Page 66 of Plaintive Vow


Font Size:

My jaw aches from how hard I’m grinding my teeth. We make it to her bedroom—ourbedroom, the one I’ve thought of as ours since the first time I slept there. Stepping cautiously into the room, I find the first sign that someone’s been inside in the form of a note in the center of the bed, cutting mindlessly through the red dotting the edges of my vision.

Stop hiding her.

I don’t recognize the blocky handwriting, but only one man would be stupid enough to pull off a stunt like this.

Pavel’s more than hammered his point home just by showing up here, and he’s done nothing but leave me with very few choices in how I can move forward.

I check the rest of the house before I relax, wrapping my arms around Blair while she shakes against my chest. She was strong as we moved from room to room, but that strength is gone as I try to soothe her, rubbing a hand along her back while I try to form a plan.

I can’t let her stay here tonight. Niko’s already at Mila’s but he can’t come back tonight, either.

Beyond fixing the door and undoing whatever the fuck he did to disable the security system, I still need to sweep the place for any gifts that Pavel might have left behind.

I wouldn’t put it past the fucker to try to plant bugs or cameras if he thought it’d give him an edge.

My condo isn’t a great option, but it’ll do for a night.

“C’mon,” I say, pulling away just enough to look at her terrified eyes. “Let’s pack a bag. We’ll stay somewhere else until I can get this place cleaned up and fix the door.”

“I hate that fucking door,” she sniffles, making me chuckle. “Daniil said we had to get a black one so it’d match the neighborhood, but what good did that do? Someone still came and broke it.”

I pause, but only for a moment. If she wants to focus on the damaged door, then that’s what we’ll do until I’m able to get her settled in at my place.

“What color did you want it to be?”

“Blue. Or yellow, maybe. Something fun.”

“I’ll go to the store tomorrow and pick out a white one that’s ready to be painted. When you’re ready, you can pick whatever color you want.” She sniffs once and nods, pulling away and heading toward the closet.

She’s quiet until we get to my condo, looking around the space while I put her bag in my bedroom. Her arms are wrapped around her torso when I come back, and I guide her to the couch.

There isn’t much to look at here, so I don’t bother with a tour. Before we got married, my condo was nothing but a place to sleep, eat, and maybe make a phone call or two. It was fine then, but now that I’ve actually lived in a home, it seems empty.

The fridge looks blank without Niko’s paintings stuck to it. The coffee table looks wrong without stacks of books placed haphazardly on it. The whole place looks like a showroom, not a place where someone lives.

I make a mental note to put it on the market before the end of the week.

“Are you alright?”

She shakes her head as she settles onto the couch, knees drawn to her chest. “Why would someone break into our house?”

Because Pavel’s a pathetic coward who will do anything to gain a little more power for himself.

Unfortunately for him, fear isn’t a currency I recognize. He can’t force me to give him the loyalty he craves, no matter what he tries.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “But I’ll handle it.”

“What about Niko?”

“I already texted Mila and let her know we’ll pick him up in the morning. He’s safe with her.”

I hold her until she’s calmed down enough to stop shaking. Only then do I regretfully go to the house, making phone calls as soon as I’m in the car. I don’t want to leave her alone, but I need to make sure that it’s safe for her.

The image of Blair curling up as small as possible when I showed her where I keep a gun in the living room haunts me the whole way.

***

I’ve searched the house twice from top to bottom, but I still use the stupidly expensive device that I got from Artyom to sweep the room for a third time. If Pavel went to the trouble of fucking with the alarms and breaking in, I don’t trust him to leave the house alone. But no matter where I search or what I use to check every corner, I find nothing.