Chapter Six
"Screw you, Anton Chekhov"
"she is water. soft enough to offer
life, tough enough to drown it away,"
~ rupi kaur
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My foot was tapping aggressively against the hardwood floor as I sat on one of the two beige armchairs in the drawing room.
Across from me was a fireplace, with bookshelves lining up on the same wall. There was a window on my right, which overlooked the side of the house, and on my left was the exit. I'd been sitting here for a solid two hours, gripping the book in my hand.
After grabbing a random novel in the two-floor library, I came here and hoped this could ease the boredom. But reading, it really wasn't for me.
I envied every single human being who was able to sit in one place and read. I couldn't do it, and now I was glaring at the words on page five.
Screw you, Anton Chekhov, and your Seagull.
"There you are," a soft voice sighed as they entered the well-lit room.
Grateful for the distraction, I closed the book a little too harshly before twisting on the seat, instantly grinning when I saw Gala taking small steps into the room.
I saw her nervously glancing at Daemon, who I knew was standing behind me. He luckily knew when to keep quiet, because ever since our talk—or argument, I should say—the day of papa's dinner, he hadn't said much to me.
It's been a week since, and now it was the first Sunday of December. With the thick beige curtains open, it allowed me to look at the snow on the ground, which fell yesterday.
"I didn't know you'd be back this week," I commented with a smile as I dropped the book on the circular table next to me.
She moved a few more steps closer just as I stood. Before I could think much of it, I reached out and pulled her into a hug, right in front of the fireplace.
"It was a surprise," she chuckled lightly into my neck before wrapping her arms around me. I caught a whiff of the sea, which Gala always happened to smell like.
Because her nearly black, curly hair was full of volume, some of her strands made its way to my mouth, and I quickly pushed my head back, chuckling.
"A surprise for who?" I teased when we finally separated, but she was still close enough for me to look over her features.
Her honey skin seemed to be glowing in the room, and despite her curly bangs hovering over her wide, chestnut eyes, she still looked gorgeous. Especially with the darkness underneath her eyes, and her equally dark freckles.
"For you. Papa. Rolie," she began listing off with a nervous smile. "You seem better."
I was dying inside. "I'm allowed to get out of my room now," I offered teasingly before I nudged my head to the beige armchairs. "Please sit with me. Otherwise I'll cause problems for my family."
"We wouldn't want that," she joked before taking the empty seat closest to the window. While she was crossing her legs, I sat back in my seat and groaned as I stretched.
For a moment, she watched me cautiously before her gaze slowly slid to the book on the small table between us.
A silent snort, followed by a smirk. "Lina... what are you doing?"
"I'm bored," I deadpanned before glaring at the book. "If you have any ideas of what I could do to pass the time, that'd be great."
"Well, I could offer you not read books older than your dad. Or hell, your grandfather," she joked as she dropped her elbow on the armrest. "I like fantasy, but romance might be up your alley."
To that, I laughed dryly. "Romance is dead to me. Any other options?" I tried hard not to peer over my shoulder when I felt some of the hair on my neck stand up.
"Mystery. Horror. Action," she shrugged.
The corner of my mouth quirked into a smirk. "I like the way you think, Gala." I shot up to my feet and cocked my head to the exit. "You wanna help me figure out which books are good?"
"Sure," she chuckled, but her cheeks were still flushed with nervousness as she hesitantly glanced to Daemon. "I'm guessing you want horror?"
"And action," I added with a chirp as I lifted Anton Chekhov's book into my arms. "While we walk to the library, I wanna hear all the glory details of your life."
We were already walking through the doorway when she admitted, "My life is boring."
"Entertain me."
With that, Gala smiled before talking about her life back in Puerto Rico, where she lived with her mom, stepdad, and half-brother.
By the time we were standing on the second floor of the library, we were both laughing while she showed videos of her eleven-year-old brother failing at doing flips. But when she scrolled some more and I saw a selfie with a tan guy with curly hair, I demanded answers.
She looked around us nervously, probably not wanting her dad or Rolie to hear before getting into the details about her crush.
At one point, I couldn't stop staring at her phone, wondering if I'd be able to get away with making a phone call. To hear Sydelle's voice, or Luba's.
I wondered if they were okay several times a day, and hoped they at least knew where I was. Every time I asked papa about them, he'd shut me down and end the discussion by saying "they will be dealt with."
That made my anxiety worse, but I forced myself to hide it.
Luckily, I managed to think on the positive side while with Gala, and we ended up sitting in the library for over an hour. For the first time since I came back home, I found myself actually laughing with pleasure.
It was nearing eight o'clock when I heard shuffling behind me, but I ignored it and continued reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. It was a murder mystery, and it wasn't half bad, after I forced myself to sit in one place.
Gala was reading a random book on the same couch as me when I felt Daemon's shadow hover over me.
I didn't look away from the page before muttering, "What do you want from my life?"
Instantly, Gala stiffened and pressed her back harder against the plush, cream sofa before slowly closing her book. She avoided eye contact as she settled the novel on the coffee table in front of us.
"Dinner is starting, Ms. Somov."
I snorted but continued pretending that I was reading. Daemon tended to use my last name around people, and I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he cared about what people thought of him.
My hands gripped the book tighter. "As you can see, I'm reading, robot."
The air in the room started to feel non-existent, so I started to take a deep breath that ended up being a yawn before continuing to read.
It wasn't working.
My neck was tingling when Daemon spoke again, deeper this time. "Your presence is expected, Rose."
"They had dinners without me for three years. I'm sure another day won't hurt their feelings too much."
After that, he snapped his mouth shut. But I swear I could hear his foot tapping twice before he stopped. "Rose—"
"I'm reading," I clenched out as I snapped my head over my shoulder, glare in place.
I sucked in a breath when my eyes instantly landed on the lower half of his body, and quickly arched my neck, so I could meet his gaze. I underestimated how close he got, and felt my cheeks heating up without my consent.
His steel eyes darkened when they met mine. "Don't make me repeat myself." His voice lowered gruffly.
"But you know how much I love it when you do."
His head lowered, but neither of us looked away first. My jaw started to clench, and as I was about to mouth off at him, Gala shuffled closer to me.
"I need to find papa anyways. Let's go," she whispered before lacing her hand in mine, already standing up.
I could feel her shaking, so I was first to move my head, only to frown at Gala. "Is everything okay?" I mumbled, moving upright as well.
She twisted, so her back was to Daemon. It was then I noticed how wide her eyes had gotten, and I almost pulled her into a hug. She really didn't belong here.
With a dejected smile, I ushered her out of the library after I dropped my book next to hers on the table. Daemon waited until we were close to the exit before following, and I wanted to shout in frustration.
But to feel more in control of the situation, I ended up walking with Gala, in search of her father. Daemon tried to pull me in the opposite direction, and I knew he was getting angry, but there wasn't much he could do with Gala around.
At one point, I hid my smirk, satisfied in annoying him.
After ten minutes, we ended up finding Boris in papa's office, doing some work behind the desk. He smiled when he saw Gala, and nodded his head in greeting when he saw me.
With a quick exchange of hellos, I waved goodbye at Gala before closing the door. But just as I turned to leave, I clashed into a hard chest.
Daemon instantly gripped my waist tight, but not hard enough to leave bruises.
I lifted my chin and met his gaze head-on, but I found myself biting back a shiver when I saw how cold and callous he stared at me.
"Why do you persist on not listening?" He demanded, tightening his hold on me once more before letting go. But he didn't step away from me as his eyes slowly narrowed.
A fake smile stretched my lips. "And why do you persist on annoying the shit out of me?"
Shadows filled his gaze. "It's my job."
"Fuck you and your job," I bit out, and without waiting for his response, I circled him and banged my shoulder against his as I started striding down the hall.
He didn't argue or stop me as I made my way to the dining room, I didn't even know how late. But I knew the second I entered the tension-filled room that they were not pleased.
I inhaled and kept my head high as I crossed the rest of the distance between me and my seat. I ignored how Micah was glaring daggers at me as well, as the chair screeched when I pulled it out.
No one spoke as I got myself comfortable, and the second I tucked myself in, the cooks brought out an array of meals.
Micah was still staring at me with hatred, even as a woman slid a bowl of borsch in front of him. I met his gaze head on, and that seemed to annoy him further, because he flattened both of his hands on the table with a clenched jaw.
I slowly brought the spoon to my mouth and kept my attention on him as I did so.
His eyes narrowed and did the same after a few moments, but neither of us peered away from the other.
No one talked. It was as if there was already a ticking bomb at the table, and one wrong move would lead to a catastrophe.
I was halfway through my meal when the catastrophe began.
"Is there a reason why you lack the ability to listen to orders, Roza?" Micah's asked, almost softly, but there was a certain edge to his tone. Like he was about to erupt.
"Is there a reason why you're ordering me around to begin with? I'm your sister, not your employee."
He scoffed and began to curl his hands on top of the table. "My sister? You lost the right to call yourself one when you left your family."
My jaw clenched as my back straightened, but I ignored how my eyes burned as I drilled my gaze into his. "Do you ever do some critical thinking and ask why I left?"
"I don't need to know why. Actions speak louder than words."
"Actions? You really want to talk about actions, Micah?" My voice was raising, but no one said nothing. "Why don't you try staying locked up in a house when everything you loved about it is gone?"
My nose started to become stuffy as I remembered the absence of my twin, and mama. Followed by papa shutting me out, and Vladik abandoning me to cope his own ways: with violence. And for that, he went to Micah—who never looked at me. And Lev... he was just a child.
Those three years after they died were a test of my strength, and Rolie was the only one who noticed my silent pleas.
Micah's next few words ran ice through my veins.
"We were protecting you. And rather than being grateful, you threw a tantrum. Like you always do," he hissed as he stood up, pushing his chair back harshly from the movement. "If it were up to me, we wouldn't have searched for you. We were better off without you."
"Micah," papa hissed before snapping in Russian, "Sit down and be silent."
My older brother didn't move his attention from me, and I didn't miss a flash of pride that crossed his features when he saw my eyes reddening.
He continued. "You ruined our family name. That is the only reason why we got you back. Because your disrespect fucked us all over." Even though his lips were strained, that didn't stop him from smirking, giving me one last punch to the stomach. "You're nothing to us, Roza."
Satisfied with himself, he plopped back to his seat, but didn't push it forward. Everyone else in the room was silent, including Lev, who was just staring at our older brother.
A tear slid down my cheek right then, and I quickly wiped away any trace of it before clearing my throat.
"Wow, Micah," Vladik grumbled for the first time tonight. "That was—"
"No, it's okay," I cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore of my relatives talk. It was my turn to push myself out of my seat as I stood, not looking away from Micah. "I'm sorry I hurt your precious little feelings when I left. Maybe if you had a heart somewhere in that empty chest, and eyes that weren't shittier than mine, things would have been different."
"Too bad you're a cold-hearted bastard who will never understand what it means to be selfless, right?" Another tear slipped out, hating that all I wanted growing up, was his validation. I hated him.
"I'll excuse myself. I know how much my presence clearly infuriates you."
With that, I spun on my heel and strode out of the dining room, but not having a clue of where I wanted to go. But my body clearly did, because after a few minutes, I found myself striding to the back of the house, where the sunroom was.
On the opposite side of me was one of the many entrances to the backyard, and I didn't hesitant to jog to the doors before throwing it open.
The cold air slammed into me for the first time in over a month, and I gasped for the fresh air I didn't know I desperately needed.
Tears continued stinging my eyes as I looked around, noticing how in the distance, the forest was circling the estate, while layers of snow covered the field of grass. The sky was pitch black, and I suddenly felt hopeless.
The sound of several guns turning the safety off made me whirl around. My eyes widened when I saw four of papa's employees, all who were stationed outside, inching closer to me with guns pointed to me.
The closest man was pressing on his ear piece, but still held his gun as he muttered in Russian, not peeling his focus off me.
After a few seconds, he straightened and gripped the gun with his other hand. "Ms. Somov. You're not allowed to be outside."
I couldn't help but scoff, and that must have made him assume I was being defiant, because he tightened his hold on the weapon, eyes narrowing. "Step inside," he demanded, voice cold.
A wave of anger, resentment and despair was slamming into my chest as I took one last glance at the men's threatening stance. I pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth before going back inside from the sunroom, ignoring how cold my feet had gotten from stepping into the snow.
Daemon was idling in the hall, his jaw popping, but I didn't look long enough to see what he was feeling. I slid passed him, and after a few minutes, I was upstairs and striding down the east wing.
When I saw my door coming into view, I started picking up the pace. Even though the camera stopped me from having any privacy, I didn't care at the moment. All I wanted was to be alone, at least long enough so I could think clearly.
I managed to slip passed my door before another angry tear slid out. I forced myself to focus more on my hatred as I shoved my feet out of my slippers before going into my bed, not giving less of a fuck that my feet were dirty from the outside.
The second I threw my blanket over my head, I screwed my eyes shut and imagined myself somewhere better. The silence comforted me, and I fantasied being somewhere in Europe, not having to worry about my family. Not having to constantly stress about whether they actually gave a damn about me.
But the silence quickly disappeared a few moments later, when I heard my bedroom door click open and close quietly before footsteps strode passed the entryway and into my room.
The intruder didn't say anything as they continued to stride to my bedside. But the hairs on my neck tingled, and I hated how I recognized the robot by its damn movements.
After a few more seconds, he stopped by the edge of my bed, his shadow hovering over me. He said nothing at first, just breathing silently.
I felt a weight on my head, and I sucked a breath instantly, only to realize that he was touching me. "Rose," he murmured, his fingers slowly moving around my ear from on top of the blanket before reaching higher.
I knew he was gripping the hem of the blanket. "Don't," I bit out, lacing all my anger and hatred into my voice as I spoke. "Go be a shadow, Daemon. We both know that's what you do best."
For a moment, his hand lingered above my head, and I assumed he'd listen and leave me alone.
But then again, this was Daemon: and he didn't have a listening bone in his body.
Cold air seeped into my skin when he suddenly threw the blanket off my body, his head tilted low as his sober gaze slid all over me.
Annoyance overrode every other emotion as I sat up on my bed, not looking away from Daemon as he continued checking me out.
Hating his eyes on me, I sat on my knees and reached out.
My hand clashed to his cheek, just as the sound of the slap echoed in the room. His head snapped to the side before he slowly moved his burning gaze back to mine.
"This is all your fault," I hissed as my shoulders shook. "I would not have been here if you left me alone."
He stepped forward and leaned in, so his legs were pressed against the mattress. "Only once, Rose. Only once," he spoke steadily, his cold eyes not wavering off mine.
"Don't you have a decent bone in your body? Anything at all?" I hated how I almost sounded pleading, so I quickly scoffed and shook my head before jumping off the bed, wanting distance between us. "Sorry, I forgot. You're not concerned with being nice."
I padded to the bathroom, where I hoped to be rid of him, but that thought was halted when Daemon gripped my wrist from behind.
He spun me around, so I was facing him again, with my back to the camera. I couldn't stop myself from sucking in a breath when I saw there was barely any space between us.
His eyes were blazing with frustration when they met mine. "The camera is on. You really wanna pull something when my family might be watching, Shadow?"
"They're not watching," he drawled, bringing his head lower to mine but not looking away from me. "And your family wouldn't dare try to take you away from me."
My features darkened. "They'll kill you."
"I'll do it first," he deadpanned without falter.
Hearing that made my body heat up, but I shook my head fiercely. "You wouldn't hurt your employer, Shadow. Even you're not stupid."
His foot tapped twice, but he concentrated on me. "I work for myself, Rose. No one owns me."
His words made me clench my jaw a little too tight, and I crossed my arms. "Then why did you bring me into this hellhole? Why are you still here? Is it a little fucking serotonin boost? Seeing me in pain, you asshole?"
I watched Daemon's features cloud as his eyes sobered on me. "Don't make me answer questions you're not ready to hear the answer to, Rose."
"Then leave," I stressed with anguish, my face scrunching up together. "Leave me alone."
I turned my back to him, but he quickly invaded my space again, pressing his chest against my back. "Don't ask me for that either," he told me, his voice lowering as he dropped his head closer to the nape of my neck.
I fixated on the bathroom door across from me as I inhaled sharply, feeling his breath against me. "Or what?"
Before he answered, his rough hand moved to the side of my face, gently caressing his fingers against my soft skin. They paused on the space next to my eye, close to my hairline, where I knew my birthmark was.
"Do you know you have a birthmark next to your eye?" He told me after spent his first night at my studio apartment, months ago.
I closed my eyes unintentionally, and for a moment, I leaned into his touch. Goosebumps scattered over my arms at the thought of the past, but as his hand lowered to the side of my neck, his thumb hovering over my pulse, I shivered.
"I would have to lie to you." He pressed his thumb harder against my pulse before releasing.
I hated him for what he did to me, but I also hated how my body arched against his touch. Like it was starving, and Daemon was the first source of water in ages.
Still, my mouth had a mind of its own. "I want to kick you so hard," I whispered breathlessly, my eyes still closed as his callous fingers carefully slid down my bare arm before slithering around my waist. He held me tighter against his chest as his nose skimmed the curve of my neck.
"I know," he muttered deeply, gripping me tighter.
"Glad to hear your people skills are still at a minimum," I couldn't help but joke.
I felt the corner of his mouth moving against me before his lips flattened. Only to be abruptly turned, so I was again facing Daemon's chest.
He cupped my jaw and tilted my head, so I wouldn't have the choice to avoid his intimidating gaze.
The second my eyes slid to his steel ones, his features darkened before his thumb pulled on my lower lip. He watched the movement before directing his attention back on me.
Something on my face must have reminded him of something, because suddenly, any trace of humour disappeared as his gaze darkened threateningly.
"Your brother will be dealt with eventually," he declared coolly, but there was a certain edge to his tone before he stepped back, giving me a once over. "I'll see you soon, Rose."
Without waiting for my reply, he spun on his heel and strode into the entryway will I stayed in my spot, dumbfounded.
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I'm finishing off Playing
With Fire's cover right now, and
I'm hoping to show the reveal by
tonight!
till then, I hope you lovelies
have a great rest of your week,
and I'll see you Friday xx