worst way, but all the same, I can’t help but want to step closer and challenge him. I want to see how he’ll treat insubordination. How he’ll punish me for breaking his rules.
But I’m not brave enough for that. Not yet.
I stay exactly where I am, nodding obediently. There may be another time for this, but right now, I just want to sleep. I want to forget all of this and start tomorrow refreshed and rested.
The first day of the rest of my life—whatever that will look like.
“If there are no other questions,” Matvei says, “you should turn in for the night. Get some sleep. You’ll need it. He’ll wear you out.”
“And you?” I blurt.
He seems taken aback. “What about me?”
“Will you wear me out as well?” I don’t know where the question comes from, and I regret it as soon as it slips from my mouth.
Matvei smiles darkly, but all he says is, “Go to bed.”
Then, he leaves me standing in the hallway, trying to decide whether I want more to chase after him or make a break for it and run for help.
After a night of hardly any sleep and way too many fevered, half-remembered dreams, my morning starts at 5:30 a.m. It’s much earlier than I would’ve expected to wake up to take care of Nikolas, but the member of Matvei’s staff who wakes me up insists that I’ll need the time.
After I shower and brush my hair, I hear footsteps running up and down the hall. A tiny voice follows, calling out for Matvei.
I open my door and chase after Nikolas, and the day begins in earnest.
I try not to let the lack of organization get to me much. After all, this is what I’m here for. I can’t complain, not yet. I just have to deal with Nikolas and his non-schedule. Still, I make note to myself to try and introduce some structure into the boy’s life when I get a chance.
At breakfast, I finally convince Nikolas to eat when I put down a plate of blueberry pancakes. One of the gardeners seems surprised to see me in the house, and after introducing himself as Andrew, he says, “Matvei didn’t warn us you’d be here. I thought we had a beautiful home intruder on our hands.”
I blush and roll my eyes. “I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you. Is he around at all? I need to talk to him about some things.”
“No,” Andrew says. “He left earlier this morning. Didn’t say where he was going. I didn’t ask either, since I like my job.”
I give a forced laugh and wave goodbye when Andrew heads out to finish work. As I feed Nikolas his pancakes, I think back on my own childhood. He and I are getting along as well as I could’ve possibly expected, but I remember wistfully about what it was like to make friends so easily.
Truth be told, I haven’t made any new friends in a long time. I don’t have many friends at all, actually. Pretty much just Cassie, who grew up in the apartment next door, and ever since she moved across the country, all I ever get to do is talk to her on the phone.
With his mouth full of food, Nikolas looks up at me and asks, “Are Mommy and Daddy coming back today?”
I freeze. A couple hours in and I’m already up against a thorny issue that I have no idea how to resolve. Fan-freaking-tastic. “I … I don’t know, buddy,” I say, running my hand through his hair.
“That’s what everyone says,” he mutters. His eyes grow wet with tears, but he makes a fist and wipes them away.
I know I shouldn’t, but I want to press deeper and figure out where they might be or even just who they were. Is he a hostage? A prisoner? Something sicker and more twisted? My mind won’t even go there. Surely even someone like Matvei has to draw the line somewhere, right?
Still, I drop the subject. Nikolas is scared and lonely. He’s traumatized by whatever happened before I arrived, and if I ask for more information, something tells me it’ll only hurt him. The last thing I want is to hurt a sweet boy like him.
As if reading my mind somehow, my phone buzzes and I grab it. The number isn’t saved in my phone, but I know who it’s from. Matvei.
Keep your eyes on Nikolas today.
I feel a cold chill rattle through me. For the billionth time since I