ADAM
They are running away, and I stand still, as if paralyzed. I need to stop them and try to explain, but I can't. I wasn't ready for this. I turn to Korniyev, his gaze frozen on the door where Amanda disappeared. I want to kill him for all the crap that has happened at his behest. And I thought a worse person couldn’t do anything more. I underestimated him for nothing. If this is true, and this bastard is indeed Amanda’s father, everything becomes too complicated. I really want to execute the plan I've been working on for the last few years. A plan that will erase Korniyev and his entire family. But right now... I don’t know what to do.
"That pup went after Amanda, even though I warned him not to approach." The man taps his fingers on the table, and though it annoys me, I say nothing.
"Say what you will, but I wouldn’t harm my daughter." I take the glass and sit down opposite him.
"And you think I will believe you after what you did seven years ago?" We both fall silent, and against my will, my thoughts return to that fateful night.
7 years ago...
Today I want to invite Ami over to my place, so I need to prepare. Half the day goes by cleaning, as my bachelor apartment looks more like a homeless shelter than a living space. As it gets dark outside, I head to the car, but before I can sit down, metal presses against my back.
"Don’t move; they want to talk to you." The gun is now beside my head, and I slowly turn around.
In front of me stands a man about fifty years old, alongside him is Nazar. A few guards stand around, closely observing every move.
"Hello, Adam. Or should I say son?" The man’s face stretches into a disgusting smile, while the guy behind him rolls his eyes.
"I’ll be brief; you dump Amanda and give the title to Nazar." Nazar grins satisfied.
"You think I’ll agree?" A punch lands in my stomach, knocking the air out of me. They hit hard enough to show the seriousness of their words but not to maim.
"Listen, you don’t understand. You have no choice. You either do everything I say, or by tomorrow you’ll be facing charges for possession and distribution of illegal substances. There's a great lawyer who will gladly help me out, and Amanda will accidentally get hit by a car. I could do the same to you, but life without her will bring you more suffering." He looks in a way that makes me understand—I have no choice.
"Why do you need this? Why Amanda?" I don’t care about the title or anything else. But I just can’t understand how to live without Amanda.
"It doesn’t matter. You have 24 hours." I receive another punch in the stomach that makes me bend against the car. I watch as the man who decided to ruin my life just drives away. I can’t even imagine that six months after this, I'll find out that my biological mother married him and will even try to mend our relationship.
"I did everything for her." Korniyev takes a sip of whiskey and looks at the glass.
"Her mother said you're using her, and because of you, she doesn’t spend the night at home, refuses to study. Then Nazar told me that you change girls like gloves and even get them hooked on drugs." He looks at the door again, and I try to piece together the full picture.
"I didn’t think, didn’t check. I just wanted to protect her from you, from problems, so I included the title condition to make you think it was all for Nazar's sake." I pull out a cigarette and offer him the pack. Inhaling, I feel the smoke travel into my lungs, and after the whiskey, my head spins a little.
"And only now I realize how many mistakes I made." He extinguishes the cigarette in the whiskey glass and stands up. "The past cannot be changed, but Adam, I will do everything for my daughter's happiness, even if she never forgives me." He leaves the house, and I remain alone with my thoughts.
At that moment, I receive a text message that makes me want to throw myself off a cliff.
"After the funeral, I want to know everything. We have no future, but I have the right to know what destroyed it."
Is this really the end?
"Baby, don’t leave me again. I won’t survive." I drink straight from the bottle, realizing that even if I tell her the truth, she will hardly be able to forgive me for these seven years. Does the truth really have an expiration date?
Yes, because there's a point where nothing can fix the situation anymore. I take a piece of paper and write down the whole story from start to finish. I explain how much I have suffered these seven years, begging for forgiveness hundreds of times. Then I place this confession under the bottle and leave the house.
I won’t be able to look her in the eyes when I tell her everything. I just can’t bear to see the pain and hatred in that incredible green.
I sit behind the wheel and drive off. Emotions mix with alcohol, making fear disappear and anger replace it. I press the gas as hard as I can and speed toward the highway. I can’t focus on anything right now. Her last message flashes before my eyes.
"I ran away." It’s a thought that hasn’t let me rest for the last seven years, and now it’s destroying me from the inside. I barely manage to brake when I see a car coming straight at me. In the last seconds, I twist the wheel, but the car still skids, and I crash into a tree. My vision is blurry; there’s smoke everywhere, and the last thing I remember is our fateful meeting on the beach seven years ago.
7 years ago...
I hit my fists against the wall for a long time, hoping it would get easier, but aside from bruised hands, nothing has changed. I see a message from Amanda: "Are you coming soon?"
I had been looking forward to this evening, and now I don’t want it to happen. I know Nazar’s father wasn’t joking, and if I don’t care about my life, Amanda shouldn’t suffer. I take my phone and text her:
"On the beach in half an hour."
Let everything end where it all began. I don’t know what to say to her, but I know for sure—this is the only chance to protect her.
I arrive early, light a cigarette, and look at the sea. Just yesterday, I thought I was the happiest person in the world, and now all my dreams are crumbling before my eyes.
I want to take her away and run from the whole world, hide Kitten so that no one can take her from me. But right now, I’m powerless. I don’t know what Nazar's father is up to, but Viktor has warned me countless times that it's better not to get involved with him, especially not to cross him.
"I probably took a wrong turn somewhere." It could be funny if it weren’t so painfully true.
I turn back when I hear footsteps behind me. Amanda hurries towards me, smiling. And it hurts me even to think about what will happen next. The girl approaches to hug me, but I stop her.
"Adam, is something wrong?" How much anxiety is in her eyes. How do I do this?
"This is our last meeting." I try to keep my voice devoid of emotion.
"Why? Did I do something wrong?" I see the first tear forming on her cheek, and I am ready to rip my own tongue out with my hands for saying this.
"I got what I wanted. I’m no longer interested in you." A lump rises in my throat, making me want to vomit.
"Adam, you can’t... After everything..." The first tears roll down her cheeks, and Amanda's body begins to tremble with sobs.
"I could sleep with you one last time, but that’s it." I know how much it hurts her to hear these words right now, but I have to do everything to make her leave, forget about me, and start a new life where nothing will threaten her.
"Why are you doing this..." Kitten's voice breaks, and with it, every bone in my body shatters. I want to pull her to me, tell her that this is all a bad joke, that I love her more than anything in this world, but instead, another ugly phrase slips from my lips:
"Did you think you were any better than those girls I sleep with every day?" Amanda freezes, lifts her gaze to me, and in a second, a ringing slap lands on my cheek. Even if she beat me half to death, it wouldn’t be enough for everything I just told her.
"Burn in hell, Adam." She turns away and walks off. And my hell begins from this day on because with Amanda goes my last hope for happiness, my last feelings.
"Be happy, Kitten, I hope one day you can forgive me." Of course, she doesn’t hear those words. I watch her silhouette fade from view, and I don’t want to accept that I will never see her again.
My head hurts so badly that I can’t move; I see silhouettes of people, hear snippets of phrases: "Accident," "Pinned," "Man." I try to pull my leg, but a sharp pain paralyzes me. I attempt to reach for my phone and dial the only number that matters. She doesn’t pick up for a long time, and my hopes fade. But at the last second, I hear that beloved voice:
"What do you want?" She’s not pleased to receive my call, but I have to tell her this.
"I love you, Kitten, as much as I have for these seven years." Amanda says something, but I can’t hear her. The sound of an ambulance siren, and I slip into darkness again, where there’s now nothing. Just emptiness. This is how my heart has been for the last seven years. And only a tiny spark illuminated it—those two months of happiness spent with Amanda. The memories of her kept the darkness from engulfing my soul, but today, that spark went out, and I drowned in my own darkness.