where she was.
Viktoria felt like she had now been walking around the Compound aimlessly for at least twenty minutes—a good estimation. She could absolutely call her brother, and have Konstantin come find her, but she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. Knowing him, he would likely take great enjoyment from the fact she had managed to get lost and needed him to come find her.
He probably already knew she was lost.
She glanced up and saw a camera pointed in her direction at the end of the hallway in the right corner. A blinking red light told her the thing was live and watching every movement that happened in the hallway. No doubt, her brother was watching those cameras, and just waiting for her to call him for help.
Nope.
She would figure this out on her own.
Viktoria stuck her middle finger up to the camera as she passed it by. Just in case her brother was watching her and getting a kick out of her predicament as she tried helplessly to find the floor where his office was situated. Then he could know how she was feeling before they finally came face to face.
She was starting to regret bringing her large kit instead of the smaller kit that she usually used to travel with when she was tattooing. She’d taken some time off just because her mind was everywhere but tattooing, but even when she was working regularly, she typically traveled with the smaller kit.
It was lighter and easier to unpack or clean up. The larger kit was making her arm tired as she navigated the maze of hallways.
She came around a corner at the end of the hallway and ran right into someone coming out of an opened door.
No, not someone.
Not just anyone.
A man.
A strange man.
Viktoria’s kit fell from her hand and crashed to the floor. Her first instinct was to immediately step back from the man, and put as much distance as she could between him and her. In her mind, her thoughts raced. They screamed at her to relax, calm down … don’t let him see you’re scared; don’t panic, Vik.
She hadn’t even looked at his face yet. Not that she needed to—just the sight of his large form, fit, tall, and lean, and the smell of his musky, spicy scent was enough to make her nervous. Her gaze drifted a little higher, traveling over the expanse of the black T-shirt that stretched across a broad, muscular chest, and then over his lower throat dusted with dark hair.
“Hello,” he greeted.
Viktoria’s gaze snapped up all at once to find his face. His eyes—a dark ocher color, flecked with brown and gold—met hers, and she sucked in a sharp breath that ached in her lungs. He really did have a beautiful face, with his strong jaw and sharp cheekbones. The strong lines of his face were only accentuated by the intense coldness in his stare and the way his lips seemed to be pulled into a permanent line.
No smile.
No smirk.
Nothing.
His dark hair was a little long on the top, but messy, like he’d been running his fingers through it. A small scar through his left eyebrow only added to the straightness of his brow line, giving him an even more disinterested expression.
Yeah, beautiful.
And fucking terrifying.
“Do you not speak?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure what to make of his tone—it was both flat, and yet dark. Like he was accustomed to speaking in low tones, but it was just husky enough to suggest he could get loud if he needed or wanted to.
Viktoria swallowed hard, determined not to show the fact that being alone with this strange man in a hallway put a fear into her very bones that she would never be able to get out. “I can talk, thank you.”
Yeah, she meant for that to come out as sharp as it did.
He only arched a brow at her. “Are you lost?”
“No.”
His gaze drifted over her shoulder, and she swore the edges of his lips threatened to lift into some form of a smile, but he held back. She had the strangest thought, then—what would he looked like if he did smile?
Then, his dark eyes came back to her.
“You are lost.”
Viktoria balled her fists at her sides, but if he noticed it, the man didn’t say. “So, what if I am?”
“What are you looking for?”
“Who,” she corrected. “Konstantin.”
Immediately, and without questioning her further, the man nodded. “Da, this way.”
He turned and gestured with one hand for her to follow. She didn’t