Page 121 of Love in the Dark

“Why did you feel she wasn’t taking it seriously?”

“She put on weight.”

I draw back. What thefuckdoes that have to do with anything?

I think of her reticence to eat. The protein bar. The sandwich. All the meals I’ve made her.

She’s slight for her height, I’ve always thought so. She needs to eat, to put on weight, not lose it. Her body must barely have enough energy to sustain itself through a regular day, let alone grueling workouts.

“She’s small,” I say aloud, more of an observation to myself than anything.

“Not small enough.”

I drop to a crouch and crush his murdered jaw in my fist. “Say one more fucking word, I dare you.”

He shakes his head violently, the whites of his eyes bulging. I shove his face away, wiping my now filthy hand on his robe as I stand.

Relief shines in his eyes like he thinks we’re done. I put a foot on his throat and press until he gargles.

I stay there as I rake my brain through the past few months. About a week ago, I’d gone into my bedroom to get my watch and walked in on Nera, freshly out of the shower and on the phone with her mother.

She didn’t seem to hear me come in even though I was hardly quiet. But maybe that’s because she was focused on the chastizing words her mother was leveling at her. I’d been distracted by how good she looked – sitting with wet hair on my bed, wearing my t-shirt – and her mother’s words had filtered into my ears with a ten second delay. She’d sounded exasperated and her tone of voice immediately had my back up.

“...no more than nine hundred calories. It’s the holiday season, you need to be extra careful. We have important holiday events lined up for your father, you want to make sure you look acceptable for once…”

From behind, I’d seen how tight Nera’s back muscles were, how high and close to her ears her shoulders had settled. She brought a hand up and started biting at the skin around her fingernails.

I grabbed the phone and hung up mid-diatribe, much to Nera’s dismay. She’d blanched and gone for the phone but I’d tossed it to the other side of my bed, gotten down on my knees, and distracted her with my tongue.

When we were done and I’d asked Nera what the phone call was about, she’d waved me off and demanded I take her home.

I’d brushed the conversation off as a tense moment between mother and daughter. Now, the words niggled at me.

I was slowly putting more of the pieces of the puzzle together. That picture of Nera that had once been so obscure was getting just a little clearer with every passing day.

As was my need to protect her.

I press down on Kravtsov’s throat, the skin of his face veering to a deep tomato red.

“You’re never getting within five hundred meters of Nera again. Nod if you understand.”

He nods as much as is physically possible with my foot still pinning his throat to the ground.

“You’re going to keep sending your reports to her father like nothing has changed. You’ll give him glowing reviews about her performance, her skill, her dedication. Her weight if you have to,” I say through gritted teeth. “You’ll tell him you’ve never seen an athlete like her and you’ll make sure that he doesn’t suspect a thing. Still with me?”

He nods again.

“Good.” I crouch back down, pressing the bat threateningly against his temple now. “If I find out that her father knows the truth. If I find out that you’ve told anyone about this little one on one we’ve had. If, God forbid, I find out that you’ve contacted Nera in any way, and for your sake Ireallyhope I never do,” I say with a demented smile. “This whole night will seem like an amuse bouche compared to the full meal of pain I will ram down your throat when I come back for you.” I tap the bat cruelly against his broken femur, letting him howl for long seconds before I continue. “I will eviscerate you limb from limb until you’re begging me for death, but I won’t let you die. I'll sow the pieces of you back together just enough to drop you off alive at the nearest hospital where you’ll spend the rest of your long, natural life eating out of a tube and pissing into a bag. I’ll make sure of it, Valeriy Kravtsov. I’ll pay you visits so you never forget about me and my little friend,” I say, bouncing the bat menacingly in my palm.

He weeps openly, the smell of piss tart in the air as fear makes him soil himself.

I stand, finally done. I take another drink before hurling the bottle onto the floor of his house behind him.

“Have a shitty night, Val. Look over your shoulder once in a while, I’ll be watching.”

I take a step away before pausing and looking back down at him, crumpled and broken on the ground.

“Oh, what the hell. One for the road.”

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