by Eva K. More
She felt the tension in the man’s arms, his accelerating heartbeat, and that made the anxiety grip her, too.
Ivo started walking backward as Beast took a step forward.
“Stop, Beast,” Ivo said, grinning like a lunatic. “I know you’ll kill me the first chance you get. But I swear, I’ll kill her before that.” He jerked Lina in his arms, and she let out a strangled cry; her usually hollow eyes trained on the man behind Kat. There was emotion there now, a sort of pleading look on her face.
“Maryan,” Beast growled as he watched Ivo disappear.
But Kapov - Maryan - kept silent, tightening his arms around Kat while his eyes never left the retreating figure of Lina.
When Ivo and Lina were finally gone from their sight, Beast cursed loudly. He looked at Kapov's stony demeanor and bolted outside. Kat heard the screeching of tires and a few gunshots.
Then it was silent.
Holding her breath, she listened to the sound of footsteps and watched Beast walk back inside, a murderous glint in his stormy eyes.
“They are gone,” he said, looking straight above Kat’s head and noticeably gritting his teeth behind the mask.
“It couldn’t have been helped,” Kapov answered in a clipped voice.
Beast squinted, ready to say something else but kept wisely quiet. Kat felt the tension between the two men rising until Beast took a deep breath. His eyes warmed the instance they drank in her face.
The silence stretched over them as the first rays of sunshine peeked through the windows of the high ceiling and bathed them in warmth, but it was interrupted by an unexpected order.
“Gabriel, now take that mask off; it is offending my eyes. And let’s get out of this bloody mess.” The man holding her said it so off-handedly that Kat had to process the words for a moment longer.
Beast - her Gabriel now - hadn’t moved yet; he was watching her instead. Was he gauging her reaction? Could he see the confusion, the longing, the fear in her face?
Then he nodded once. “Alright.” He moved his hands behind his head, unlatching the fastening of the silver skull, and she widened her eyes and held her breath as the metal slowly eased off his face.
Then, there was nothing.
There was nothing ugly or disgusting that blemished his skin, not even a scar. Besides the wilting red line the mask had left, his skin was unmarred and unblemished. A proud nose stood in the center of his masculine face, his lips were neither too thin nor too thick, and his angular jaw was covered in light stubble.
He was rather breath-taking, she concluded solemnly, and he had lied to her. All this time, he had nothing to hide behind that mask except for an astoundingly handsome face.
“Better.” Still keeping his arms around her, Kapov peered down at her. “Now, Katherina, let me introduce myself to you. My name is Maryan Kapov.” When he felt the tremors in her body, he rushed to reassure her. “No, don’t be afraid. You have nothing to fear from me. I have longed for such a long time for this moment, but I had hoped we would meet again in more pleasant circumstances. At least I hoped you enjoyed your stay in the cabin.”
Maryan? As in the one who had called her grandparents? The one who owned the cabin in the woods? Looking at him, she scrunched her forehead in thought. Her Baba had been the first one to say his name- and she had done it with some familiarity too. How did the infamous Kapov fit with the ominous Maryan? And why was he looking at her with such familiar eyes?
Pale moss green. The exact color as her own. Unique until now.
“You used to love it when you were a little girl.” He murmured with fondness.
And then, her brain connected some dots. Images that now her mind recognized as memories came back with force.
“It’s ok; the storm will pass soon.” She heard behind her, and when she turned around, she noticed four male legs standing close by, one pair from another child, and the other belonging to an adult.
“You look like a scared little bird,” she heard the boy say.
“I’m not, I’m a dragon.” She replied while she grabbed the blanket that was next to her and walked to the couch, getting upon it with a lot of effort and lying down. “Papa, sing.” She said to the standing adult, still unable to see more than just his legs.
“Of course, little one,” he answered as he sat next to her and took her on his arms. “Pust' begut niuklyuzhye, Peshechodui po luzham, A voda -- po asphal'tu rekoy. I niyasna prochozhim, V etam den' nipogozhi, Pochimu ya visyoli takoy. Ya igrayu na garmoshke, U prochozhich na vidu... K sazhelyenyu, den' razhden'ya, Tol'ko raz v godu.”
She was slowly falling asleep when she felt small hands tugging at her shoulders, and when she looked up, her green eyes connected with grey ones that showed amber spots because of the fireplace.
“It’s late, sweetheart, why don’t you go to bed? Gabriel won’t leave you alone,” the soft voice of the man said.
“Gabe come too, papa?”
“Yes, he will go with you.”
“Come on, little bird; I promise to tell you the story of The Beauty and The Beast again,” the older boy said as he gave her a smile.
“No, Gabe! Not little bird. I’m a dragon!”
For a moment, her world turned upside down. She couldn’t remember taking a step back, but suddenly she was staring into Gabriel’s concerned eyes. It wasn’t the face of a stranger anymore, but the old version of a familiar boy.
Both men noticed that she hadn’t said a word ever since they had appeared on the scene.
“Are you okay?” Gabriel’s voice, now floating freely without the restricting mask, was as soothing as warm honey. Kat looked down at her hands; they didn’t feel like they were part of her body anymore. Then she saw the dark stains on her shirt.
Blood. The wounds hadn’t felt that deep. Why then did she feel so lightheaded?
Truthfully, she had never been able to see blood, and she couldn’t deal with any revelation at the moment, but unfortunately, none of the two men in front of her had received the memo.
“I think she’s lost more blood than it looks like.” The familiar soft voice said.
“We need to get her out of here immediately.” She heard Gabriel’s voice say.
“Katherina!”
“I- I’m so tired.” Even that raspy voice didn’t sound like it belonged to her.
“Kat!”
Gabriel’s outcry was a distant noise as her world slowly faded away.
at had never been prone to faint.
There was a time once when she had been barely nine, and she had crashed with her bike, hurting her knee. The wound had been dirty and bloody, and Kat had woken up in her Baba’s arms. She had always been a brave girl as long as there was no blood involved, reassuring her grandparents that whatever injury she had, she had always been alright.
She woke up and kept her eyes closed for a moment.
She laid on a soft mattress, and satiny sheets were covering her body from head to toe. When she swallowed, pain permeated the skin of her throat, and she touched a hand to a tightly pressed strip of bandages.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. This time, unlike the last time she had lost consciousness, the sight that met her was welcoming.
Tasteful paintings adorned the white walls of the big room, and two glass shelves were encasing various decorative objects. Dark blue curtains, the same color of her bedsheets, were drawn to the side of a big window showing the sky. It appeared to be late afternoon, early evening.
The bed she was lying on was as big and spacious as the room itself. Next to her, she found a glass full of water, and with a sudden thirst, she reached for it. The motions of sitting up and drinking were painful, but her restlessness had returned the moment she remembered her last conscious moments, and she couldn’t lie back down. When her bare feet slowly descended on the warm parquet, she noticed for the first time that she was dressed in silky pajamas.
Taking a closer look out the window, she could see a multitude of skyscrapers and deduced that
she must have been in one herself, on a very high level at that.
She opened the door into a dark hallway and enjoyed the feeling of the smooth wood on her bare feet. Trying to hear anything else above her nervously beating heart, she eventually heard deep voices talking and stepped down the barely lit hall until she reached a downward staircase, noticing that light was shining up from the lower level.
Kat took the steps in careful strides, willing her pounding headache to cease so she could understand the spoken words better.
She faltered before reaching the last step and peered into what appeared to be a living room. Her gait had not been as silent as she had thought, because both men lounging on the cream couch looked up at her and stopped conversing at once. Embarrassed by being found snooping around, she slowly stepped into the room.
The younger, wide-shouldered man approached her quickly. She would recognize that unruly black hair and his smoky eyes anywhere, with the massive chest under a button-up shirt and powerful legs encased in black jeans, instead of his usual cargo pants.
“Kat!”
His voice was more than a distant memory, dark and tempting and so very clear. And his angular jaw appeared as hard as granite.
She flinched when Gabriel reached for her.
“Don’t touch me!” Albeit quiet, her words had carried enough vigor for him to stop dead in his tracks. Those familiar gunmetal grey eyes met hers in a hard stare.
How could he have fooled her so? Now, even with the mask off his face, he remained still a beast in her eyes.
She had longed for his kisses, for his tender touch, for his affection – and he had lied from the beginning. Maybe the mask had only been a symbolical disguise, but for her, it was the epitome of everything he had kept hidden from her. How could he not have told her? How could he have slept with her without telling her something so essential to her being?
Darn it! They had talked about her family. When the subject of her father came up, had he secretly laughed at her? He had been right from the beginning – she should have never trusted him.
“Fine.” Gabriel gritted his teeth, obviously noting the anger and frustration in her face.
The older man cleared his throat after the silence had stretched into a palpable tension. Wide green eyes met a charming smile.
Maryan sat on the sofa, seemingly relaxed with an ankle resting on his knee. His choice of clothes was noticeably expensive, and he kept his body in shape, which made it difficult for her to guess his age. His salt and pepper hair and mustache added a roguish charm to his features, but the lines of his face were strained, betraying his nonchalant pretense.
“Katherina. How are you feeling, child?”
“Mister… Mister Kapov.” Unsure of what to do, she stared at him.
“Don’t call me that, please. Call me Maryan.”
“Maryan…” Astonished, she searched his face for meanness and danger but could only find compassion in his expression.
“I bet you’re still tired and feel weak. Would you not like to sit down?” Maryan said and motioned to the big leather sofa he was sitting on. It had the shape of a U, and if she sat down at the far corner, it would leave enough space between them. “You gave us quite a scare when you crumbled to the floor.”
She sat and a pleased smile formed on the man’s face. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Gabriel had remained standing and watched her intensely, but she was still much too hurt to acknowledge him. Besides, Maryan piqued her curiosity, and she needed to talk to him first.
“Now, how are you feeling? Are you in pain?” Maryan asked, indicating with a wave of his hand that he meant her chest and throat area.
Kat nodded. “A bit. And my head.”
It was unnerving how she felt so at ease with this stranger when she should have been screaming and running instead. This was the head of the mob! But for some reason, she didn’t feel threatened at all. Not even with Gabriel’s glowering.
Maryan frowned. “I’ll have Martha bring you pain killers and soup. I guess you are famished.”
“I’m not hungry.” She felt rather queasy instead.
“It doesn’t matter. You need sustenance to heal.”
She decided to be brave and express what was in her head instead of staying quiet. “Forgive me, but my stomach rebels at the idea of food after all I’ve been through. And I chose to heed its warning.”
“That’s not a very wise decision in your poor condition,” Maryan said.
Her ears burned shamefully now as she felt like a scolded child. “I’m a grown woman now, and I make my own decisions.”
Maryan had narrowed his eyes, gripping the backseat of the leather couch tightly. He didn’t need to raise his voice for the next blow. “And I am your father, Katherina, and if necessary, I will force you.”
His mockingly sweet voice echoed in the room. Now the pink elephant was acknowledged, and he didn’t even sugarcoat his words. No, he had wanted to hit her directly.
It was one thing to have certain suspicions; it was entirely another to have them confirmed, thrown at her face. That man, he was-
For a second, an empty feeling engulfed her brain like a cold blanket of nothingness. His deep-set eyes, the color of light moss, just like her own, prompted her heart to start beating again.
“That’s not true. I don’t have a father,” Kat said slowly.
“I’m sure you’ve been told of the birds and the bees, child.”
She bristled and readied herself to stand up and leave. Where would she go wearing only dark red pajamas? She wasn’t sure, but she wouldn’t listen to this man for another second. It was so much easier to focus on anger and disbelief instead of the blaring signs around her.
She ignored her erratic pulse and sweaty palms.
“Sit down!” he ordered then in a steely voice, and she complied, pursing her lips tersely. For Kat, it was evident that Maryan was a man of power, used to subdue the people around him only with the sharp blade of his tongue.
“Stop treating me like a kid!” She spat.
He sighed deeply, and for a moment, his fatigue showed. “Forgive me.” A small pause. “I’m not used to having my orders questioned.”
“And I’m not to be ordered around like one of your employees.”
Maryan smiled ruefully at her. “Then, I guess I’m also not used to talking to my grown-up daughter. One that is not carrying that goddamned fluffy dragon everywhere.”
There was that pang in her chest again, and she rubbed that area unconsciously. Her whole life – or at least the part of her life that she remembered - her grandparents had raised her while telling from time to time that no man would ever claim her as his daughter. Her father had been a phantom, a man as tangible as any other sperm donor.
When she had been a little kid, she had wished for a family, for a bit of normality. There was a time when she had looked at every man she had seen on the streets and wondered if he were her father. But this? This was surreal. Impossible.
“I’m not your daughter, either,” she said, looking him deeply in the eyes, trying to read him and reassure herself.
Another defeated sigh came from Maryan’s lips. “I guess it’s only natural for you to be skeptical.”
“I don’t have a father; he was never in the picture. Surely you know how ridiculous this sounds.” She said, her high-pitched voice betraying her panic.
“For your protection, you were meant to believe that. After what happened to your mother, I couldn’t take any more risks with you. But I provided your grandparents with all means necessary to raise you.”
With that admission, he took the wind out of her sails. “My grandparents?” Kat was fighting. He scared mind didn’t want to accept what she already knew was true. The stubbornness that she inherited from her mother, according to her Baba, was making her deny all that came out of Maryan’s mouth. If not by his words, then the memory about the cabin was enough for her logical brain to get that the man in front of her was her father.
“Yes. Ivana and Robert Meyers.”
They would not have betrayed her like this! Still, there was no other way. How could he know her grandparents’ names then? Had Gabriel given him her ID from her bag? She hadn’t told their names to him.
But they had known Maryan’s name. They had flat out asked her about him.
She raised her eyebrows when something else nagged on her brain.
“What happened to my mother was an accident,” she said carefully. Was the room spinning? Was that labored breathing really hers?
She knew that there was a forlorn look on her face, one that had Maryan looking at her with a pitiful expression. Kat had the feeling that the world as she had known it would end today.
“Martha!” he bellowed into the hall behind him. When a blonde, middle-aged woman appeared, he instructed her to bring pain killers and a glass of water for Kat.
Meanwhile, Kat watched him wearily, knowing that whatever would come next would not bode well with her, and when he turned back to her, green eyes, the same color she saw in the mirror, stared intensely at her with an emotion she couldn’t recognize.
“Your mother’s death wasn’t an accident, Katherina. She was deliberately killed.”
She gasped. “That’s not true.” Wryly she thought, she sounded like a broken record.
“Unfortunately, it is.” For a second, he looked crestfallen. “Your mother was a good person who had made a poor choice with me. At that time, I was young and on the rise, thinking I was invincible.” His throaty laugh was a sad sound. “I thought I was it, I had girls and money, and additionally, a baby girl to make me smile at night. I didn’t really think that there was anything I couldn’t buy with money, until the day your mother stepped into that elevator.”
Maryan averted his eyes to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. When had it become dark outside?
“Fortunately for you, that kid she was with at the time was the child of her best friend. They died that day because my enemies had found a way to wound me. They believed they had killed your mother and you, and for a few horrible hours, I believed that myself,” Maryan said.