Page 118 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

This can’t be happening.

Not again.

Not to her.

For the first time since Esme has come into my life, I see Marisha’s face clearly. But it’s not an image I welcome.

It’s the image that’s haunted my nightmares for far too long.

In this memory, Marisha is lying on her back in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes are open, but she stares unseeing at the ceiling above her. Mouth parted, frozen in the middle of forming unspoken words that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I failed Marisha.

But I won’t fail Esme.

I slam open her door and rush into the room with my gun at the ready, looking around for the intruders.

I freeze when I realize there are none. No one else in the room but Esme.

But she is thrashing around wildly in her bed, still screaming at the top of her lungs, her face locked up in fear.

Her eyes are closed, though.

She’s having night terrors, I realize, as I click the safety on my gun and set it down on a table by the door.

I move forward. Esme continues to writhe on bed as if she’s possessed.

She’s wearing a soft cotton slip that’s drenched with sweat. Her hands scrabble to grip at the sheets.

“No!” she screams. “Please… no, no…”

When I touch her, she bolts upright and starts fighting against me as though I’m her attacker. I grip her tightly, trying to get her to stop thrashing around.

“Esme,” I say calmly. “Esme, calm down. You’re having a nightmare. It’s just a nightmare.”

“No, please… let me go.”

“Esme!”

Her eyes fly open and find mine, but I can see by the glassiness in her gaze that she’s still not fully awake or fully aware.

“I’m scared,” she gasps, looking right at me.

“I know,” I tell her. “But you don’t have to be. I’m here.”

She squints. “I know you,” she mumbles. “I… Do I know you?”

She’s not herself at the moment, so I don’t try and explain anything to her. I just pull her to me.

She comes willingly. Her arms go around my neck and she presses into me like a child seeking comfort.

“Esme,vse budet horosho,” I whisper into her ear. “Ya zdes. Ya zdes. Ya zdes.”

Everything is going to be okay.

I am here.

I am here.

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