where my heart feels, fulfilled?
“That’s beautiful,” I say.
She nods her head, her gaze shifting behind me, no doubt looking at her man. “More than you could ever know,” she exhales. “He’s waiting for you out back. Straight ahead, he’s out there.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“Stephanie?” she calls out after I take a couple of steps past her.
Stopping, I turn around to look back at her. Her face softens as she looks at me. “Whatever it is, following your heart will always be worth it in the end, no matter the road.”
“I did that once,” I whisper.
“And it was worth it, was it not?”
Nodding, I lick my bottom lip. “It was.”
“Then do it a second time. Sometimes we get to the point where our desires change. That’s okay, to go back to where you know you belong, after you’ve gone in a completely different direction.”
It’s as if she knows everything I’m thinking. Nodding my head, my eyes water, but I swallow down the tears, not allowing them to fall down my cheeks. I don’t verbally respond to her words, instead I hold her gaze, then turn and make my way toward the double glass doors that take me out back.
Kirill is standing with his back to me, his body facing his gorgeous view. He doesn’t say anything and I think that he hasn’t heard my approach, but he finally speaks without turning around.
“You met my Tati?”
“I didn’t get her name,” I admit.
He chuckles. “She knows that you’re business, probably didn’t give it on purpose, but she got your name, no?”
“She did,” I say with a small laugh of my own.
He hums. “She’s a good wife. A great partner,” he murmurs.
“You have a proposition for me?” I ask.
He clears his throat as I approach and stand at his side, one step back. He turns his head, then the rest of his body to face me.
“Sebastian is his own man. Why have you chosen to take on his debts, just for the videos? For your career?”
“At first, yes.”
“You have no love for him?”
I think about Sebastian, about how he tried to leave me at the restaurant, about how he sold photos of my bare breasts to the paparazzi. Then, I think about how he threatened to sell the video to the media as well, a video that I didn’t even know existed.
“I don’t think I ever did have love for him,” I admit. “He was an actor, it was easy.”
“The man you love is not an actor?”
Laughing softly, I think about Ford on a movie set, he would be an absolute mess. “No, he’s not. He’s so far from an actor it’s not even funny. He’s a cattle rancher.”
Kirill’s brows lift to the sky, obviously surprised by Ford’s career. “We were engaged to be married once,” I say, apparently deciding to give him my entire life story. “I ran from him and came out here to follow my dream.”
“He waited for you?”
Shaking my head, I turn to look out at the beautiful City of Angels below. “No, but yes. We never found anyone else. Neither of us. We reconnected a few weeks ago and it was wonderful.”
“But Sebastian called you.”
“Yeah, it’s for the better. Ford wouldn’t like this life.”
“Do you like this life?” he asks.
Flicking my gaze back to meet his, I shake my head. “Not really, not anymore.”
“That is your answer then, krasavitsa. Go to him, be where you’re happy.”
“I don’t want to see Sebastian hurt. I don’t like him, but I don’t wish bad things on him.”
Kirill’s eyes never leave mine, and they express nothing to me as he stares at me. “I cannot promise you anything. All I can say is that dead men do not pay their debts. So, rest assured, he will not die if I have anything to say about it.”
“Can you tell me what will happen?” I ask.
His lips twitch into a small smile. “I cannot. Just know, you have my protection, nothing will happen to you.”
“If I don’t help him, he’s going to sell the videos of me,” I whisper.
Kirill lets out a loud bark of laughter. “I’ve destroyed them. The footage you speak of no longer exists. Not only have I destroyed the copies he held, I also destroyed the originals. If one was to ever resurface, he understands that he will answer to me.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
He lifts his hand, reaching out he cups my cheek. Goosebumps break out over my entire body from his surprisingly warm touch. “Because, krasavitsa. No