The Edge of Light ✔️

Chapter Three

E L E N A

I flung my bag over my shoulder and made my way to the foyer, where all of father's car keys hung. It was oddly quiet in the manor, maybe because it was still early in the morning or maybe because it was the weekend. Just as I reached for the keys to his SUV I was cut off by an awfully irking voice.

"I'm going out, too. Let me take you wherever you're going." Luca offered and he didn't give me any time to refuse, instead he grabbed my gym bag and made his way to the garage.

Solange knew that I was meeting up with Cecile at the skating rink, so I knew she'd tell my father if he asked about my whereabouts. Cecile and I had been friends since we were kids. We met at the ballet studio when I first started dancing. She was only there in the summers for practice and stretches when it was off-season for skating because she was actually a figure skater. Back then I had watched her a couple of times on the ice and it fascinated me and she was nice enough to teach me her ways. Now, I wasn't as good as her on the ice but still I was decent.

After the car accident a few years back I wasn't able to move properly for quite a while. The first month I spent in the hospital, the following months I spent in rehab so I could stand and walk like a normal human again and slowly but surely I recovered. Not entirely because still it hurt when I stood or sat for too long. And also like Jihoon's daughter had made sure to mention at the dinner, I was no longer able to get pregnant because my ovaries got severely hurt by a piece of glass that had cut into my abdomen during the accident. Still to this day I blame my father for the accident. They say it was an accident, a drunk driver that drove into our car from the side at full speed but I knew that it was a planned murder on him from some enemies. Nobody dared speak about it or say it aloud but all of them knew that that was the case.

From all the thinking and trying hard to tune out Luca's voice I didn't realize in what blur I had gotten to the skating rink. It took me about half an hour to arrive and Cecile was already waiting for me, tying her shoes in the changing rooms. We wore matching yoga pants and sweaters she had purchased in Sweden when she was away for the championship.

"I'm glad you could make it. I missed you." Cecile hummed into my nape as she hugged me tightly. I returned her hug, not as tightly though. Cecile didn't know about the dark world I was born into and I didn't plan on telling her nor pulling her into this. That's why I kept her at an arm's length, like every other person in my life. I had watched so many loved ones pass away that at some point I decided to keep my distance to keep myself from the sorrow in case another one passed. Cecile and I actually had the potential to become the best of friends but I couldn't let that happen. Not when this was my reality.

"When was the last time we did this? I think I forgot how to skate." I murmured as I eyed the perfect sheet of ice. Cecile giggled before gliding on the surface with ease and absolutely perfection. This was where she was in her element. On the ice.

"Come!" she called from the other side of the rink and I didn't waste a second before sliding onto the ice myself. The rink was empty, the two of us the only people around. I reached for her hands and she twirled in circles with me in her arms. We started to laugh, my raven hair mixing with her flawless blonde. She picked up on the speed and flipped around so she was riding in reverse, facing me.

"How was dinner with your family last night?" she asked over the sound of our shoes cutting into the ice. I pulled a face, shrugging. These dinners always went like that. Although this time something was different.

I caught myself rummaging my brain for the alluring stranger's face. Filled with scars and eyes as cold as the ice I was skating on. Yet I wasn't scared, maybe intimidated but not scared. The stillness in his eyes was unsettling. It felt like the calm before a storm. I hadn't met him before. Father had said that he was the new head of the Russian cartel. He looked younger than the last one. Oddly familiar but still a stranger I couldn't recall. Despite his rugged appearance he still managed to look attractive. I'm sure women would've swooned, if it weren't for those gruesome scars on his face. Thinking about it now, all those scars tell a story. I wonder if he has scars on parts of his body you don't see at first glance. One thing is sure, his hands are scared too, burnt even. Burn marks lingered on them, I had seen them during dinner and when he had reached for my hair when we stumbled upon each other in front of the bathroom.

I stumbled on the ice, ripping myself out of my haze. This wasn't good. I shouldn't have found the stranger so interesting. He was one of them. The people I hated. He lived the life I hated. Lived in the world I despised. Strived for the same power my father did. He was no better than the man I disliked so much.

"You look like you could use some intense skating today." Cecile muttered. She was good at reading people, or I just let down my guard too low around her. She skated off to the rink and grabbed her phone which was connected to the speakers and shortly after our favorite song played. It was a French song she had shown me. She also taught me the choreography to the song and it never failed to make me feel alive and give me a surge of adrenaline.

We skated and danced to the music as if our life depended on it. Her every move was so flawless I wondered if people thought the same of me when I was on stage performing ballet.

I closed my eyes and let my body do the rest. My feet moving on their own. Suddenly, the back of my neck prickled in an unsettling way. I opened my eyes, knitting my brows. I scanned the skating rink but nothing was out of order. The rink was empty except for Cecile skating in the middle.

I exhaled shakily as I came to the conclusion that I was now imagining things. This wasn't a good sign. It only stressed how badly I had to get out of this city, this life.

The song came to a halt and Cecile and I posed next to each other. She gave me a heartwarming smile and I returned it but our joy quickly came to an end as we heard the gate to the changing rooms bang loudly. Cecile and I both flinched as we looked to the door to find no one there.

"Huh?"

"Maybe somebody came to practice but saw us and left. It's probably nothing." Cecile hummed as she started to skate again. My brows were still scrunched as I stared at the door. The same prickling feeling evident on my neck yet again.

Yeah, it's probably nothing.