by Ellie Hall
“During my time galivanting, as you said, I’ve had some time to think about our mission at Blancbourg and our approach. In fact, it concerns me that we’ve been so preoccupied with cutting the budget instead of coming up with ways to earn more money.” Katerina jiggled her mouse and brought the computer to life.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one in charge of the fiscal duties.”
“No, but I am in charge of you and what’s of greater concern are several accounts I found in the expenditures section of our budget. There’s Cameo Advertising. I’m not familiar with their work.” Her eyes flitted from one of Regina’s many signature cameo brooches pinned to her blouse and back to her eyes. “Perhaps you can give me their contact info.”
Regina blinked a few times.
Katerina angled her computer monitor so the bursar could see. “There are several other accounts with high advertising budgets and yet when I looked them up online, I couldn’t find their websites or credentials.”
“They’re privately owned.”
Katerina nodded. “I’d like to talk to whoever your contact is and discuss the return on investment.”
“You can’t. I’m the bursar.”
“As the headmistress, actually, I can.”
“They’re out of town.”
“Gallivanting, I suppose.” Katerina hadn’t wanted to think the worst, but when she’d poured over the files and accounts during her flight red flags raised her suspicions.
“It’s not my fault that you’re ill-equipped to run this school. In fact, ever since you’ve been the headmistress you’ve been running it into the ground. I knew you were a clueless—”
Katerina rose to her feet. “Excuse me. As an employee of this school, I expect you to uphold our rules of etiquette. Speaking disrespectfully is not what we do here. If you have a problem with me as the headmistress, you can bring that up with the Board of Regents.”
“I have. I told them you’ve been cavorting with your pupil and stealing money.”
Katerina sat back down. There was no denying she’d overstepped her role with Connor. However, she’d never steal.
“We all remember when you came here with nothing. It makes sense that you’d sneak your way in and then pilfer from our coffers.”
“That is a serious accusation.” She tried to keep her tone even.
“Well, we all know about your character. Poor girl. Finds her way into a posh job—what was rightfully my job—and gets greedy.”
An ache that had been present in the pit of Katerina’s belly since she’d left Russia grew. “This conversation would be better had with the Board present,” she repeated.
“I agree. That’s why I called an emergency meeting as soon as I learned you were returning. They should be here any moment.” Regina swept from the room.
Katerina felt like crumbling, retreating. But she’d burned the ships. There was no going back. No choice but to win. She squared her shoulders and marched to the meeting room.
The Board of Regents, consisting of three men and one woman, sat expressionless at a long wooden table with Regina in their midst.
Following the usual formalities, they brought the meeting to the first order of business. Regina’s accusations. The bursar made her case, accusing Katerina of stealing funds.
“I’ve told her time and time again if something doesn’t change, we’ll have to close the school. She doesn’t care about this place. Rather, she pursues her single-minded quest for riches. She’s a liar and a thief and not fit to be the headmistress. I move that we fire her. Who’s in favor?” Regina raised her hand. “Aye.”
“Mrs. Harrow. You know our process. Ms. Kuznetsova, please state your case.”
Katerina took a deep breath. “I refute these claims completely with the exception of my involvement with my pupil, Connor Wolfe. We unexpectedly developed a relationship; however, it is over as is our contract.”
“For that reason, we would have to ask for your resignation.”
“I understand. But did you have the opportunity to review the emails I sent each of you.”
The four members of the Board nodded and one opened a laptop. “Yes, actually, we did and were surprised Mrs. Harrow made such outrageous claims against you when it is clear she is the one diverting advertising money from the school, funneling it into fake accounts registered under false names, and then to her private foreign accounts.” The board member looked up over wire-rimmed glasses.
Regina blanched, sputtered then pushed from her chair and exited.
That woman was a troll. How delusional was she for thinking she could pass off thefts like those to Katerina? A little twinge of victory sparked inside her, but it was met by the ever-widening pit of worry that threatened to swallow her because she no longer had a job. What was next? What would she do?
The board assured her they’d be taking legal action against Regina.
“May I recommend a replacement?” she asked. “Jayma Forbes, my previous assistant was brilliant, knows everything about my role, and had some forward-thinking ideas for how to move the school into the global, internet-based community.” She’d already contacted her old assistant and friend to give her the heads up that a position might be opening.
“Ms. Kuznetsova, in light of all of this, we have to commend you for many years of loyal service as well as successfully registering the manor as a historic site.”
She nodded at the victory she shared with Connor. Had he not thought of that, she wouldn’t have been able to help in such an impactful way. As she got to her feet, the reality of being free, of having the opportunity to do whatever she wanted, fought against the emptiness of worry.
“Ms. Kuznetsova, we want to thank you for fighting for Blancbourg,” one of the regents said.
“And may I ask,” the lone woman on the board said, “what’s next for you?”
As she rose to her feet, a familiar, excited tingling worked its way across her skin. As she stepped toward the door, she did a grand jeté and said, “I’m going to dance.” It was the thing she’d given up to find herself and would be the thing that brought her back to herself.
Chapter 14
Connor
When Connor was growing up, he perpetually felt like a failure in his father’s presence until he finally escaped the ridicule. Only now he was no different. As his father had done to his mother, he’d hurt Katerina.
Not once, but twice, he’d brought Katerina places that had broken her heart.
The first time was when he brought her to where he grew up, to the woods. She’d literally had a physical difficulty with the organ in her chest.
The second time was when he brought her to where she grew up and he was sure her heart was broken in a different way.
He didn’t know what to do other than return to the cabin where it had all started. He took the next flight back to North Carolina. His mind tormented him with a replay of everything that had transpired while visiting Katerina’s family.
He knew he’d done the right thing by letting her go. She’d be better off and happier without him. He should have felt better about passing the course. That meant he could return to the field. But could he? Something about his time spent with Katerina had changed him. There was no going back to the Wolf he was before.
As the plane hit turbulence, Connor’s stomach clenched and all his muscles were tense as though holding on to something. He gripped the seat rest with both of his hands, but his heart and mind told a different story. Part of him was clutching to the memories of Katerina.
For the rest of the flight, his mind tormented him with scenes of the good times they’d had together: the first time he’d seen her smile, the pranks, and then gazing up at the stars. But each time he landed on how he’d ruined it. How he’d walked away. It was all too much.
Once at the airport, Connor rented another Jeep—it may have even been the same one he’d driven last time he was in town. As he rumbled down the mountain road to his father�
�s cabin, he tried to think of what he’d say. He’d played this moment of reckoning in his mind a million times. He’d tell his father how much he’d hurt him. How he’d pushed him too far. How he hated the man for goodness sakes. Maybe it would come to blows. That might even feel good—to finally have it out. He’d pummel the guy just like he’d wanted to do to Ivan.
The disrespectful comments Katerina’s ballerina boy had made had burned themselves into Connor’s mind. No, into his fists. He’d take it out on his father. On anything.
Red hot rage burned in his veins as the humid air buffeted the Jeep. He gritted his teeth, braced himself for a brawl. He wouldn’t use words to tell his father how he felt. He’d use force, just like Dennis Wolfe had always done to him.
When he pulled up at the cabin, he skidded to a stop, slammed the door, and called, “I’ve finally come a-callin’. Get your butt out here. We’re going to do this.”
The air surrounding the cabin was strangely still. Connor had a funny thought that the land itself knew what was coming. Neither shadow nor light crossed the windows.
Connor pushed the door open. The house was dim, the air inside stale, no movement. He grunted. His father was probably out hunting. It didn’t matter. He’d be there waiting. Just as he was about to stalk back out the door, a piece of glass on the table flashed in the morning light streaming through the dirty windows.
Connor walked over to the table and picked up the glass bottle—the one Dennis had been sipping from when he and Katerina had been there. Was it the same one? The remaining liquid inside was warm. He looked around. He ran his finger along the edge of the table. A small amount of dust came away but that wasn’t unusual.
After poking around the rest of the cabin, he had the sinking feeling his father hadn’t been there in a while. Outside in the shed, his camping gear was gone. Maybe he’d gone on another challenge...or maybe he hadn’t returned. But it had been weeks.
Connor went back to the Jeep and made a couple of phone calls before being connected with the End of the World Enduro challenge organizer.
“Hi, this is Connor Wolfe. I’m calling to ask if one of the participants in the Enduro ever completed the final tasks and crossed the survival line.” It was like a finish line of sorts and designated the winners of the competition.
“Wolfe?” the guy asked.
“We had two registrants with that last name. Sorry to say neither completed the challenge. I’d like you to know that the event is completely voluntary. All participants have to sign a liability waiver and—”
“Yes, I know. I signed one.” He explained what happened between him and Katerina. “But my father? He doesn’t seem to have finished and he’s not at his cabin.”
“Sorry to hear that. We have no record of him completing the event on our end.”
Connor’s stomach swam with emotion and then sunk as he ended the call.
The cough. The drinking. Dennis Wolfe might not have made it back. And that may have been on purpose. The old man would probably have been content enough to die in the woods alone. Nonetheless, Connor made the appropriate calls to the authorities.
Hours later, it was confirmed that a forest ranger had found Dennis a few days after the challenge.
Connor was still by the Jeep outside the cabin. He felt adrift. No lighthouse. No shore in sight.
He went inside for a moment and found the tattered photograph Dennis had kept of his wife—Connor’s mother. Staying there and wasting away like his father had done tempted him. He could turn to that bottle on the table. Live alone there. A wild man. A wolf. He’d survive.
Instead, he went outside.
Katerina’s image flashed in his mind as he approached the Jeep. She was his beacon.
It was time to burn the boats. There was no going back. He wasn’t his father. He wasn’t sure who he was, but he’d leave himself with no choice but to persevere and find out.
He wasn’t going to become the man alone in the woods. He made another call and then set a fire.
Connor dropped to his knees, photo in hand, and watched the cabin burn as the sirens wailed in the distance, already alerted to the blaze. It was a dangerous thing to do, but he knew the only way he’d win was if he left himself with no choice. There was no going back. For the trouble, he’d make a hefty donation to the local fire department.
Connor didn’t know where he was going until he pulled up outside the Wolf Sanctuary he’d funded when he and the guys made a pact to give back in some way—it was Ryan’s doing mostly. Mr. Kelly, Ryan’s dad, taught him and his brothers the importance of giving time, money, and any other resources available to someone or something that needed it. Connor chose wolves.
There was an enclosed area where visitors could observe and if they were lucky, see a white, gray, or reddish wolf—the rarest.
He sat there for ages as the sun settled over the pine trees along the horizon. He then did something he hadn’t done often but felt called by something outside himself yet deeply seated within him. Connor folded his hands together and said a prayer that his father was at peace. One of the guys he’d sometimes stay with on the weekends in high school when he had to overnight for football games would drag him to church every Sunday so he knew the basics, but he hadn’t really understood until he’d asked for Katerina to be okay. Now, he was praying for himself to come through the darkness.
Even as night fell, an overwhelming sense of certainty, that his father was at peace and that there was another Father at work in his life all along, settled over him. Was that God? He didn’t really need to ask. He knew the answer. Yes. It was God. His hand had been there guiding him all along. A wave of grief and relief swept over him.
In the distance, a wolf howled as if in confirmation. Connor released a howl of his own in response. It was mournful but necessary. Bold but true.
Then a sense of peace swelled inside of him.
But there was a question he still couldn’t come up with a response to...why did he want to win?
Once more, he drove aimlessly all night until he reached the place he’d called home after he’d crawled out of the backwoods he’d only just left in a heap of smoldering ash.
The Boston Bruiser’s training facility was quiet—most of the guys were already on the west coast for camp. For some reason, he felt like it was his first visit all over again. A faint sense of excitement and relief bubbled under his skin. He’d made it back, again. This was home. He exhaled a sigh of relief as he walked to the locker room. He needed a shower to wash away the past.
Inside, he found Ryan, cleaning out his locker. “Hey, man. What are you doing here? I thought you were getting schooled overseas,” the running back said.
“Something like that.”
He wore the wedding band on his fourth finger—he’d never seen anyone so happy as his buddy had been last Christmas when he was reunited with his high school sweetheart. “Want to throw a ball around?”
“Actually, yeah.”
Ryan sniffed the air. “Been camping. You smell like woodsmoke and look like heck.”
He didn’t have the energy to explain. Connor flashed to the decisive moment when he’d considered remaining in the woods like his father had done. No, he wasn’t his father. Not at all.
His teammate took a long look at him. “Something is going on. I’d like to say I could take you in a team tackle, but there’s only one of me. The others are in LA already and I think your fellow pranksters are still making their way back from Concordia. I heard about Hammer’s ultimatum.”
“Yeah, the playbook.” He went on to explain. “I’m pretty sure I broke the rules.” Connor drew a deep breath. “Weird question, but how’d you know you were in love with Rachel?”
Ryan’s head snapped in Connor’s direction. “Wolf? Is that you or is this some kind of cyborg imposter. I, uh, have to admit I didn’t know you were familiar with that particular word. Love.”
Connor let out a low chuckle. “To be honest. I didn’t either.”
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“I knew I was in love when I’d do anything for Rachel. I’d dress up like Santa. I’d admit I was wrong. I’d move mountains. I’d make sacrifices. I’d do anything to see where that feeling for her might take me even if I was scared.”
“You, scared?” Connor lowered onto the bench. “I don’t believe it.”
“Yeah. They don’t tell you that love can be scary. Not like seeing four of the biggest players in the league coming at you when you’re running down the field with the ball scary and not like getting any eyeful of the backsides of four grown men scary.” He laughed.
Connor cracked a smile, opening the floodgates as he gave Ryan an overview of the last four weeks.
He left out the part about how the kiss with Katerina, the first one especially, had blown his world apart. It took every lie he’d told himself about the meaning of love and blasted them to bits and revealed the truth. He wasn’t who he thought he was, the guy who was the first to walk away, a perpetual bachelor, and afraid of commitment. He wanted to be with Katerina for as long as she’d have him. He’d do anything for her.
“I think you’re in love, man. I guess the best way to understand it is that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’d do anything to win her heart.”
Connor went still. His own heart may have even stopped. At last, he knew the answer to Katerina’s question.
“I’m the defense. The tackler. No one gets by me. Except Kat slid past along with love. I love her.” He got to his feet and repeated those words. “I’ve been an idiot.”
“More words I did not expect to hear out of that mouth of yours. With all these changes, just make sure you keep in the zone on the field.”
“Got it.”
“We need you, man.” Ryan clapped him on the shoulder.
“I love Katerina,” Connor said.
“That’s great, but stop telling me and go tell her.” Ryan chuckled.
Connor was out the door before Ryan had finished the sentence.