MasukI didn’t hang up.After everything I had just told Bella, neither of us felt like ending the call. There was too much going on, too much unsaid, and somehow hearing her voice made everything feel less… insane.“Put it on video,” she said suddenly.“Why?”“I need to see your face. You sound like you’re in a hostage situation.”I scoffed lightly. “I’m not in a hostage situation.”“Then prove it.”I hesitated for a second, then switched to video.Her face popped up immediately, and for a moment, everything else faded.Bella looked the same.Same expressive eyes, same messy hair like she hadn’t bothered fixing it, same energy that somehow filled the screen even through a phone.But there was something else too.Relief.“You look fine,” she said, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Annoying, but fine.”“You look stressed,” I replied.“Because I am,” she said. “You disappeared with a walking red flag.”I laughed under my breath. “That’s one way to describe him.”Bella leaned closer to her screen.
We were still too close.The air between us hadn’t settled yet, not after what just happened. My thoughts were still scattered, my breathing not fully steady, and Nikolai hadn’t stepped back far enough to make it feel normal again.Then—A knock.We both straightened almost instantly, like whatever had just happened had been pushed aside without being acknowledged.“Come in,” Nikolai said, his voice already back to that calm, unreadable tone.The door opened.A guy stepped in, and for a second, I just stared.He looked… good. Not in an over-the-top way, just naturally put together. Clean, sharp features, confident posture, the kind of presence that made it obvious he belonged here.“Sir, the meeting is in twenty minutes,” he said.Nikolai nodded once. “Prepare everything.”“Yes, sir.”They started talking.Fast. Too fast.Business terms, names, numbers, things that clearly mattered but made absolutely no sense to me. I stood there for a few seconds trying to follow, then gave up.I sl
I should have walked away.That thought came first, sharp and clear, the moment the silence between us shifted into something heavier. The room still hummed softly with the glow of screens, but I wasn’t looking at them anymore.I was looking at him.Nikolai didn’t move at first. He just stood there, close enough now that I could feel it again, that quiet pressure he carried, like the air adjusted around him without permission.“You’re thinking too much,” he said.“That’s because none of this makes sense,” I replied.“It doesn’t have to.”“That’s easy for you to say.”He stepped closer.Not sudden. Not rushed.My body tensed before I could stop it, my mind catching up a second too late.“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice lower now.He didn’t answer immediately.His gaze dropped briefly to my lips, then back to my eyes.And that—That was enough to make my breath catch.“You keep fighting it,” he said quietly.“Fighting what?” I asked, though I already knew.“This,” he replied.I s
I tried to sit still.It didn’t work.The silence in the room wasn’t peaceful; it pressed in from all sides, Every corner looked untouched, like no one actually lived here, like it only existed when needed. Even the air felt suffocating.After a while, I gave up pretending I could relax.I stood, walked to the door, paused for a second, then opened it.No alarms. No guards rushing in. Just a quiet hallway stretching out in both directions, polished floors reflecting the overhead lights. The place felt expensive in a way that didn’t need to prove it.I stepped out.If Nikolai really thought I wouldn’t go anywhere, then maybe he knew something I didn’t. Or maybe he just didn’t care enough to stop me.Either way, I wasn’t staying in that room like I was waiting for permission to breathe.I moved slowly at first, taking in the layout. Offices lined the corridor, most of them glass-walled. People worked behind desks, focused, efficient. No loud conversations, no wasted movement.And the mo
I didn’t expect him to leave me alone.That was the first thing that felt strange.After everything—the tension, the way he spoke, the way he moved like every decision was already made—I thought he would keep me close, keep talking, keep pressing whatever it was he wanted me to understand.Instead, he did the opposite.“Come,” he said, stepping away from his desk.I followed him without questioning it, though my eyes still moved around the office, taking in every detail like it might explain something. It didn’t. Everything about this place only made things more complicated.He led me through a side door I hadn’t noticed before. The space beyond it was quieter, softer, like a different world tucked behind the sharp edges of his office. The lighting was warmer here, less harsh, the atmosphere less… controlled.“This is where you’ll stay for now,” he said.I stepped inside slowly.It wasn’t just a room.It was a full resting suite.A couch that looked more comfortable than anything I’d
I knew something had shifted the moment we stepped out of the café.Nikolai didn’t explain where we were going, just told me to follow him again, but this time there was no hesitation in his steps. Everything about him felt different.A car was already waiting.Sleek, black, tinted windows, the kind of car that didn’t belong to just anyone. The driver stepped out immediately, opening the door for us like this was routine.I paused for a second, eyeing it.“You didn’t think we’d keep walking, did you?” Nikolai said.“I didn’t think this far,” I replied.“Get in.”I did.The door shut quietly behind me, and within seconds the car was moving. The city lights stretched across the window, familiar streets passing by, then slowly changing into something cleaner, quieter, more structured.I didn’t bother asking where we were going.I already knew how that would go.Nikolai sat beside me, calm as always, like this was nothing. Like everything around him just fell into place without effort.“Y
I didn’t know how I was feeling.One minute I was driving back home to my parents like any normal Sunday, the radio humming quietly in the background, the late afternoon sun casting long golden streaks across the highway. My parents had specifically told me to bring Lisa home. They wante
The dorm hallway smelled like new carpet, pizza grease, and nervous sweat. I wheeled myself down the corridor behind the RA—clipboard guy from earlier—while two bodyguards trailed us like silent black shadows, each carrying half my life in suitcases and garment bags. My father had insisted on their
I’ve been staring at my phone screen for the last twenty minutes like it owes me money.No call from Elias.No text.Nothing.He’d promised he’d call once he finished unpacking. That was two hours ago. I kept refreshing the messages app, then locking the screen, then unlocking it again like the not
The Lisbon apartment had one good feature: the balcony overlooked a narrow street where people actually lived. Not tourists. Not expats. Real people—old women hanging laundry at dawn, kids kicking a deflated soccer ball until it rolled into the gutter, a guy in a stained apron smoking while he swep







