GLIMPSES OF THE PAST

Marko’s POV

The space was overly silent. The grandfather clock in the corner ticked, and the sound resonated in the stifling silence all about. Though it was one I hated, it was the silence I had become used to lately. I stayed limited to this chilly, gloomy home while the outside world was moving, busy, vibrant.

My body no longer served the machine it once did. That had been visible from the accident. A few missteps, a poor break in the wrong location, and here I was—helpless, unprotected, a prisoner of my own house. Nevertheless, the hardest aspect of all was not the bodily suffering. The loneliness was what drove it. The sense of put away, forgotten.

I had built an empire, bled for it, and now it was slipping through my fingers.

The door creaked open, and I turned, looking for Tatyana, the housekeeper, with some menial chore to deflect my own self-pity. But the visitor that entered was not her. Elena called it.

Though at first I thought I was having hallucinations, it was Elena. Once upon a time, the woman who had been in my life—part of my suffering—was present. And now here she is once more, exactly like in the past when all was different.

Though it was difficult to overlook the faint weariness in her eyes, she looked exactly as beautiful as I remembered. Her current demeanor surprised me as it was far less confident than it had been in past times. She was shattered. Though I was not sure why it mattered, it did.

She remarked gently, her voice reflecting none of the hatred or rage I would have expected. But I was not tricked. I too knew her really well.

I examined her face, looking for any flaw in her mask. But all I saw was the known uncertainty.

"You look exactly like your mother," I murmured, venom teping into my voice. The words tasted nasty in my mouth. " Only, you are more delicate." I wanted to hurt her, wanted her to experience even a sliver of the resentment boiling in my chest since the accident. Considering everything changed.

She answered but her lips drew a thin line. She was not obliged of course. She was already following my lead.

"You're a pawn," I said, harsh with my words. "Just as your sister would say. Another item in the little game your family plays. They emailed you here to make fun of me, right?

Elena flinched, her eyes sparking with something I couldn identify. "I didn't come here to mock you, Marko," she murmured softly, her voice trembling slightly, revealing her calm exterior. "I wanted to, so I skipped here. I arrived since I had no option.

"No decision?," I laughed, my voice rising, the resentment I had stored for so long exploding. " Elena, you are exactly like the others. Still another piece in their chess game. And you would have me believe that you did not visit for some other reason? To act as the devoted mother or the conscientious wife? To keep face before your priceless family? Set me free.

Though they were true, the words felt like fire as they left my tongue. She wasn't here because of a difficult, sincere choice. She was here as that was the only way her family could hang onto whatever residual power they had.

I sensed her heavy, knowing look directed at me. She saw the loneliness under my wrath and through it, but I wanted her not to. Nobody should see that side of me.

"You're wrong," she shouted, her voice getting louder as she moved in front. "I did not pick this life. None of it appealed to me. However, you—” Her hands tightened as she stopped herself. "You have no concept of what it's like to be pushed into a corner by individuals that don't give a damn about you. Whose own daughter would be sold for a better place in the world?

Her comments squeezed my chest, but I will not let her know it upset me.

"I am not your enemy, Marko," she stated gently. Never was the case. Never wanted to be, I thought. But I have enough of being shoved about. I've got enough pawn play. I simply am trying to survive.

"Survive," The term kept returning to me. Something raw, something desperate in her words stopped me dead. I nearly could believe her for a moment.

I watched her daughter Mila, clutching her plush bear, waiting in the doorway. Her big eyes betrayed uncertainty, but they flew between the two of us with an awareness much beyond her years.

"I don't care about your family's drama," Mila replied in a little voice, startling both of us. "I just want to have fun with the horses."

Elena crouched to her daughter's level and her face softened. "We will visit the stables later, alright? Following our arrival.

I observed the scene, something strange in my chest waking. Elena's eyes softened as she gazed at her daughter—not at the woman who had stood before me years ago. It was real, honest, and raw, vulnerable.

That I was starting to see her like that disgusted me.

"Fine," I said, the sudden will to control the circumstances growing inside me. Get her situated. Remember, though—this is not a vacation, Elena. I have use for you, so you are here. And I will not let you overlook that.

Her stiffening posture meant her eyes stayed away from mine. "I know just exactly why I'm here. You are quite mistaken, though, if you believe you can control everyone else in your life and then control me.

I ate, the words lingering between us in the air. Was she challenging me? Already, she was challenging me.

We were interrupted before I could respond by a knock at the door.

Someone else would visit here? My pulse sped and my thoughts flew.

Elena first stayed still. Though I could sense her tension, her facial expression was incomprehensible. Her manner of holding herself suggested to me that this visit was more than just a courtesy.

"Go ahead," I waved her off contemptuously. Still, a tiny portion of me wondered—who would knock at this hour?

Elena grabbed for the door, and the air in the room changed. Something approached. Nothing either of us was ready for.

The figure was standing there, his face darkened by the low light in the corridor, as the door opened.

He murmured in a low, gravelly voice, staring directly at Elena.

And suddenly I realized everything was about to shift.

Again, he muttered, a slow, menacing smile curving on his lips. "It's been some time.

The chamber quieted itself.

I shot her, my wrath building. "Thus, they emailed you. Another pawn to help me to fall from grace, Elena?" My voice was sharp, a concoction of bitterness and hatred.

She stiffened, her eyes tightening but she said nothing. She stood there instead, her daughter Mila clinging to her side, naive and uninformed of the tempest building around us.

"Don't you dare stand there, acting like you don't know why you're here," I said, looking briefly at Mila. "You believe me to be a fool? You question if I see what this is?"

The door banged open behind Elena before she could reply. My blood froze at the figure that intervened.