Page 114 of Nikola

Ding dong! The witch was dead.

I gritted my teeth, silence enveloping my uncle Sasha’s Land Rover as I watched him drive me home. It made me feel like a useless, dependent schmuck. I had started physical therapy, but driving myself was still off-limits. I couldn’t use my knees even if I wanted to. Trust me, I’d tried.

He pulled up in front of my father’s home but didn’t move.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. “Jesus, are you going to start too?”

He looked at me. “Start what?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Just say what you want to say so I can get back to work.”

He shot me a disapproving look. “It’s Christmas Day, nephew.”

“Merry fucking Christmas,” I muttered. “Now, can we go?”

“I talked to Skye this morning,” he proceeded to say, ignoring my sarcasm. “When do you plan on calling her?”

My heart felt like a hollow gaping hole and my future a chessboard without its queen. I’d counted the days since I last kissed her: thirty-four painful days. It felt like years.

I needed her.

It was fucking pathetic how much I needed her. I missed her fire, her moans, her everything. As if she was my oxygen, and now that I’d tasted her, life without her was impossible. It was life without air. It was surviving, not living.

Funny how life worked.

Just as things fell into place, everything fell apart so hard and fast, leaving me staring at the rubble of what was left of my crippled life.

But something had shifted inside me since Skye left. The same way it shifted all those years ago as I tugged on her hair and kissed her accidentally. I knew even back then that I could never be her forever because of this life I was destined to.

I told Dante Leone I’d find her a husband, but the truth was that whenever I thought of it, vehemence crept through me with such violence that a cold sweat would break out beneath my skin and a tremble would start in my hands.

So I tabled it until I was… stronger.

“Nikola,” Uncle interrupted my thoughts. “I know you think you’re doing the right thing, but two broken hearts should tell you otherwise.”

“She’ll forget about me.”

“But willyouforget about her?” Uncle asked.

I pinched the bridge of my nose again. “What’s with you? You didn’t want me with Skye to start with. You should be happy.”

He took a deep breath and then exhaled it.

“Truthfully, I didn’t mind the idea that much once I thought it through.” I shot him a surprised look. “It made me realize that marrying you would officially make Skye a Nikolaev again. Besides, it makes sense.”

“What does?”

“That she’d fall for you. She always saw you as her protector. Her knight. Even when you pulled on her hair like some love-stricken boy.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “I should have known you two would be it all those years ago when I made you apologize and you kissed her.”

“It was an accident,” I muttered.

“Sure it was,” he grumbled. “Listen, Nikola. I know your father’s expectations to take over the Nikolaev empire were a lot to put on anyone as young as you. The truth was, Vasili took over caring for your aunt and me along with the Nikolaev criminal activities when he was way too young, and he had no business carrying that burden.”

I shrugged. “I’m fine with taking over.”

He nodded. “I know, but my point is that sometimes we act out when demands are put on us, but psychotic behavior is justa façade we hide under. However, it can leave you alone. What you and Skye found, made you a better person. Yes, you fucked up making a tape, but the two of you… you bring the best out of each other.”

He exited the car, and as I waited for him to grab the wheelchair from the back of the SUV, I stared in front of me.