another word.
“Junkie,” he finished for me. I swallowed and nodded. “My adoptive parents. He was a deadbeat drunk and she was a junkie,” he elaborated. “My real father was a good man. He just got involved with the wrong person.”
“Your biological mom?” I rasped.
His green eyes darkened, rage so strong swimming in them that my feet tripped. “They loved each other very much, but someone else claimed her.”
Seemed like a complicated family history. But then we had enough of those ourselves.
“I’m sorry.” It hadn’t been easy for him.
Vasili and Adrian became friends when they were kids, both growing up in Russia, way before I was born. Then when Father expanded into the States, they brought Adrian along. He had been around for as long as I could remember - in one way or another.
“This will be our wedding song,” Adrian changed the subject.
I chuckled softly. “It’s kind of a depressing song.”
Adrian’s face was a blank mask, devoid of emotions. His eyes were a darker green than I’d ever seen them. They almost appeared black. But his strong frame still held me firmly, in his warm arms. Something was off, but I didn’t know what.
“There is blood here,” he said casually as flurries fell all around us. “Do you see red splattered all over the snow, Tatiana?”
My eyes traveled over the white snow, light under the moon. I didn’t see any blood. Just fresh fallen snow like a warm white blanket over the earth.
“A clue, Tatiana,” he gasped. “It’s a clue right where we’re dancing.”
But then I heard it.Bang.
A single gunshot. Red splattered on the white snow, then slowly spread, drenched the snow covered ground with red. Like paint over the white canvas. Adrian lay there, crimson liquid dripping from his mouth.
His eyes clouded over before life extinguished in them, leaving darkness. A terrifying darkness pulled me deeper and deeper into it, suffocating me.
I fought against it. I didn’t want to die. But if I let it take me, I would. I’d be left in its terrifying darkness forever.
I shrieked so loud, my ears popped.
My body shook. My head lolled. Then I startled awake in warm arms. Another man’s arms, strong and protective, embracing me.
“It’s just a dream.” A soft whisper. A strong scent. Konstantin.
He held me in a sitting position, in the middle of the large bed, his palm stroking my sweat-damp hair away from my face.
My shaky fingers covered my mouth and I sobbed. Sobbed for what was and never would be. The dream. That night. Adrian. They were all gone.
Konstantin took my chin between his fingers and brought my face up, his eyes drilling into me.
“What did you dream about?” he asked in a soft voice.Answers.But I didn’t tell him that. I couldn’t trust him. Not yet.
“I can’t remember,” I murmured.
I was still staring up at him, the dream fresh in my mind. I knew what I had to do next.
It was time to visit Russia. The freeze-your-ass country.
* * *
Something smelled delicious.
