"On by back Is a fleet of crows, they feed on what remains of my sanity".
Vasilisa Smirnov
My father had gone back to his cave.
To hide away from the entire world.
To hide from his responsibilities like a coward.
And left me with this mammoth of a man.
Alexei Voronin was just as cold as he was evil. Ever since I had seen him for the first time, he had hovered by my bedside for three days. Did he not have a life or, worse, a soul? Because tell me why a human being would stay for three days straight without sleeping. What a creep.
Said creep was standing across from me, with his face to the door. This gave me a much-needed view of the large expanse of his back, which spread out like a landscape.
Truth be told, he had a very impressive build—a build that I only saw in movies and, most times, in my imagination. Most guys I knew spent hundreds of hours in the gym trying to achieve a semblance of this kind of build. His face was another hot topic to gossip about.
For someone who moved like a literal predator, his features were too soft. Long, black, silky-looking hair fell across his neck and onto his shoulders, with perfectly curled lashes, a slightly crooked and pointed nose, defined cheekbones, and plump, sturdy lips. If he weren't a veteran, he would have done quite well in the modeling industry. His face card was insane.
Not that any of that mattered to me. God didn't make mistakes, but I was sure He must have given His actions a second thought after seeing what His favorite had morphed into on Earth.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't even get a wink of sleep voluntarily at this hospital. Either they sedated me or gave me drugs that made me fall asleep, but the doctor had advised against it; it was best for me to sleep naturally.
Every single time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing that mask.
My mind kept replaying everything, morphing and twisting the images until my father and Masim lay strewn on the floor in a pool of dark, musty blood, their eyes lifeless.
That not-so-simple thought brought shivers down my skin and had me clutching at my sheets. It was hard for me to keep a sane view of reality.
Since the incident, I had locked that certain part of my mind away. I would never live my life in fear and hiding. If that was the case, then the stalker better kill me.
I was to be discharged today, upon my insistence.
My father had wanted me to stay for another week. I wasn't about to rot away in this horrible place under the watchful eyes of Alexei.
Unable to contain my impatience, I hurriedly packed up the few things my father had brought. My body was sore, my head throbbed like a never-ending pulse, and my stomach and ribs ached with every single step I took.
See, I was doing perfectly fine.
"I'm done," I called out, my voice bouncing off the walls.
He didn't turn to answer me. Instead, he stretched his arm out. My brows scrunched in confusion. What was I supposed to place in his palm—my boobs?
What are you thinking, Vasilisa?
"The bag," he barked, his voice clipped and hoarse. He sounded like a dragon. Like Smaug from 'The Hobbit'.
"Since you politely begged," I replied, placing the bag in his palm, "I will let you carry it."
He didn't reply, making me smirk. Cat got your tongue bitch?
He opened the door for me before holding it in place. I stepped through, strutting forward as I heard the door close behind me. I had barely moved a few meters before a hand clasped itself onto my shoulder. Immediately, my heart skipped a beat. A certain dread piled up in my stomach as the ordeal of my nightmares flashed through my eyes for a second.
"The distance between you and me should be no more than one meter at all times," he gritted out, his looming presence like a shadow behind me.
My tongue trailed across my lower lip, wetting it briefly before I turned to face him.
"You do know what one meter is, right?" I asked incredulously. He was practically asking me to be glued to his skin at all times.
"I'm quite sure I know what one meter is, Vasilisa," he replied sarcastically, his eyes burning a bright green before he grabbed a secure hold of my upper arm, moving me along with him.
I couldn't help but scoff in disbelief. Someone would think I had begged him to protect me.
Of all the people my father could have hired, it was a veteran with the attitude of a 60-year-old grinch. Even my father wasn't like this. I was sure my grandfather wasn't like this either. Hell, even the old man who guarded the college gates wasn't like this.
We walked forward through the halls littered with nurses and surgeons who stared at us as if I were a criminal being escorted to prison.
That was exactly what this scenario looked like.
We finally reached the reception area where I had to wait for Alexei to sign some papers before he resumed his hold on my arm. It wasn't strong enough to cause me pain, but it was enough for me to know it was there. I hoped he realized I was injured and needed to be handled with care.
The bright morning sun and the clean air flashed through my senses for a second. Because of this dragon, I could barely even embrace the qualities of nature that I had been robbed of for the past few days.
My words were also robbed from my lips as he stuffed me into the back seat of the car, fastening the seatbelt before I could even make sense of his movements.
He settled into the front seat, and within minutes, the car was already rolling.
With the speed he used, I didn't even get to see the color of the car. One second I was on solid ground, and the next, I was securely in the back seat of an unknown-colored car. It was a mystery how rough his actions were and how sensitive my body was at that moment—I didn't even feel an inkling of pain.