Chapter 78

My hand slowly rose to my cheeks, feeling the flush that I knew was absolutely there. My chest rose and fell, hearing my own breath because there wasn’t a single sound from downstairs. It was completely quiet.

Stepping away from the door, I collapsed into the giant chair that was in the corner of the room. Pulling my legs up, I buried my head in between them. Shouting picked up again, mostly in Russian, and it actually seemed like Juri jumped in as well. I wasn’t listening anymore. I didn’t want to listen anymore.

We had been tiptoeing around those words. I could see it though. In the way he looked at me. In the way he touched me. In the way he spoke to me. I knew it, but at the same time, I was scared. I’d managed to go through most of my life without attachments. Attachments were a weakness to be exploited. My father proved that point over and over as he used people to control others. I never wanted someone that kind of control over me again.

And yet…Marek was everything, my everythi