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under constant surveillance wherever I went. Nikolai even tried to home school me instead of letting me go to ordinary school, and probably would have had it his way if it hadn’t been for my mother.
    To an outsider, my life might have looked perfect. Anything I asked for, I got. Anyone looking a little closer, though, would have seen that a life lived in constant fear wasn’t so great. I’d been locked up in my own gilded cage. It might have been a beautiful cage, but it was still - a cage. However, I didn’t know any different. Without anything to compare it to, I couldn’t judge.
    I stopped at the door to the living room and studied the possessions around me. When I left home, I made a vow that I would never again have to deal with my father or his business and decided to open a new chapter in my life. That’s easier said than done when you’re the only child of one of the biggest arms dealers on the planet, of course.
    I caught sight of Alex then, standing on the balcony, his arms resting on the rail. Deep in thought, he was smoking a cigarette, his eyes cast down over the rooftops below. It fascinated me, I realized, that he could radiate such an aura of dominance while appearing so calm. I wondered what had brought him to Nikolai. Money? Excitement? Something else?
    Unable to help myself, I found that I was tracing the lines of his bare back and arms with my eyes, admirin g this template for perfection.
    For as long as I could remember I’d been surrounded by a host of men. As part of Nikolai’s entourage they lived with us, so running into them from time to time in various states of undress was inevitable. It goes without saying that in their line of work they had to be strong specimens of manhood, a fact that wasn’t lost on me as I entered puberty. Even so, I was certain that I’d never seen a more beautiful body than that of my new guard dog. Though his muscles were all well defined, he didn’t look like one of those gym types who spend every spare minute lifting weights. He was more like one of those adrenaline junkies who climbed up sheer rocks with just some chalk on their hands and no ropes at all.
    Realizing that I’d been ogling Alex like some teenager, I mentally gave myself a slap in the face and quickly run to my bedroom. However irritated I might be by Alex’s presence, seeing him almost naked sure made my thoughts race.
     
    I looked for something to take my mind off Alex’s body and started going through my stuff, trying to find the curtains I’d put away a few months earlier. After investigating a few boxes and emptying several bags, I saw them and smiled to myself.
    Still grinning, I pulled out a wad of pastel-pink material embroidered with flowers. Tucking it under my arm I left the room, trying hard to suppress a chuckle as I tiptoed down the corridor imagining the look on Alex’s face when he saw this latest addition to his decor.
    When I got to his room I dragged a stool over to the window, climbed up and, with one foot balancing on the sill, started to hang the curtain. I was humming to myself cheerfully, and feeling proud of my efforts, when a sharp voice came from behind me.
    “What the hell?”
    I flinched and tried to turn around, when my left foot, which was resting against the window, started to slide from under me. Unbalanced, I let out a scream as I found myself falling. Trying to regain my balance, I grabbed the silky curtain, which o nly slipped through my fingers.
    Closing my eyes shut, I braced myself for crashing down on the floor, but instead I was swept up by two strong arms, my head coming to rest against a warm, bare chest.
    Inhaling the subtle smell of soap and aftershave, I slowly opened my eyes and came face to face with Alex’s dark scowl.
    “What the fuck are you doing?”
    “Watering the plants!” I shouted in his face, “Isn’t it obvious? Haven’t you seen anyone hanging curtains before?”
    “Are you totally nuts? You could have broken your