The Wolf
Ksenia stood before the huge, illuminated mirror, focused on removing her makeup. I leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, just watching her. This was my moment. The moment when the Beast watches the Beauty who doesn’t know she is in a cage. But this cage was made of gold and love, and she held the key.
She wore that short, champagne-colored silk robe that barely clung to her shoulders. Every movement of the cotton pad across her eyelids was elegant, calculated. Just like the way she destroyed the competition at the meeting today.
“Did you resolve that issue with the permits for the port?” I asked, my voice raspier than usual. Ksenia didn’t flinch. She was used to my stealth.
“Of course I did,” she answered, our eyes meeting in the mirror’s reflection. That look... cold to the world, but scorching for me. “I found a loophole in the ’98 law. Construction continues tomorrow. Your investors are happy.”
“My investors fear me,” I corrected her, pushing off the doorframe. “But they are happy I have a lawyer who bites harder than I do.”
I approached her from behind. I didn’t touch her immediately. I just stood close enough that she could feel the heat of my body through the thin silk. I inhaled her scent, lavender and that expensive cream she uses. “And how did you fare with the other negotiations?” I whispered right against her ear, watching the fine hairs on her neck stand up. “How was the afternoon with the little terrorist?”
Ksenia paused with her hand in the air, her lips stretching into a smile. “Cassiopeia was... demanding today,” she admitted, leaning her head back, right onto my shoulder. “She decided she doesn’t want to eat vegetables because, quote: ‘Daddy doesn’t eat grass, Daddy eats meat.’ Your daughter, Nikolai. Completely yours.”
“Smart kid,” I murmured, finally lowering my hands to her waist. The silk was cool, but the skin beneath it was hot. I slid my palms upward, slowly, possessively, gliding over her ribs until I cupped her breasts. Ksenia took a deep breath, dropping the cotton pad onto the marble.
“Nikolai...” she warned, but her voice was weak.
“What, Mrs. Volkov?” I teased her, biting her earlobe while my thumbs stimulated her nipples through the fabric. “Don’t you like it when the boss praises your work?”
I turned her abruptly toward me. The robe fell open, revealing that scrap of lace I had bought her in Paris. I lifted her effortlessly, seating her on the cold marble vanity. Her legs automatically wrapped around my waist. “You are impossible,” she gasped, throwing her head back as I kissed her neck, leaving a wet trail toward her collarbone.
“I am hungry,” I growled, my hand sliding under the robe, seeking the heat between her thighs. “And I think you owe me overtime.”
We were on the edge. The air was electric. I was ready to take her right there, in front of the mirror, as if we hadn’t been married for five years, but as if we had just started. Just as I grabbed the edge of her panties, ready to tear them...
BAM!!
The bathroom door flew wide open, hitting the wall with a sound that would wake the dead. Ksenia screamed and tried to cover herself, and I spun around with lightning speed, my hand automatically reaching for the non-existent gun at my belt.
But there was no assassin. There, in oversized dinosaur pajamas, messy hair, and holding a teddy bear with one hanging eye, stood Cassiopeia Volkov.
She looked at us with those big, judging eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a tone that sounded like a police interrogation.
Ksenia jumped off the marble vanity faster than I had ever seen her move, fixing her robe and tying the belt with trembling hands. Her face was burning redder than the lipstick on her lips. I, on the other hand, didn’t move. I just took a deep breath, calming the pulse that had been racing moments ago, and crossed my arms over my chest, looking at the little creature who had just ruined our evening.
“We were discussing,” I said seriously, in a voice that usually makes people look at the floor. “Business strategy.”
Cassi rolled her eyes. That movement... god, that was my movement. The exact same one I make when someone lies to my face. “Daddy, please,” she said in that come-on-don’t-be-stupid tone. “You were kissing. I saw it. Your hand was on Mom’s butt. That’s not strategy, that’s ‘yuck’.”
Ksenia choked, and I felt the corner of my mouth twitch into a smile I barely suppressed. “Cassiopeia,” I warned her, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Midnight has passed. Twelve-oh-five. Why are you awake? Your shift ended three hours ago.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she answered simply, walking deeper into the bathroom and dragging that one-eyed bear across the floor like spoils of war.
“My bed is too big. And the pillow is too soft. And...” she paused, looking at us with those big eyes, “...and you two aren’t there.”
“We had a deal,” I tried to negotiate, even though I knew I was losing ground. I squatted in front of her. “Remember the contract? You sleep in your room, and Daddy buys you that doll castle. The castle has been bought. You are breaching the terms of the contract, kid.”
“I’ll sue you,” she replied immediately, without a shred of fear. She looked at Ksenia. “Mom is my lawyer. Right, Mom?”
Ksenia, who had managed to compose herself by now, laughed and leaned against the sink. “I’m afraid she’s right, Nikolai. You have weak arguments against a client with eyelashes like that.”
I sighed, defeated. I looked at the little monster in front of me. “What do you want?” I asked directly. Cassi smiled. It was a victorious smile. “I want to sleep in the middle. And I want...” she leaned in, whispering as if it were a state secret, “...I want you to sing. Our song. About the wolf.”
I paused. That was her ace in the hole. She knew I couldn’t refuse that song. She knew it was the only thing that calmed both her and me. “Blackmailer,” I mumbled, but I gently tweaked her nose. “You’re just like your mother. Only looking for weaknesses.”
I stood up and offered her my hand. My large fist swallowed her palm. “Alright, love. You win.”
Cassi shrieked with laughter as my fingers found that sensitive spot on her ribs, wriggling between the two of us in the massive bed. “Daddy! No! I surrender!” she squealed, trying to push me away with her little feet. “No surrender,” I growled playfully, tickling her one last time before I stopped and pulled the silk cover up to her chin. Ksenia smiled from the other side of the bed, leaning on her elbow, looking at us with a gaze that melted my heart.
But I grew serious. I looked at my child, whose eyes were wide open in the dim light of the room, fixed on the ceiling. “Now seriously, boss,” I said quietly, running my fingers through her long, brown hair. “Why did you really want to come here? Your bed is comfier. You have those glowing stars there. Why are you running from your room?”
Cassi was silent for a moment, hugging her one-eyed teddy. Then she shrugged, a small, tiny movement that looked too grown-up. “Because tonight it’s quiet,” she whispered. “Mr. Whisper didn’t come.”
My hand froze in her hair. I looked over her at Ksenia. She just slightly furrowed her brows, confused but not worried. “Mr. Whisper?” I repeated slowly, trying to sound relaxed, even though my instinct, the same one that kept me alive all these years prickled at the back of my neck. “Who is that, Cassi? Some new teddy? An imaginary friend?”
“No,” Cassi answered simply, the way children talk about obvious things. “That’s my friend. The one in the wall.” She raised a little finger and pointed to an invisible spot in the air. “He lives up high. I don’t see him, but I hear him.”
I felt a cold thorn pass down my spine. “Ah,” I cleared my throat, forcing a smile while my stomach tightened. “And... what does this Mr. Whisper say to you?”
Cassi turned on her side, looking at me sleepily as her eyelids began to close. “Well, different things. He asks me if I’m lonely. He tells me stories. Sometimes he asks where you are.” I paused. My blood ran cold. “He asks where I am?”
“Yes,” she nodded, yawning. “He asks: ’Is the big wolf sleeping?’. That’s what he calls you. Big wolf.”
This time, my gaze met Ksenia’s over the child’s head. In her eyes, I saw a flash of unease, but it quickly vanished. She shook her head with a gentle, reassuring smile. Imagination, her lips formed the word without sound. Child’s imagination.
Of course. Children invent things. They hear pipes creaking, hear the wind, and create friends out of it. Cassi is smart, but she’s still just a child who listens to too many of my wolf stories. “Big wolf” is a nickname I used in stories. She probably dreamt it. “That must be some very curious gentleman,” I said, relaxing my muscles by force, even though in my head I was already planning to send Viktor to inspect the entire ventilation system tomorrow morning. “But you know what? There are no whispers here. Here, it’s just Daddy.”
“I know,” Cassi mumbled, rubbing her eyes with her fist. “That’s why I came. When you are here, he doesn’t talk. I think he’s afraid of you.”
“And he should be afraid of me,” I whispered, more to myself, kissing her forehead. The security system is perfect, I repeated in my head like a mantra. Motion sensors. Cameras. Guards. No one can get in. No one can talk through the walls. It’s impossible.
“Come on, Daddy,” she whispered, already on the verge of sleep. “You promised. The song.” Ksenia smiled and turned off the bedside lamp, leaving us in total darkness. Only the moonlight entered, drawing long shadows across the floor.
I inhaled the scent of her hair, strawberries and baby shampoo and began. It wasn’t some old Russian song. It was a melody I invented the night we brought her home from the hospital, the night I held her for the first time and realized I would burn the world just so she could sleep peacefully.
I started quietly, with a deep baritone vibrating through the mattress, and the words flowed in the rhythm of her heartbeat.
Sleep, little wolf, don’t you cry,
The moon is watching from the sky.
Shadows run and monsters flee,
For you are safe right here with me.
I felt her breathing slow down. I continued, quieter, as sleep slowly took my child, my Star.
Close your eyes, my shining star,
My greatest secret, that’s what you are.
Nothing can hurt you, near or far,
While daddy’s wolves protect where you are.
Cassi inhaled deeply and exhaled, her body completely relaxing. She fell asleep. I stayed like that for another moment, looking at her peaceful face in the dark. Mr. Whisper. Nonsense. But still, as I lay back on the pillow and hugged Ksenia over her, I couldn’t stop my gaze from drifting toward the ventilation vent on the ceiling of our room. It was dark and silent. Of course it was silent. I closed my eyes, convincing myself I was paranoid.
I didn’t know that paranoia isn’t always a disease. Sometimes it is just a silent warning that the wolf in the house has already found its way to the lamb.
