CATALINA
Nikolay was asleep soundlynext to me in the bed.
He had one strong arm wrapped around me tightly, while I laid in bed, wide awake.
After what happened with Melinda, Nikolay carried me to the room. He gently helped me take my makeup off, repeatedly telling me I didn’t look cheap like Melinda had said.
I could smile at that.
I wasn’t worried about what she’d said. I thought I’d looked beautiful with the makeup Bianca had helped me apply. She’d even showed me how to put some of the other stuff as well.
But Nikolay had been worried Melinda hurt my feelings.
I thought that was sweet.
Afterward, we went to bed, and he fell asleep next to me shortly after.
And all I could do was stare at the ceiling in the dark.
It wasn’t so much that Melinda’s words were keeping me awake.
It was the fact that Gabriel, who had been nothing but kind to me, had kicked her out—because of me.
I didn’t know how Gabriel felt about her, but to have invited her into his home, she must have been important to him … right?
I let out a small sigh, and slowly, so I didn’t wake Nikolay up, pulled his arms away from me and climbed out of bed.
I held my breath when I saw him shift a little in bed, but otherwise, he didn’t wake.
I walked out of the room, leaving the door open a crack. I didn’t plan on staying away for long, but I couldn’t just lie there and think.
I was getting kind of tired of thinking in that room.
I didn’t know the plan or when we would leave Gabriel’s house. The men told me nothing, and I wondered if a part of that was because they didn’t trust me.
Frowning a little at the thought, I crept down the stairs in the dark house. This reminded me of the time, years ago when I had woken up in the middle of the night and tried to find the courage to go down the dark staircase by myself.
It was also the night I witnessed my father murdering my mom in cold blood.
I shivered.
I wasn’t a nine-year-old little girl anymore. I should not be afraid of the dark.
But I felt a slight tingle running up my spine from the sight, even as I walked down the stairs as an adult.
My grip tightened around the banister as my foot touched the ground, and I blindly made my way into the kitchen.
The streetlamp coming in from the garden window shined through the room, and I skimmed my hands around the wall until I found the light switch.
I turned it on and let out a startled gasp when I caught sight of a huge man sitting by the kitchen island, nursing a glass of gold liquid and staring at me with dark eyes.
“I didn’t mean to startle you, princesa. Can’t sleep?”
Gabriel patted the seat of the kitchen stool next to him. I hesitated for a moment, and then slowly, I walked over. I forced myself not to flinch when he stood. But he only pulled out the chair for me. I smiled a little, looking down at the granite pattern of the island in front of me as Gabriel rummaged around the kitchen.
Seconds later, he came back with a second glass, a bottle containing the gold liquid—which I read on the label was Scotch, and—what surprised me—a notebook and a pen.
I grabbed the pen and looked down at it while he poured me some Scotch.