Yuri

by Marian Tee

  “I’ll try.”

  But there was a silent, troubled question in her eyes, and Yuri, correctly interpreting it, said quietly, “I won’t leave. I will be in the headquarters. You can use our TV to access the surveillance cameras. I taught you how to do it, remember?”

  “Yes. I remember.” He felt her slowly relax against him.

  When they were back at the club, he took her straight to their suite and tucked her in. “Lights out or not?”

  “Not.”

  He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Sleep tight, sweetheart.” But he had just turned around when he felt her clutch the back of his shirt.

  He turned around and saw her staring at him with a pale, tired face. She looked like she was about to break any second, and helplessness ate at him because he no longer knew what to do.

  “I love you, Yuri,” she whispered.

  “I love you, too.”

  But this time, it hurt to say the words.

  He didn’t know why, but worse, he didn’t know either that Kalli had heard the pain in his voice. And it hurt her.

  Leaving their suite, Yuri went directly to the private library for the officers and placed a call to the one person he thought he would never have any reason to contact.

  Dr. Korba answered at the first ring. “Mr. Athanas. What may I do for you?”

  “I’ll keep this brief.”

  Silas listened, patiently, and when the younger man was done speaking, he answered, pouring his poison into Yuri Athanas’ mind just as patiently.

  Anytime now, he thought triumphantly when the Greek scion ended the call.

  He just had to continue biding his time, and once the first domino fell, everything would follow. Yuri Athanas would be out of the picture, and Kalliope Antoniou would be his.

  Silas’ lips tightened. And this time, he wouldn’t treat her as gently. She would still be his wife, but only because of the money. But this time, he would treat her like a whore.

  ****

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Yuri asked hours later as they changed for dinner.

  Kalli only nodded, but the stubborn glint in her violet eyes told him there was no talking her out of it.

  He sighed. “You know this may be another opportunity for me to tell you I told you so?” But he only said it to tease the darkness out of her gaze, and he succeeded somewhat. Kalli was smiling at him, and the brightness of it managed to dispel most of the shadows that still haunted her gaze.

  “I want to be normal.”

  He wondered if she realized how her words had changed. It used to be she had only been different and special. Now, that was gone.

  She was facing the full-length mirror in his suite, clipping pearl earrings into place. She wore a high-collared white dress, with long billowing sleeves, and a bronze belt cinched around her slim waist. And in her two-inch kitten heels, she was a lot taller and looked fit to walk the runway.

  But the beauty was lost on him.

  For the first time, Yuri realized uneasily that he wasn’t seeing Kalli when he looked at her. Instead, he saw the young, fourteen-year-old Kalli, whose soul had still been chained to the past because of Madame’s cruelty.

  The realization made him guilty, and he looked away abruptly.

  He completely missed seeing the pain in Kalli’s eyes as he turned away.

  “Shall we go?”

  “Yes.”

  At dinner, Kalli and Yuri barely spoke, and their tension permeated the atmosphere in the room despite every awkward attempt of their friends to ease the strain between them.

  “A call for you at the library, sir,” a volunteer informed him.

  Yuri stood up, feeling privately relieved to have an excuse to leave the room. He needed…space. He needed time to think things through. “Kalli, I’ll be taking this call.”

  She nodded slowly, but fear had started clouding her eyes again.

  “I’m not going away. I’m just going to take a call. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” Turning away, he felt Kalli’s gaze on his back as he headed to the door. It’s going to be okay, he told himself firmly.

  But it was not.

  When he came back, it was chaos.

  The officers were on their feet, and there was a volunteer, sobbing. “I didn’t do anything,” she cried. “I just tripped. You all saw me! I didn’t mean to trip and then she—” Her eyes flew to the far end of the room, and that was when Yuri saw Kalli standing stiff and alone, her beautiful face pale, stony, and remorseless.

  “She slapped me for no reason!”

  Kalli’s lips moved.

  Yuri read the silently spoken word.

  Liar.

  Yuri strode forward. “I’m sorry, Claire.” If it had been the other volunteer, Lily, he would have thought it was a setup. But it wasn’t, and now he knew he had to withhold his judgment until he heard Kalli’s side.

  “I will speak to my fiancée about this,” he continued quietly. His gaze sought Kalli’s over the volunteer’s head, and Kalli returned his gaze unblinkingly.

  He turned to Kellion and repeated his apologies.

  Kellion shook his head. “You know we all understand. I’ll handle this. You have someone else to look after.”

  His lips twisted, and his voice was uncharacteristically hard as he said, “Kalli told me herself she doesn’t need my help.”

  Kellion gazed at him oddly. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say, but whatever it is…” The president’s voice was blunt. “You sound like an asshole.”

  And when he turned to face Kalli and saw that she had heard him speak, he did feel like an asshole.

  He took her to the private dining room in their floor and for once, Kalli didn’t volunteer to make a bento for them, leaving Yuri to scrounge through the freezer for food. Finally, he found pasta and salad to microwave and had them steaming and ready to eat ten minutes later.

  Kalli started eating, swiftly and gracefully.

  “You want to tell me what happened?” he asked finally.

  “The volunteer said Madame is coming.”

  He frowned. “She specifically said ‘Madame’?”

  She nodded.

  Yuri stared at her.

  She stared back at him.

  Could she be crazy after all?

  He pushed the thought away as soon as it occurred, but it was too late, even though he hadn’t known it.

  Kalli had seen it.

  Having lost his appetite, Yuri pushed his plate away and said slowly, “According to the volunteer, she tripped, stumbled against your chair, and accidentally hit your head. That’s when you slapped her. She was already apologizing, but you still slapped her.”

  Kalli slowly lowered her fork. “She was lying.” Her voice was perfectly composed. If Mila Antoniou had been alive, she would have known this was Kalli at her bravest and…most terrified. This was Kalli back when she was still it and under Madame’s thumb.

  “I see.” But he didn’t. All he knew was that he had two versions of the incident, and Kalli’s rang more like fiction than the truth.

  When they went to bed, they kept the lights on at Kalli’s request. It was also the first time they had their backs to each other.

  “Yuri?”

  His guilt increased at the sound of her whisper, and he almost hated her for it. For almost his whole life he had lived with guilt, and here she was, fucking adding to it.

  “What is it?”

  “Please don’t look at me like that again.”

  He didn’t answer, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

  “I’m not crazy, but you make believe me I am.”

  Finally, he said, “I’m sorry.” He could say the words because they were true. He did mean them. He was sorry, but it wasn’t just for the things Kalli thought he ought to be sorry about.

  For one thing, he was sorry for who he was because it was beginning to be clear to him that he might not be the right man for Kalli.

  He had loved his fathe
r, Nelson Athanas, for years, and it had blinded him nearly to the point of causing his sister irreparable harm.

  But Kalliope Antoniou?

  She wasn’t even related to him by blood. He had only even known her for weeks.

  And yet here he was, wanting to lie to himself and to everyone else.

  He would kill anyone who told him Kalli wasn’t normal, would kill anyone who tried to take her away from him.

  But would that be the right kind of love?

  He stared sightlessly at the ceiling.

  How the hell could someone like Kalli survive without him?

  How the hell could a broken man like Yuri protect her?

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Do you believe me?”

  Leon settled back against his seat. When he had come to walk her to class early this morning, he had been surprised when the heiress asked him if he knew a quiet place for them to be alone.

  If he were honest, there had been the smallest part of him that thought it would lead to an assignation, and so he had brought her to the small office the school administration had given to him.

  When he had her comfortable in her seat, he had asked her how she was doing, thinking she would tell him about her beach getaway, which the university had been enviously talking about the entire weekend.

  Instead, she had given him her life story.

  Every painful, incredible part of it.

  He said finally, “Yes, I believe you.” This time, because he knew how much honesty meant to Kalli, he only spoke the truth. “I’m not sure why I find it easy to believe you, but I just do.”

  “Then you do not think I’m crazy?”

  He slowly shook his head. “No. I don’t.” He paused. “But you have to give your biker some slack. Everything that’s happened seems designed to make you look insane.”

  Kalli nodded. “I feel it here, you know.” Her fist banged against her chest, surprising Leon. “Madame is dead,” she whispered, “but her evil is everywhere, like a parasite on people’s souls.”

  “Have you talked to anyone about this besides Yuri and your therapist?”

  She shook her head. “It would be disloyal,” she said simply, “to talk to his friends about my doubts. It’s only because you are my friend that I have told you this.”

  He hesitated then asked abruptly, “Is there anything I can do?”

  She, too, hesitated then nodded. “I…think so.” She opened her bag and rummaged through it until she found a business card. She handed it to him. “Could you please contact this man? He is my family’s lawyer. Simply tell him I have asked you to help me, and he will assist you.”

  He frowned. “I’m not sure what you want me to do.”

  “Find out the truth for me.” Her voice caught. “Because right now…I no longer trust myself. I sometimes think…I am under stress and that I have indeed imagined everything. And if I try to find the truth on my own, people might not believe me.”

  Ah.

  His fists clenched. He wanted to hold her in his arms, just to give her some kind of comfort, but he didn’t. There was just something about Kalliope Antoniou that was too pure for the likes of him. Or maybe everyone else, including the biker who was taking her for granted.

  “Don’t blame Athanas for not believing you,” he said gruffly. “Based on what you’ve told me, he’s got his own share of scars to heal from.”

  “I understand.”

  But he saw in her eyes that she was trying but failing to understand. In her eyes, he saw hurt, and it blinded her like a child, leaving her unable to see anything past the pain. He said uneasily, “Don’t do anything crazy—” Shit. He realized right away he had chosen the wrong word. “Kalli, you know I don’t—”

  “Of course,” she said politely.

  After, when Kalli was long gone, he continued to think about her.

  He had to do whatever he could as fast as possible.

  The more he thought about Kalli, the more he thought that he hadn’t seen anyone looking so damn alone as she did.

  When she had been with Madame, she had not broken because she hadn’t known what she was missing.

  But now she did.

  ****

  “You are doing what’s right, Mr. Athanas,” Silas said in a low, reassuring voice. “With special patients like Ms. Antoniou, it is critical that you do not do or say anything that might upset her.” Having learned from his first and unfortunate encounter with the Greek scion, the doctor was now careful and circumspect when referring to Kalliope.

  “You are also doing a great job,” he continued, “in keeping your worries to yourself.” But in truth, it was the opposite. From the notes he had gathered about Madame’s case, he had found out that silence would further destroy Kalli’s confidence.

  Silence would remind Kalli about how Madame treated her as an object, and that was exactly how he wanted things to be between the heiress and her arrogant fiancé.

  “Finally, sir…” He took a deep breath. “If she ever becomes violent, I have taken the liberty of notifying my colleagues in your area. They are on standby and will be able to take her to a private clinic where she will be treated.”

  With his dick, he thought in cruel pleasure.

  He had flown in to Florida as early as last weekend because he could feel it in his bones that the first domino was close, so excitingly close to falling, and he wanted to be there when Yuri Athanas’ whole world came crashing down on him.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Yuri Athanas was saying coldly.

  Silas didn’t let this affect him, only murmuring, “But she must if you truly love her, Mr. Athanas. Everything that’s happening now is because the shock from the late Mrs. Antoniou’s death has finally worn off, and she finds herself grasping for something stable and familiar. Our clinic can provide her with such an environment.”

  Yuri closed his eyes wearily after his call with the doctor.

  What do I do, sweetheart? He wished he could ask Kalli about it, but he couldn’t.

  He remembered the first few days he had with Kalli, and how innocently beautiful they all were.

  Kalli, looking up at him as she held his hand, her voice grave as she asked, “This is how we should walk, shouldn’t we?”

  And he had asked, “According to…”

  “The Internet,” she had answered simply.

  He remembered Kalli introducing herself to the former president. I am Kalliope, but you may also call me Kalli. I am the girl Yuri loves.

  He remembered her pointing to his dick. “Make it stop moving and growing!”

  God.

  It felt like an eternity had passed since those days. Everything had been so bright, and now it was all darkness, and he was lost.

  It was the past all over again.

  He loved, and he was blinded by it.

  ****

  Rain played a melancholic melody outside the executive kitchen of the Afxisi headquarters, fogging up windows and creating an atmosphere that was more lonely than sad. It was smaller than the common kitchen on the ground floor and was more rustic than modern, with overhead wooden beams lining the high ceiling and reclaimed brick walls.

  Only one person was inside the kitchen, and her eyes were blind to the beauty surrounding her. All her frowning concentration was focused on the two-partitioned bento box on the worktable, which lacked only the finishing touches.

  In the larger section of the box, a cheese cutout forming the shape of a girl, holding a pink umbrella made of cold cut ham, was placed on top of a small serving of vermicelli noodles cooked in aglio olio. Under the pasta was the “ground” consisting of olives and tomatoes, where the girl stood, while around the cheese girl were raindrops made of minced red onion.

  In the smaller partition was a fresh appetizer made of mini carrot sticks, golden potato balls, and cauliflowers.

  There was just enough space for a fruit dessert, and this was the last thing that Kalli completed, peeling an apple in such a w
ay that it created a red-and-white checkered pattern.

  Pushing the vegetable appetizer to the edge with her fork, she placed the apple inside the box and afterwards leaned back to consider her work.

  She waited for the usual flush of pleasure to wash over her, but it didn’t come, and it…terrified her.

  Squaring her shoulders, Kalli forced herself to focus on her work. She set aside the box and worked on the next. Her lips moved in a feverish, soundless chant.

  I. Will. Not. Break.

  But before the next day was over, she would.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Andreus and Yuri met in the hallway early in the morning. One of them had just come out of the bedroom, the other having just gotten back home.

  They eyed each other warily, both of them unable to forget the last time they had spoken and nearly came to blows.

  “You look like you haven’t been sleeping,” Andreus said finally.

  Yuri relaxed slightly. He hadn’t wanted a repeat of their altercation any more than Andreus seemed to. “I haven’t been taking my meds. The last time I did…” His lips twisted. “You know what happened.”

  “But nothing happened.”

  He shook his head. “Something could have—”

  “And that’s why you’re torturing both of you?” Andreus shook his head. “I learned from Helios you’ve extended your leave and you’ve made the same request for Kalli. So what’s the plan now, Yuri? You’ll lock each other here and just let yourselves die slowly at how miserable your lives have become?”

  Yuri didn’t answer.

  “Look, I know I’m the last person that should give you advice.” His tone was both stiff and weary. “But you know what they say. People from the outside see more, and right now all I’m seeing is that you – not Kalli – YOU are the one causing both of you pain. You’re letting the shit in your past color how you look at her, brother. I hope you realize I’m telling the truth before it’s too late.”