Page 131 of His to Own

As if he can sense me looking, Maxim’s eyes flick to mine and they widen. Before he can come get me, I storm out of the club. I make it to my car but Maxim catches up to me in record time.

“Elena,” he says. “What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t tell me you were going to be at work for so long. I was waiting for you to come home. You didn’t come home.”

“I didn’t think you’d want me to be at home. After what I told you, you seemed pretty freaked out. I thought some space would do us good.”

“After you pushed me to stop hiding, you go and hide yourself? How is that fair?”

Maxim flinches. “You’re right. That isn’t fair. Why did you come here?”

“I hit my father,” I gasp out, bending over. “I hit him.” I can’t breathe. Breathe. I need air.

“What?” Maxim wraps his arms around me. “Elena, breathe. Don’t pass out on me again. Breathe.”

I suck in a deep gulp of air but I can’t stand up right. Instead, I crumble to the ground.

“Elena.”

“I hit him, Maxim. I hit my father with a bookend. Right in the head.”

He goes still. “Is he…?”

“He’s alive. I didn’t kill him.”

“At least you’re not like me.” He offers me his cheeky smile but I’m not in a smiling mood and he realizes that. “Are you all right?” He cups my face and that’s when he sees the bruise on my cheek. “Did your father do this to you?”

“Yes.”

He flutters his eyes closed and presses his head to mine. “I will kill him.”

“I almost did and I couldn’t do it. If you kill him, it will only ruin everything. Your alliance with Nikolai could end and what would happen then?”

“I can’t let him just get away with this. He hit you, Elena.”

“And I hit him back. I can’t believe I did that. I needed you to know. I didn’t want you to know at first. I felt so much shame. But I had to tell you. I had to let you know that I trust you. That I don’t judge you for what you did to your parents.”

“You don’t?”

“I… I get it. I get why you killed them. Sometimes I want my father gone so badly. There’s times I even want my mother dead too. What does that say about me?”

His soft smile makes me want to cry. “It makes you human, Elena. Your parents hurt you just like mine did to me. It’s natural to not want them in your life.”

“So why did you tell me to invite them to the show?”

“Because I thought it would be better for your case if you could make amends with them instead of doing what I did. I don’t want you to be exactly like me. I want you to be better. To be good. I need that in life to balance me out. Otherwise…”

I search his face, looking for all his hidden depths. “Otherwise?”

“Otherwise the darkness would overtake me. Even more than it already has. I care for you so fucking much, Elena. I don’t want to lose you to that darkness too.”

“I hit him,” I whisper.

“And I don’t judge you. That fucker had it coming.”

I cling to Maxim’s shirt. “What do I do? How do I make this feeling go away? How do I feel happy?”

A determination enters his eyes as he stands up and pulls me to my feet. He grabs my keys from my hand and opens the car door. He slides into the seat and motions at me. “Come on.”