STELLA

I didn't sleep last night. Not really.

I closed my eyes and counted to a hundred, tried every breathing exercise I could remember, but I still felt on edge, and nothing could shake it off.

I kept thinking about it.

About him.

And the moment in the bathroom. It replayed in my mind like a broken record.

Viktor's face, his voice, the way he closed the distance between us, and what he had said.

‘Don't talk to any guy’

And he didn't offer any reasons.

The dictator.

I wake, ...