Before I can reply, Mrs. Yranda appears in the kitchen doorway, clipboard in hand and lips pursed. “Danielle, there’s been a change to your assignments. You’ll be cleaning Mr. Vetrov’s office this morning.”
My stomach drops. “Is everything all right? Did I do something wrong yesterday?”
“Nothing wrong at all. He specifically requested you handle his office today.” She makes a note on her clipboard. “He’s expecting you at eight-thirty.”
Carmen shoots me a look of barely concealed alarm as Mrs. Yranda bustles away. We both know Radmir requesting me specifically is unusual, especially after our confrontation. The walk to his office feels endless, and the cleaning supplies become heavier with each step. I knock softly on the heavy wooden door and wait for his response.
“Come in.”
I push open the door to find him seated at his desk, staring at the far wall like he hasn’t moved in hours. His hair is disheveled, his usually pristine shirt wrinkled, and there’s a coffee cup beside his elbow that looks like it’s been sitting there since yesterday.
“Good morning, Mr. Vetrov.” I keep my voice professionally neutral as I set down my supplies. “I’ll try not to disturb you.”
He doesn’t respond or even acknowledge my presence. The tension in the room is like cold maple syrup, and I steal glances at him as I work.
Finally, he sighs heavily and rubs the back of his neck with both hands. The gesture looks exhausted, defeated in a way I’ve never seen from him before.
“Rough day?” I ask, then immediately regret the casual tone. “I mean, rough morning. It’s only eight-thirty.”
He looks at me, something sharp and dangerous flickering in his expression. For a moment, I think he’s going to snap at me for overstepping boundaries. Instead, his features soften into something almost vulnerable.
“You know, you’d probably scare fewer people if you looked like you actually had emotions,” I continue, unable to stop myself from pushing just a little.
To my surprise, he almost smiles. “Maybe I don’t want to scare fewer people.”
I smile. “Everyone needs to scare fewer people sometimes.”
“Do they?”
I stop dusting his bookshelf and turn to face him properly. “What’s wrong? You look like you haven’t slept.”
For a long moment, he just studies my face like he’s trying to see what’s in my head. When he finally speaks, his voice is rougher than usual.
“There was someone I once trusted…”
Guilt crashes over me like a wave. He must be talking about the secrets I’m keeping, and the way I’ve been lying to him formonths. My hand moves instinctively to my stomach before I catch myself and let it drop.
He continues before I can do or say something stupid. “He wanted what I had and didn’t care who got hurt in the process.” The bitterness in his tone makes me flinch. “He’s causing problems for me now.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, not sure if I’m apologizing for his situation or my own deception.
“Luca always was ambitious.” The name comes out like a curse. “He wanted to build something bigger and faster, without regard for consequences. When I wouldn’t go along with his plans, he decided to build it anyway.”
Relief floods through me as I realize he’s not talking about me at all. This is something else entirely, something from his past that’s affecting his present. “What kind of consequences?”
“The kind that get people killed.” He leans back in his chair, looking older than his thirty-six years. “The kind that make you question whether anything you’ve built is worth the cost.”
His honesty surprises me. This isn’t the unreadable man for whom I’ve been working. This is someone carrying weight he can’t share with anyone else.
“Sounds like you’re paying a price for someone else’s choices.”
“Aren’t we all?”
The question hangs between us, loaded with meaning I don’t fully understand. I want to ask more, to understand what’s driving the exhaustion in his voice, but I’m afraid to.
“Sometimes I think this world costs too much,” he says quietly, almost to himself. “Too much time, too much blood, and leaves too many people you can’t protect.”
The vulnerability in his voice stops me cold. It strikes me that he’s lonely, isolated by choices that seemed right at the time but feel heavier with each passing year. For the first time since I learned who he really was, I see past the danger and the power to the person underneath, who built walls to protect himself and ended up trapped behind them.
