Chapter 27

“The moment we leave, you will be dead.”

Well, it could have been less “graphic” to refer to it, right? No, the truth is no.

Saying “dead” was definitive enough. Getting straight to the point was the best gift he could have given me; I think embellishing reality by swearing that everything would end once he left would have been cruel, and Ivan wasn’t that kind of person. That was something I had figured out about him. A part of him was, certainly, very animalistic and wild, but he was not cruel.

I stared at him for a moment, and the good thing was that he was silent too, perhaps evaluating the expression on my face. I don’t remember having any, in fact, and that may have been what he was studying. In the end, I took a deep breath and commented:

“I think I understand. If he didn’t hesitate to hurt me, what would stop him from killing me?” I responded, perhaps too calm for the situation it was. “I should move somewhere else, maybe to another state. I can go bac