The street below was quiet, the air still warm with the last heat of summer. But I was happy for the fresh air, hoped that maybe the breeze, the occasional noise would help distract me from my swirling thoughts.
Five minutes later, though, they hadn’t calmed an iota. I left the window open but sat in my armchair and looked down at my palm, studying the earrings in my hand. As I stared at them, I remembered.
* * *
The man stared down at her with cold eyes, but his eyes on her didn’t reignite the terror that had held her tight since that fateful moment, one she realized hadn’t been too long ago, when the front door had come splintering off its hinges and that monstrous man had burst in.
No, his eyes on her had the unexpected effect of calming her. She blinked, her eyes still on him. He’d said he wasn’t going to kill her, but she wasn’t sure what to do next.
“Is h-he out there?” she finally asked, the tears that had filled her eyes spilling as she thought of what might await her outside of the bathroom.
“No,” he said, still looking at her with a cold but not exactly menacing expression.
She believed his assurance, but the tears still ran.
“Wipe your face, girl,” he said almost gruffly.
On instinct, she lifted her hands to her face, swiping against her cheeks, wiping away what she didn’t know then would be the last of her tears.
When her face was as dry as she could get it, she lifted her eyes to him.
“Are you going to stay here until Santo changes his mind and comes back to kill you? Or are you going to come with me?” he said.
She made her decision in less than a second. “I’m going to come with you.”
He didn’t acknowledge her but turned, and she followed him. But before they went down the hall, he stopped, looked back at her.
“Turn your eyes away,” he said.
Then he’d continued, not waiting to see if she would comply. She had, though, had kept her eyes glued to his broad back, not looking left or right, or forward. Only at him.
She heard the other people in the house, the low, murmured whispers, but she just kept her eyes on him until they exited the house. When the breeze brushed her face, she blinked, fought back the tears that threatened, felt the most minuscule spark of pride when they didn’t fall.
He kept moving and she continued to follow him across the street to a waiting car. He nodded toward the door, and she got in, unable to keep herself from looking back at her house. It was silent like it always was, the houses on either side of theirs vacant, the others located further down the street, far enough that she couldn’t hear them, nor them her.
At the sight of the first spark, she sat up straighter, narrowed her eyes as she watched the house. The fire started small, with that single spark, but it grew quickly, engulfing the house so fast she could barely believe it.
“Wait!” she yelled when the car began to move. She managed to break her gaze away from the house long enough to glance at him through the rearview mirror. She met those cold eyes again, the fact that she was looking at him through the mirror not reducing the intensity at all. “Please.”
The last word came out a teary whisper, but after a moment he nodded. She turned back then, watched as the house, her family, her life as she had known it were consumed.
And he’d said nothing, though some distant part of her knew that he watched her. It was only when she heard the shrill whine of sirens that she looked away from the house and back to the eyes that still watched her.
“Can we go now?” she asked.
* * *
Senna
The earrings fell from my hands, and the nearly inaudible sound of them hitting the soft carpet brought me back to the present.
I almost never thought about that night, tried my hardest not to, but I couldn’t pretend anymore. That night, I had given the responsibility for my life to Maxim, had let him keep that responsibility for years.
I was taking that responsibility back now. I stood, put the earrings back into the pouch, and secured it in my bag. Then I grabbed the bag and strode out of the room.
After I made my way downstairs, I headed toward the front door.
With every step, I thought someone would stop me, that Adrian, Sergei, maybe even Maxim himself would spring out from around one of the corners and grab me, drag me back.
No one did, though, and I finally figured out why.
Maxim had done as he always did. Told me what would happen, told me what couldn’t. And he expected me to do as I always did and fall in line.
He would be disappointed.
As much as I loved him, as happy as I had been to hide behind him, I wasn’t anymore. I was going to find my own path, make a life for my baby, even if it didn’t include him.