tell,” he interjected before the man could interrupt him. “Mine is the same way.”
Konstantin cleared his throat and shifted on his feet as his gaze darted to the door where his sister had disappeared. “Viktoria has reason to be a little different from everyone else. I won’t lie and say she doesn’t have issues—she clearly does. This was … different, though.”
Pav reached for the shirt and jacket he had thrown over a chair earlier before sitting down to let Viktoria work. Slipping the shirt on, and then the jacket, too, he asked, “What was different?”
The man’s curious gaze—no longer sharp and calculating—drifted to Pav again. “She smiled … laughed for you.”
“And?”
“Well, nothing,” Konstantin murmured. “Not if it was left up to her.”
Pavel didn’t understand what in the hell Konstantin was talking about, and he really didn’t have the time to figure it out, either. He had other things to do now. The chambers had been left alone for a good portion of the afternoon, and that made him anxious. He wasn’t used to leaving the cells and men inside them alone for so long. He needed to get back down there and make sure everything was as it needed to be.
He couldn’t sit here and discuss a woman he would probably never see again. Even if that was the last thing he currently wanted—he felt a great urge to follow Viktoria; to ask more about her … to know anything about her at all.
Konstantin made a noise under his breath and drew Pav’s attention to him again. “Over the next week, I expect you to leave the Compound occasionally. The stock room where you gather the things you need for downstairs will slowly be left empty—you’ll need to handle it, now. I will provide you with accounts to use. Money.”
Pav scowled. “Hmm.”
“These are normal things, Pav.”
Maybe.
Not to him, though.
“And then next week,” Konstantin continued, “there is a party for my brother and his wife. A baby shower. I expect you to be there. You don’t have to engage, but I want you seen. Bring a gift.”
Pav’s brow dipped. “A gift?”
“For the baby.”
“What do babies need?”
Konstantin looked his way again—amusement and sadness danced in the man’s eyes. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”
That was debatable.
And not one he wanted to have.
“All right,” he muttered.
“Good. This is a new start for you, Pav. Do not waste it.”
5.
STEPPING OUT of the white Camaro, Viktoria eyed the bustling parking lot of the grocery store, and tried to convince herself this was, in fact, a good idea. She had practically hidden herself away in her house for a week, and she was starting to run out of food.
So was her life lately.
She would force herself to hide away from the rest of the world until she no longer had a choice and was forced to go out into the real world. You know, where there was things, people, and other uncomfortable situations that she really didn’t want to deal with. Things that caused her anxiety to spike high, and her fear to be a constant buzz in the back of her mind.
She didn’t want to be here, but she also needed to eat. So, it didn’t seem like she had a choice but to go out and get food. Oh, sure, she could order whatever she needed online, and have it shipped direct to her doorstep, but that seemed like a problem waiting to happen, too.
That meant some stranger was going to come to her house, when she was likely going to be alone, and she was going to at least have to let them into her entrance hallway to get the bags. Which meant she would be alone in her house with a stranger, unable to really do anything, and …
Oh, God.
Just the idea was enough to make her puke. Already, her hands were shaking, and she could taste the bile on the back of her tongue. Her throat tightened; the slice of cold fear slipped down her spine, and she found it all too hard to drag in a proper breath.
Anxiety was a bitch.
Fear?
That was even worse.
Enough of that, she told herself. She wasn’t stupid, and she knew exactly how her anxiety worked. It was a fucking monster. If she allowed herself to feed into the panic and fear, it would only grow until it was out of control and she was back in her car, sobbing behind the wheel because she couldn’t get the thoughts of out of her head.
Viktoria was a