Carina shifted on her side of the bed, angling toward me for a better view to probably read my face. Her eyes narrowed. “Okay, I will be brutally honest here.”
I braced, nodding.
“Your father is right. No one knows what will happen next. It could be worse, and trust me, the state your father’s accident put us in was bad.”
My throat tightened as I swallowed. If the closest people to me couldn’t see reason in this, then what the hell was I doing?
“But I’ll tell you this too,” she added, and a flicker of hope had me almost smiling. “Rodion is right too. If his enemies want your father, they will find him wherever they want.”
“Right?” My voice sharpened with relief. “I think so too.”
Carina’s gaze cut straight through me. “But what’s convincing you to stay? Don’t lie to me. You have a date tomorrow and … from what I can see, there is something between you two.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and my fingers toyed with the hem of my sleep shorts. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I feel things when I’m around him.”
Carina lifted a brow, waiting for more.
“You know, with Marco, it was all about wanting to have a boyfriend, and to do things just because everyone else bragged about it? But with Rodion, I’m curious about … the future.”
She hissed, but I saw a smile. “That’s scary.”
A light laugh slipped out. “It’s like waking up every day eager to see what’s ahead. And when I’m with him, I don’t feel like I want time to stop. No, I want it to move, so I can discover more of who he is. Because, Rina, every day with him feels new.”
Carina exhaled, and I groaned. Collapsing onto the bed, I stared at the ceiling like it might hand me answers.
“It’s like I’m an explorer,” I went on. “Always eager for tomorrow, knowing it will bring something that isn’t cliché. This is not just the typical boyfriend-and-girlfriend phase.”
“Girl, you are in love.”
I pushed up almost too fast. “No. I didn’t say that. What I am trying to say is, it’s exciting.”
Carina grinned wider, eyes dancing. “Exciting, safe, curiousabout the future. You do hear yourself, right?”
“I’m not in love.” My words rushed out. “I’m just… trying to make sense of it. You know how many times I’ve thought about this? I don’t even trust my head anymore. I’m not blind, Carina. There are risks, yes. But this isn’t the same as Marco. I’m not that girl anymore, okay?”
Carina leaned back on her hands, watching me with the look of someone who knew she had cornered me.
“I’m not that girl,” I repeated, steadier this time. “It might sound absurd, but I’m careful. I test him just to see how he’ll react. And he does things I never expect. Meaning he is willing to adjust for me.”
Her smile softened, the tease giving way to understanding. “That’s very defensive.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, realizing how I sounded.
She shifted closer. “Listen. I want you to be okay. If someone had told us Marco would drag you and your family into that mess, we would have fought it. But the truth is, we’re not as good as we think at spotting red flags or green flags. We convince ourselves either way.”
Her words sank deep. “You’re right. But what will I do if I realise this is just for a season, and he becomes the man I knew at first?”
Carina reached for my hand, her fingers warm over mine. “Honestly, you can’t know. Life is about taking risks. But think about this: if you were asked back then if the man we saw at that lingerie boutique would ever kidnap you, would you have agreed?”
I laughed despite the lump in my throat. “I told you he looked hot and dangerous.”
We both burst out laughing, the tension cracking for a moment.
“Okay, okay,” Carina said, shaking her head. “But at least weknow he did what he did because he had a reason.”
I nodded. “Well, after all, I’m so deep into it I can’t get out even if I tried. He said he can’t let me go, so what else can I do?”
“Give him the benefit of the doubt.”