Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Hearing him speak Russian makes goosebumps spread over my body, and before I know what I’m doing, I pick up Vincent.
“Mommy!” my little boy snaps. “I’m playing.”
Viktor’s eyes snap to me, and it feels like I’m hit with a thousand-pound hammer. Instinctively I take a step backward.
“Who’s this?” he asks Rosalie.
“She’s the friend I told you about. Viktor meet Everleigh.” She glances in my direction, and the smile drops from her face. “What’s wrong?”
Another man comes into sight, and my heart explodes from my chest. My legs give way, and I sink to the tiles, my arms locking tightly around Vincent.
Alek.
With wide eyes, I stare at the man I love, unable to make a sound. The shock makes my vision tunnel on him.
Alek.
He glances from Viktor to me, and I watch as the blood drains from his face. He shakes his head as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
An eternity passes between us.
The long darkness where it was just the two of us. Watching him getting beaten. Watching the skin being torn from his back. Vincent being killed. Alek being shot because he pushed me out of the way.
His father dragging me out into a field and shooting me like an animal.
All the hell we’ve been through is laid bare between us.
I hear voices and feel as Rosalie crouches beside me. She pulls my crying son from my arms, and all I can do is stare at his father.
He still looks the same…yet he doesn’t. He’s taller than I remember, and his body is more muscled. His face looks older, all the boyishness gone from his features.
He looks just as scary as Viktor.
Alek shakes his head again, his features tightening until he looks devastatingly broken.
My breaths saw over my lips. My heart hammers uncontrollably, and I start to feel dizzy.
Alek
I stare at the ghost of Everleigh, thinking I’ve completely lost it.
Today I’ll be locked up in a padded cell.
I hear Viktor’s voice. “Is your friend okay?”
“I don’t know,” Rosalie answers as she rushes to Everleigh’s side. “She’s having an anxiety attack. Make some sugar water.”
I watch as Rosalie takes the crying boy from Everleigh’s arms, and it becomes too real.
I shake my head, and still, I see Everleigh.
“Alek?” I feel Viktor’s hand on my shoulder as he shakes me. “What the fuck is going on here?”
I blink, and unable to tear my eyes away from the ghost of the woman I love, I ask, “Do you see her?”
“Of course, I fucking see her,” he mutters.
My body moves on its own, and when I reach Everleigh, I drop down to my knees in front of her. I carefully lift a trembling hand, scared if I touch her, she will vanish.
I hesitate for the longest moment, my eyes drinking in the sight of her beautiful face.
My heart is nothing but a whisper in my chest as my fingers brush over her cheek. I feel the heat of her skin and my heart stutters.
Wrapping my hand behind her neck, I feel her warmth again. I yank her to my chest and pull her onto my lap. Just like we did in the dark room, I hold the woman I love.
Is this really happening, or is it a dream?
I press my face into her hair, and when I take a breath of her, she smells different. Something fresh and sweet.
My body shudders, and I groan, “I miss you so much, moya malen'kaya lyubov'.” I start to press kisses against her hair. “It’s getting harder and harder to live without you.”
“What did you say her name was?” I hear Viktor ask.
“Everleigh…Everleigh Adams,” Rosalie answers. “Shhh…your mommy is okay. Everything’s okay. Shhh…” she pacifies the little boy.
Rosalie’s words sink into my mind, and pushing Everleigh back, I stare at her beautiful face again.
“Are you real?” I ask, my mind a mess of madness and confusion.
Everleigh looks at me as if I’m the ghost. A sob bursts from her before she nods.
Something detonates in me as the realization hits.
She’s real.
“Iisus Khristos,” Viktor whispers. “She’s alive.”
She’s alive. If they see her, she must be real.
The realization keeps hitting me in waves, my eyes locked on the woman I thought I had lost.
“You didn’t die?” I manage to ask.
She shakes her head.
When she doesn’t say anything, I beg, “Say something. Say anything!”
“I m-missed you t-too,” she sobs.
The bubble we shared for over two months wraps around us. I pull her back to my chest, soaking in the warmth of her body.
I don’t know how much time passes, and I don’t care.
Holding Everleigh, the cracks in my mind vanish, and my broken heart starts to mend, beating stronger than ever.
My shattered soul becomes whole.
She’s alive.
Again the realization hits, and again I push her back so I can see her face. Our eyes lock, and I feel her in my soul.