𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 ❨ ransom drysdale ❩

𝟑. 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞

Now I'm a heavy burden
that you can't bear...

Look what you made
of me
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓

ALL THE REASONS NOT TO DO THIS came flooding in, as if Katerina's body chemistry just sent them a blanket invitation. She could feel the soft panic that could grow or fade depending on what she did next.

"So, Miss Cabrera." Lieutenant Elliott began as he sat in front of her.

A muscle twitched involuntarily at the corner of her right eye, her mouth formed a rigid grimace. With arms folded tightly across her chest she tapped her foot furiously and all the while stared out of the grimy window before turning back to him.

"Lieutenant." She responded while the drumming of her fingers was as relentless as it was loud. Each click of the french polished nails on the chair echoed the tumultuous thudding of her heart beat. Her face, rigid with tension, belied her youthfulness, she seemed to have aged a decade in the past few hours.

"I hope you don't mind us keeping you longer than intended."

"Not at all." As she answered she studied Detective Blanc who sat in the far corner of the room. To describe his facial expression would be like describing a blank sheet of paper. He could have been in a coma for all the life his face showed.

"So, could you tell me what you remember from the night of the party? Like what time you arrived. That kind of thing."

"I arrived at around ten, maybe ten fifteen. I was doing work for Mrs Drysdale so I was a little late."

"So you arrived at the same time as Hugh Drysdale... Or Ransom, left the party." Lieutenant Elliott spoke. However, it was more of a statement rather than a question.

In that moment Katerina's face fell faster than a corpse in cement boots. In that instant her skin became greyed and her mouth hung with lips slightly parted.

Detective Blanc noticed something flash beneath the surface of her hardened expression and he hurried to investigate the sudden shift. However, he was too late, the emotion disappeared before he could identify it, like reaching desperately for an escaped balloon; the string dangling so tantalizingly close but the wind pushed it away and it's lost forever.

"He passed me on his way out, yes."

Lieutenant Elliot stared into Katerinas eyes, determined not to look away first. She was certain that he knew she was trying to hide something, but still she was determined to fool him. She contorted her lips into an awkward, toothy smile, but her cheeks were not so compromising. She could feel their reluctance to be moulded falsely. When the Lieutenant finally averted his gaze her smile fell lifeless.

"Did you speak with him?"

Ransom walked through the door in a flurry of rage, his presence icy as the night outside.

His dark damp hair stuck to his forehead as he walked out the front door. His cheeks were uncharacteristically flushed, chest heaving like he'd been running for a while.

"I thought you weren't going to come tonight."

When he raised his gaze to look at the woman in front of him, his mouth was set in a firm line and eyes wild, Katerina could tell he was furious, whatever the reason.

"Yeah, well I changed my mind. You would know if you fucking picked up your goddamn phone." Ransom stood there, irritation in his anger, a sort of impetuousness. He never argued with his fists but his words packed a powerful punch.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't really feel like speaking to you, Ransom."

She was frowning as she spoke. That much was evident. Ransom gazed at her eyes that were glazed over with tensity. To him her emotions were not easily hidden on her innocent face. Nervousness was evident in the crease of her lovely brow and the down-curve of her full lips, while her cheeks were blanched from the cold and her eyes partially obscured with caramel hair.

"Look, I said I was sorry..."

"Why did you do it?" She cut him off before he could continue and he watched her face change to hurt and anger and it only served to bring his own fury to a higher boil.

"Because I'm a fucking idiot, alright!" He spoke in an angry whisper and he threw his hands in the air. "And I'm selfish, but I love you and I don't want to loose you. Even if it's messy you make it work because you belong together. And I know we belong together." He took a deep breath of air before taking a few short steps towards her.

"You're mine, Kat."

The three words that held such innocence at the time.

"You know that you fucked up. You're sorry. I get it. But you being sorry, won't change what you did. You being sorry, won't change the way I look at you now... It won't change how I feel about you, now."

Her second voice was urging her to stop, but this was an explosion in progress, no reverse gear, no dampeners.

"I had a line... You crossed it... And now you've gotta stay on the other side of it, away from me."

Katerinas every word was clipped, punching into the air. She jabbed the air with a pointed finger at each utterance, her eyes narrowed and set hard.

"You really think you can keep me away?Away from you?"

Her eyes and her mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise, and although she was staring straight at Ransom she appeared not to notice him at all as unrecognisable fear crept into her soul.

"Away from our kid?"

And in that moment Katerina could have sworn her heart stopped.

"No." She had mastered her fake smile, right down to the wrinkles around her eyes.

"No, I did not speak with him."

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 !
wow ! thank you so so
much for the support
on the last chapter, it
actually means so much
and really encourages
me to write the next
chapter after seeing so
many votes