Ice & Prejudice

Chapter 29

Ria's POV:

I slipped quietly into my apartment, shutting the door behind me with a soft click. The space was blissfully empty, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Stacy wasn't home yet, thank God. I wasn't ready to face her—not when my mind was a tangled mess of confusion and unwanted feelings.

As I stood there in the middle of our small living room, the events of last night replayed in my mind like a movie I couldn't turn off. The panic attack had hit me out of nowhere, but in hindsight, it made too much sense. The moment I saw those guys in the masks, everything came rushing back—Vlad, his cold voice, the way he used to look at me like I was nothing. And then, when one of those assholes said the exact same thing Vlad once said to me, it was like I was back in that room with him, trapped, helpless, terrified.

At least I now am more confident about the fact that I did not mix up the two most traumatizing events of my life. Vladislav Wolves had actually sexually assaulted me.

I shuddered at the memory, wrapping my arms around myself as if that could somehow keep the past from reaching me. My heart had raced, my chest had tightened, and I'd been on the verge of breaking down when the other guy had touched my arm, just lightly, but it was enough to send me spiraling into full-blown panic. I'd barely made it out of there before collapsing in a dark corner, trying to pull myself together, but the panic kept building, suffocating me.

And then Nikolai had found me.

I didn't know how long I'd been curled up there, struggling to breathe, before he appeared. All I knew was that when he did, something shifted. He was kind, in a way I hadn't expected. He didn't mock me, didn't try to use my vulnerability against me. Instead, he stayed with me, talked me through it, helped me breathe again. The way he looked at me—genuinely worried, genuinely concerned—it wasn't something I was used to. I'd always painted him as this arrogant asshole, someone who only cared about himself and his image. But last night, he wasn't any of those things. He was... good.

I hated that. I hated that he was actually a good person, that he'd shown me a side of himself I didn't want to see. It would've been easier if he'd just been the jerk I always thought he was, the guy who didn't care about anyone but himself. But he'd cared about me. He'd taken care of me, and that was harder to dismiss.

And then he'd driven me to his place. I knew he wasn't taking me there to take advantage of me. If that was his intention, he'd had plenty of opportunities already, and he hadn't. He just wanted to make sure I was okay, that I was safe. I knew that. And despite every instinct telling me to keep my guard up, I had felt safe with him. Safer than I'd felt in a long time.

I cursed under my breath, running a hand through my tangled hair. I didn't want to think about how he'd looked last night, either. How even in just his boxers, he'd been so annoyingly attractive, his usual cocky attitude somehow endearing instead of irritating. I hated that I couldn't hate him as much as I wanted to.

But I wasn't about to let myself fall into that trap. No way. I was probably just confused, that's all. Everything that had happened last night had messed with my head, and I was mistaking gratitude for something else. That had to be it. I was just grateful, nothing more. And I would ignore these feelings, shove them down where they belonged. Nikolai Wolves was not someone I was going to let myself get tangled up with. I'd made it this far without needing anyone, without trusting anyone. I wasn't about to change that now.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling me out of my thoughts. I pulled it out, glancing at the screen. A text from Nik. My thumb hovered over the notification for a moment before I silenced it, shoving the phone back into my pocket without responding. Ignoring him was the best thing I could do right now.