Page 37 of Devil's Vows

Time. I just need time to figure it all out. I microwave the pizza for the girls and nibble along on what I find palatable. I can’t wait to give Kostya a mile-long list of ingredients to nourish these girls—this family—with good, wholesome, fresh food. One of the many Italian love languages and one I’m very proud of.

After lunch, we’re walking the grounds. Turns out there’s a lot more to the outbuildings than just stables. Beyond them, there’s housing that looks more like a small village for the men who work on the estate, also off-limits.

Closer to the house, there’s a new swimming pool, enclosed with a glass fence, and a garden, freshly laid out. These are recent additions, and the girls stare longingly at the water.

“It’s too cold and not heated,” Yuri says. “Next summer.”

I nod in agreement, a shudder running through me for no reason. Must be the thought of the chilly water.

By the time we head back to the house, I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day, intense with a lot of emotions, currently bordering on irritation as Yuri still shadows me.

At times, he stepped away, taking a call, with just enough distance so he could watch us, but without me being able to hear what he was saying or who he was talking to. Even while the girls were playing on the big jungle gym after they showed me their chickens and cute rabbits, he hovered, watching me, waiting for me to give something away. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, and it irks me that nobody trusts me with my young charges.

It’s dinner time, and I’m walking up the lawn to the house, holding each girl by the hand. I sense Katya is going to slip into tantrum territory soon, having missed her usual nap because she had one in the car this morning. Irisha is hanging by a thread. As I glance up to the house, it’s a blank page. I can’t seeinto any windows except for the big one that looks out from the kitchen.

A woman stands by the kitchen sink, staring back at us through the window.Milana. When I smile at her with a small wave, she shakes her head and wipes at her cheek.

Goodness. She’s crying.

She’s sad.Katya’s words from earlier ring in my mind. From here, Milana looks wistfully at the girls. I bet interacting with them would help her mood, but by the time we reach the kitchen, she’s gone.

Milana is ignoring me. For all that Petrov said she’s here, she might as well be a ghost. Looking at this mansion, I won’t be surprised if it’s haunted.

The only other human I have contact with is Yuri, who is breathing down my neck like theCustode Nero,waiting for me to commit the smallest of sins and report everything to Petrov. Or for me drop my mask and reveal my secrets. And I have too many to count. I’m not going to be able to relax in his presence at all.

As for Petrov, there’s been no sign of him. My reaction to him still flits through my mind at the weirdest of times. The warm buzz when his leg bumped against mine on the sofa as we read my book with the girls. How his arm rested on the backrest, creating the perfect hollow for a woman to nestle in, right there against his chest. A slow brush of longing slides through my body at the notion that he could have run his fingers through my hair, could have leaned in to whisper sweet nothings in my ear.

It's just my inexperience talking. I’ve never been around a man like him—a man who sparks the sensations Chiara kept yapping on about.

These thoughts need to fuck right off. I can’t even think?—

Of course you can,Chiara butts in, making me squirm.

Oh, Chiara,I reprimand the voice in my head.The last thing I can afford is to nurture the sinful lust for Ivan Petrov that’s budding in my core.

19

GABI

I manage to ward off rogue thoughts about my young charges’ father through dinner, because the food is just dire: a horrid ready-made pasta mix Yuri pulls from the disaster-zone pantry. It has so many E-numbers in the ingredients list, I squint reading them. I quietly vow this is the last sacrilegious abomination the girls will consume in my presence. Tomorrow, I tackle the kitchen. The busier I am, the less time I have to ruminate and spiral.

We head upstairs, and after their bath, I put the girls to bed in the safe room with a story. They almost immediately fall asleep, leaving me staring at the tented ceiling, wondering what the fuck I’ve gotten myself into and howGodwants me to fix this mess.

Ready to serve. As God sees fit.What was I thinking? It’s as if with those few words I’ve sealed my fate here.

“They had to wake up early this morning for the drive to Central Park,” Yuri says from the lounge area where he’d been listening in.

I suppress a groan. I just can’t shake this guy.

With the girls asleep, he and I are essentially alone. Now Idon’t want to leave them, but I can’t stay here, either…not in Petrov’s bedroom, waiting for him to come home like a…like awife.

I switch on the night-time monitor and head for the door, ignoring Yuri.

He stands and follows me down the corridor.

My heart crawls up my throat with each step I take as my isolation hits me hard.

I’m alone, with this man. Those shadow tattoos on his fingers…