Before I can start my apology for ditching him last night spiel, Serafin, Fabian, and Rafal push through my doorway, knocking the furniture littering the doorway area around. Fabian hasn’t aged a day since we were in high school, other than the fact that his hair and facial hair are a lot longer and he’s covered in tattoos. Rafal looks like he’s spent the last twelve years in the gym, his body nearly as wide as it is tall. They instantly start opening doors and flipping my apartment upside down as Serafin stands in the corner with his arms across his chest.
“What is this all about?” I shout. I storm over to Serafin, getting right in his face. “What the fuck do you guys think you’re doing?”
“Where is she?” he asks. His face looks cold and empty, like he’s asking a clerk at the grocery store where the potatoes are. This isn’t the man who falls over his feet for me, or even the man who was so happy to see me last night that he almost convinced me to fall in bed with him.
I notice there’s something not quite right about his eyes. They’re still dark and gorgeous, just like I remembered, but something seems off.
“She’s not here,” I say. “I haven’t seen her since last night. Now can you guys stop wrecking my shit? It’s not like I have a lot to my name.”
“Call her up. Get her over here,” Serafin says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because we need to have a little talk about what happened with Jakub last night.”
I purse my lips and my eyes grow wide. My palms start to sweat and it feels like the room is spinning.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He takes my chin in his hand, his fingers stroking down the vein in my neck. I’m sure he can feel my heart pounding. I try not to look in his dark eyes, but his face is right in mine, so close I can smell his aftershave and the mint of his toothpaste.
“Don’t lie to me, Mia. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you know better than to lie to me.”
“Did he die?” I ask.
“Thanks to your efforts, no.”
I bring my hand to his, hoping he’ll loosen his grip. Something about the control he has over me is both frightening and intoxicating. He’s definitely not a boy anymore. He’s a man, and he’s well aware of the power he has.
Rafal and Fabian come back into the living room. “She’s not here,” Fabian says.
“She was gone before I got home last night. I have no idea where she would’ve went. She was mad at me for calling the paramedics. She’s probably not going to answer the phone if I call. I’m sorry.”
Serafin moves his hand from my neck and starts stroking my hair, like I’m a good dog who just did a trick. Shame floods my body. I don’t know why I like pleasing him, but on some primal level, I do.
“You’re not in trouble,” he says in a soothing voice, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Not yet, at least.”
I pace over to the couch and sink down on it, hanging my head in my hands. “I’m not a hooker,” I blurt out. “I know what it looks like, but that’s not what was going on in that room last night.”
“Of course you aren’t. Why turn tricks for money when it’s so much easier to just fucking rob unsuspecting guys?” Fabian shouts.
“Hey!” Serafin says. “Knock it off. I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for this.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and let out a pained laugh. “You always want to see the good in me, Serafin. You always want to give me the benefit of the doubt. Did you ever think that maybe I’m just a shitty person?”
“I know you’re a shitty person,” Fabian says. “You left my best friend in the street to die and you ran off while he spent the next year in the hospital. Do you know how hard it was every day trying to explain to him that you weren’t coming back? You didn’t have to sit by his side every day while he fought for his life and listen to him worry about you. You went off to live your life and get married while we stayed here and cleaned up the mess. You might have moved on, but he’s still reliving that night every day. This man is so fucking blinded by whatever spell you have him under, he thinks he should swoop in and save you, but I see you, Mia. I know exactly what kind of person you are.”
“Enough!” Serafin growls, pushing Fabian out of the way.
I slowly stand up from the couch, my entire body shaking. I can feel my eyes start to flush with tears, but I don’t want to cry. Not in front of them.
“He’s right,” I mutter, my voice wavering. “You don’t owe me anything. Just tell me what I need to do to make this right, and I’ll be out of your way.”
Serafin reaches for my hand, but I pull away. It’s easier for me to be the person his friends think I am. It’s easier to be the person Janka made me into, a sleazy con artist, than explain to him what his parents did to me. It’s easier to take the hate than for him to have to realize his mother and father are monsters.
Plus, I’m the one who signed that contract. Just being within six feet of him is enough to violate it.
“Get your shit,” Rafal says. “You’re coming with us.”
“Excuse me?” I ask.
“If you can’t take us to Janka, we’re going to have to hope she comes to you.”
“I don’t think she will,” I admit. “I think she’s long gone.”
“Well then, I guess
