CHAPTER 16
Naomi
I woke feeling empty for the first time since Gavril had kidnapped me. Not even when I’d thought that my life was on the line had I felt like I was missing a piece of me.
All that had changed when Gavril didn’t come to my bed last night. I had stayed up well past midnight, rubbing my stomach and hoping that Gavril would walk through the doors and give me some indication that I still mattered to him.
That he wanted to change.
But he didn’t. The door had stayed closed, and I wasn’t brave enough to go after him. A part of me was afraid of the rejection that might follow if I did.
So, I’d cried myself to sleep, worried about all sorts of things that I couldn’t control: me in Gavril’s life, the child we had made, his businesses, and Gavril’s soul.
I couldn’t do anything about them, but I also couldn’t leave. I was tied to Gavril, whether I approved of his business dealings or not.
After a warm shower, I dressed in a pair of stretchy capris and a T-shirt, leaving my hair down to dry. I doubted that after yesterday Gavril would be asking me to join him anytime soon, but even though I had been confused about what he was trying to accomplish, at least he had allowed me into his life.
His private life. It was a start. I knew if I wanted to stick with Gavril, to try and change him, it was going to take a lot more of him opening up to me. I wasn’t asking for him to spill all his secrets, but I was asking him to let me be part of his life.
Right now, I didn’t feel like I was, and I wasn’t sure if I was hurt or just indifferent to it. My love for Gavril had shifted, and while it should have grown by leaps and bounds when I found out I was pregnant, I felt more like it was starting to fade away.
Of course, if Ilsa was here, she might tell me to suck it up and know that this man was going to be in my life, regardless. I had to take the good with the bad. I was almost positive that there were probably things she couldn’t stand about her husband’s business.
I just doubted that my best friend would put up with what I had seen and Gavril’s nonchalance about how it was relevant to those girls yesterday.
I walked down the stairs, finding Vera waiting for me at the bottom.
“Where is my husband?” I asked her, knowing I couldn’t just ignore him like I had yesterday. I had been childish, and either I had to accept him for who he was or I had to get out of this marriage. Somehow, I doubted he was going to let me get out while I was pregnant.
“The master has left for the day,” Vera replied. “He said to tell you he would be back for dinner.”
Great. Now I would have to wait all day to talk with him. “Thank you, Vera,” I said. “I suppose I will enjoy breakfast by myself then.”
She inclined her head. “It’s waiting for you in the dining room.”
Before I could move, however, there was a knock on the door, followed by someone being slammed against it. I was moving before I realized what I was doing. “Madam, no!” Vera called out as my hand reached for the doorknob.
Ignoring Vera’s cry, I opened the door and skidded back a few steps once I saw who had filled the doorway.
Jon.
He stood in the doorway with Ivan’s fist gripping the front of his shirt. His eyes found me and a slow smile crossed his face, causing my stomach to turn.
“There you are,” he stated, motioning to Ivan. “Care to call him off?”
I couldn’t find my voice. Jon had found me, just like he had in Russia. It didn’t matter whose protection I was under. He was never going to disappear from my life.
“Leave,” I directed him, my voice shaking. “Get the hell out of here.”
He smirked, not even bothered by Ivan’s tight grip on him. “Is that how it’s going to be then? I come to rescue you and you tell me to leave? You know, I think they have a term for that.”
I felt Vera’s presence behind me, but it didn’t give me any strength to deal with him. Of all people, I was terrified of the man before me. Not even years of therapy could make me forget what he had done and how I had felt during that time. It was the sole reason I questioned my feelings for Gavril and whether I had traded one evil for another.
“Get out,” I said again. “And don’t come back.”
If he had found me here, then he knew who I was married to. Who I really was.
And he wasn’t afraid.
The last thought hit me hard, and I swallowed the rising bile in my throat. Jon could bring this entire plan down on Gavril’s head, and Gavril would blame me for it.
“I’m here to rescue you,” Jon was saying, his eyes raping my body as they took note of every curve. My hand rose up to cover my breasts, even though I was clothed. A smirk crept onto his face as his gaze momentarily paused on my cleavage.
I felt a shiver of fear slice through me, knowing exactly what he could do to me. What he had already tried to do to me. What he was doing to me in his mind this very moment.
Even though I was still standing, I could feel the harsh bite of the pavement on my cheek. And for a brief moment I was nineteen again, helplessly lying on the ground as others discussed in lurid detail what they were about to do to me.
“Please,” I begged Ivan. “Make him leave. Please. Please.”
“Get rid of him,” Vera replied, laying a hand on my shaking shoulder. “Now.”
“I will be back!” Jon called out as Ivan and another guard forced him away from the open door. “For you and your child! I’ll save you!”
He knew. My knees buckled then and Vera caught me before I fell to the foyer floor, lowering me to the floor as she shouted orders to the others that had gathered.
“Please don’t let him,” I gasped, grabbing her arm. “Please don’t let him take me! Please don’t let him take my baby! Please don’t let him touch me! Please, oh God, please!”
“Shh, now,” she said in a soothing voice, her brow marked with worry. “He won’t get within ten feet of you again, Sveta. I swear it.”
I didn’t even care if she called me by the dead girl’s name. All I wanted to do was forget that I had ever known that horrible, evil man.
He knew I was pregnant. I didn’t even want to think about how he knew, but it worried me what he might do if he ever got his hands on me.
“I need to tell Gavril,” I gasped, fighting against Vera’s comforting hold. “He needs to know.”
“We will tell him,” she offered as I struggled to get to my feet, several of the maids coming forward to help me.
I whirled on her, fighting back the tears.
“No. I need to tell him!” I wasn’t about to let anyone else tell Gavril about Jon. He needed to hear from me and me alone about the danger we could be in now that Jon knew I was here.
She looked at me, her jaw clenched. “You cannot. You aren’t allowed out of the house, and we aren’t to disturb the master.”
I cut her off by turning toward the door, desperate to get to Gavril. I didn’t care what he did to me, but I wasn’t about to let Jon tear down what Gavril had been working on. Whatever he had done to me, whatever I had witnessed from him, didn’t matter. I knew what Gavril needed to accomplish, and I wasn’t about to let my past interfere with that.