Page 110 of Born in Depravity

He took in the sight of Nikolay and me before he winked.

I smiled a little.

Nikolay pulled me out of the house.

I was glad he wasn’t leading me to the party. I didn’t want to see anyone else, but what was more, I didn’t want to see the women.

I wasn’t naive.

I knew they were in the same sad situation I was in, but for some insane reason, I thought I’d lucked out with my bomb, my monster, and my psychopath.

I squinted when we got outside; the bright sun beat down against my skin.

I could feel my shoulders relaxing.

It had been so long since I’d felt the sun, I was getting a little choked up feeling it now.

Nikolay didn’t stop.

He led me to the back of the house. My grip on him tightened, and I tensed a little when I caught sight of three other men, dressed in black.

Nikolay looked down at me.

“It’s okay, princess. Those are my men.”

Right. That shouldn’t make me feel better, but somehow it did.

I nodded but stayed close to him.

Nikolay brought me out to a garden.

I forgot all my apprehension as soon as I caught sight of all the colorful plants. They were mostly cactus and succulents and some sort of leafy plants I didn’t know the name of, and very few flowers, but the ones in this garden were blooming and thriving.

I caught sight of a few vegetables.

It was odd.

I didn’t think the owner of this house was into growing his own food, but it was amazing.

I looked back at Nikolay before I let him go and went exploring on my own. He didn’t stop me, but I felt his eyes on me the whole time.

So beautiful.

My eyes didn’t know where to settle. I wanted to take everything in. I didn’t want to miss out on anything in the limited time I had here, but there was just so much.

I moved from one plant to another.

A brief glance back told me Nikolay had settled on a bench nearby, but he still had his eyes on me.

I wondered if it was because he thought I might try to run away.

I doubted I could even get far. And for some stupid reason, I felt safe to have his eyes on me.

I moved to one of the succulents.

I had a small one back at Father’s house. A birthday gift from Roberto two years ago.

It had been the only thing thriving in my bedroom.

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