Page 21 of Essence of Fear

Twelve was twelve.

Pav was told twelve.

A humming buzz echoed throughout the hallway before Konstantin’s voice came through a speaker next to the door. “You may come in, Zhatka.”

Pav was already pushing open the door with a muttered, “It’s Pavel.”

He hadn’t asked for that nickname.

He didn’t want it at all.

Pav already laid eyes on the woman inside the office before the door shut behind him. She sat across from her brother at Konstantin’s desk with wide eyes as she looked at Pav over her shoulder. He thought, like he had earlier when he’d run into her downstairs and realized she was lost, that she looked awfully dainty for such a cold woman.

How did he know she was cold?

She radiated it.

In her gaze …

The hard set of her lips …

The way she carried herself.

The woman was cold all over.

Not that it bothered Pav one way or another. If anything, he found her coldness comforting, seeing as how he felt the same way a lot of the time. But there was something else about the platinum blonde, blue-eyed woman that interested him more. Something beyond the high cheekbones and cream skin that showcased her very obvious beauty that made him take a second look at her. Oh, sure, she was something else to look at—bow-shaped lips, and round eyes; soft features, and a sharp gaze.

But it was her fear …

He could practically smell it.

Was that because he constantly spent time with people who felt only fear when he was near, or something else? Pav didn’t really know, but that changed nothing about what he felt first and foremost when in this woman’s presence.

Her fear was vast.

Thick and real.

Visceral, even.

And he liked it.

That was probably wrong.

“Yes, Pavel,” Konstantin said, “my apologies. Or Pav, Viktoria, he likes that, too.”

“We met already,” she muttered.

Pav didn’t miss the way Konstantin’s gaze drifted between the woman—who hadn’t looked away from him since he walked into the room—and Pav standing near the doorway. “Is that so?”

“I was lost. He helped me.”

“Hmm.”

Konstantin didn’t sound surprised. Pav didn’t believe he was, either. Nothing happened in this place without one of the Boykov brothers knowing. If someone didn’t tell them what went on, they were capable of watching it all happen as it played out on one of the many security cameras.

Konstantin drummed his fingertips to the desk, bringing Viktoria’s attention back to him. “Pav, this is Viktoria. My sister. She’ll be doing your tattoos today.”

Pav didn’t miss the way Viktoria’s shoulders tensed at that statement. Just like earlier when she had run into him, her fear bloomed.