Punishment

[HAZEL'S POV]

The meeting ended on a sour note the moment Nikolai's scary aunt left.

She was terrifying. She reminded me of the Disney adaptation of Cruella from the One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

"Leave us," Nikolai ordered the rest of his family, standing infront of me like a shield.

His voice was ruthlessly dangerous.

One by one they rose to their feet and left for the elevator until Nikolai and I were the only ones in the big room.

Nikolai ran his hands over his face and let out a deep breath. He wandered over to the bottle of scotch on the table and poured himself a drink.

"Some family meeting," he bite off each words as if he was suppressing the rage boiling inside him. "Forget you ever saw that."

I didn't say anything. I stared at the hand print his aunt had left him on his cheeks.

Somewhere inside me, I felt a strong impulse to hunt that woman down and tear her guts opened for hitting him.

But I suppressed that urge because he deserved it. His aunt did mentioned he ki