Viktor(88)

It’s the first of many yet to come.



Now, I’m no longer hiding. No longer afraid of people’s reactions.

I can face them, proud of myself, proud of my scars because they mean something.

They signify the sacrifice that I made to save the love of my life.

And now that I have her with me again, I realize there’s no point in living if not to the fullest.

Some are still scared, but I don’t care anymore.

They can take me for who I am, or they can fuck off outta my store.

And my customers know this. In fact, they come here because they like it. They’re outcasts, just like me. Just like us.

Alexis helps me with the store too, mostly by watching the storefront while I’m in the workshop. I think she’s even started to like helping people find their perfect piece of handcrafted jewelry. She seems to love the money the most, though.

I don’t blame her; I do too. There’s no need for schemes anymore, and she doesn’t need to sell her body to make a living either. Even her sister has joined in on our little business, finding and buying shipments of raw jewels at the lowest price while also managing the marketing.

Both of them have moved into my home. Together, we cleaned up the place, opening the curtains and getting rid of the broken furniture to make it livable again. Well, after the corpses were removed, of course, courtesy of Marcus’s crew. We buried Vladim’s body ourselves, so no trace of him will ever lead back to us.

But really, no one has bothered us since. Nothing’s bothering me anymore, either. I made peace with what happened to me. I even stopped using the pills to kill the pain. I don’t need them anymore. Maybe I was addicted to them, but now that I have her, the pain slowly stopped, so I threw them all out last week.

Dealing with the pain is not the only thing that’s going great, though. We’ve been living together in my home for quite some time now, and I can honestly say it’s never been better. We’re like one big happy family.

And all because I met her.

Because of how I saved her … and when I was at my lowest, she saved me too.

I smile as I blow the dust off the tiny diamond while looking at it through a thick, magnifying lens. Perfect. With special tweezers, I fiddle the diamond into the base and secure it by bending the tiny metal prongs into place. I push away the lens and look at the ring from afar, nodding like a proud motherfucker at my own work.

Then the door slams open, catching me by surprise.

“Viktor, did you—” Alexis looks up from her list, and she stops clicking her pen.

I quickly hide the ring behind my back but not in time.

“What’s that?” she says, narrowing her eyes.

“Uh … nothing,” I say, shrugging. “What’s up?”

“This can wait.” She throws the list of client names on my desk and walks up to me. “You said you were done for today.”

“I was just messing around.”

“No, you had something in your hand. You made something.” She tries to snatch it from me, but I’m too big for her to lean over. Her boobs almost fall into my face; that I like.

“Show it to me!” she says, play fighting me over it.

“No, you’ll ruin it.” I try to push her away, but she’s persistent.

“Ruin what?”

I raise a brow, slamming my lips shut while looking her directly in the eye. “Too late for that now.”

“Oh … oh, fuck …” she mutters, her hand covering her mouth. “Is this …”

I pull out the ring from behind my back and hold it up. She sucks in a breath at the sight of it.

“I was going to ask you formally, but I don’t think you’re the type who likes that.”

Her lips part but nothing comes out.

“I’ll just ask it now … random, surprise marriage proposal.”

“Oh, God …” She frowns, looking at the ring while I grab her hand.

“Is that a yes? Or do you want me to go down on one knee? Because I will.”

Tears well up in her eyes as I move off the stool and drop to one knee on the floor. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not,” she says, even though one is already rolling down her cheek, making me laugh.

I pick it up with my finger. “A girl like you doesn’t cry.”

“Exactly.” She sniffs. “I just … this never has … wow.”

“You don’t have to say yes. If it’s too quick, I understand.”

“What?” she mutters.

“It’s okay if you wanna wai—”

Her lips are suddenly on mine, smothering me with love.

Another tear rolls down her face and onto my lips, and my tongue dips out to lick it up.