Eliana:
I had to fight back hissing in pain as the maids washed my body.
The fresh wounds made the whole thing a lot harder for me, but I was glad that things were somewhat moving from where they had been for the past few days.
I knew that Lorenzo wasn’t going to simply ‘trust’ me. But I also knew that even the slightest hope of things going from me being tormented to me joining him on the table meant that things weren’t just stagnant.
Having sent Vladimir a message. I was now more comfortable with how things were going and where they were about to reach. The man must have been going mental over worrying, and I was glad that he didn’t know of what was happening; otherwise, I knew that he would have done his best to come here and shoot Lorenzo’s head, and although that would have solved a lot, I knew that it wouldn’t have been the end of this.
Knowing that I had a brother somewhere wasn’t assuring to me. It was the ONLY reason why we were keeping him alive. An enemy that we knew was always a lot better than one who we didn’t. Therefore, dealing with this crap until things were somewhat solved was going to be a whole lot better.
I placed my hand on the maid’s as it was on my shoulder, tapping it twice as I shook my head. The bruise there was killing me, and her massaging wasn’t helping “I apologize, did I hurt you?”
“Don’t worry about it, love. I think that you’ve scrubbed me enough. I think we can call it a night” I said and she nodded. Rinsing my body from the soap. The maids helped me get up from the tub and wrapped my body with a towel. I didn’t like being as exposed to anyone who wasn’t my husband, but it in this game, it was all or nothing, and I wasn’t going to get out with nothing.
I got out of the tub and watched as the girls brought me a loose dress, helping me wear it “boss ordered that you wear this dress today”
“I didn’t complain, sweetheart” I said and she nodded. The girls seemed to be taken back by the way I was speaking to them, but I needed to be on their good side if I was to be able to get things done. Having used one of their phones, I was sure to slip it in their pockets after I was done with sending the message. One of the girls brushed my hair, attempting to dry it only for me to shake my head; I preferred my hair being in its natural curls.
I put on the slippers they had for me, and walked out of the room, following them where they lead me as I fought the pain of my aching muscles. They knocked the door twice before opening it, nodding at me to go inside. Lorenzo’s eyes met mine and he got up from the chair he was sitting on, walking toward me as he did.
“You left your hair wet”
“I asked them to, I prefer…”
“Natural curls” he said smiling. It was the first time that I’ve see him smile since I was brought here. His smile reaching his eyes for a second before he nodded “I had them give you the dress as I assume that you wouldn’t want anything touching your sore back”
“Thank you for your consideration” I said looking him in the eye. He didn’t bother responding as he motioned to me to go and sit. The big dining table was empty, only having two plates, one at the head of the table, and the other on his left side.
I walked toward the chair on the right side, making him raise an eyebrow “I believe that your only child should be sitting by your side, and should be your right hand as she did”
Another thing that I needed to play with was that I shouldn’t be knowing of the existence of my brother. Lorenzo has kept him secret for all these years, and to earn his ‘trust’ I had to ensure that I was quiet until I was introduced to the man by him. Lorenzo nodded and motioned to the two maids to put a plate and cutleries. Doing as told, the maids kept their eyes on the ground as they worked in silence.
“You’re a lot like your mother, has anyone told you that?” Lorenzo suddenly asked heading toward his chair "however, I’m surprised that a woman like you was sold by her husband; I’m curious as to hear the reasons behind it. Take a seat”
I walked toward the chair, sitting on it, I stared at the glass of water for a second before looking Lorenzo in the eye “the two of us had our rocky relationship after Ian, my brother, killed their mum. The men couldn’t get over it…”
“Typical Romanov’s” he said crossing his arms over his chest. I had to fight back frowning at his statement, completing off the story Vladimir and I made out.
“Year after year, they couldn’t stand keeping me. Though why they chose to sell me to you, I still don’t know; I was well aware that they wanted nothing more than to get rid of me” I said calmly. Lorenzo nodded but didn’t bother commenting on the subject for a few seconds before he motioned for me to eat, staring at me as he did.
“I don’t like being stared at, Lorenzo”
“I don’t believe I asked for your opinion” he said grabbing his fork and knife “now, I suggest that you eat. The two of us still have a lot to talk about”
“Do we now?” I asked raising an amused eyebrow.
“Yes, you can’t expect me to be stupid enough as to trust you. If you wish to be trusted, you’re going to have to earn it” he said cutting his piece of steak “now, eat something, then we can talk in my office”
Vladimir:“She did deserve it” I told Luka who shook his head as we left the house. I nodded at the men to pick up her lifeless body as we entered the car. The woman got what she deserved. It was her who decided not to cooperate, and regardless of knowing that she was lying, she still continued to lie.“At least we found the papers we were searching for, or some of them. No wonder Lorenzo kept her here. It would have been impossible to actually suspect that she would have anything in relation with him, his businesses, or who he is here” Luka said as he handed me a file. The rest were being gathered by the men as they searched for anything that could be of use. It turned out that the woman had a room UNDER her living room. It was where she was hiding the documents that we needed.“Fake her flight. We already have her tone, have her send Lorenzo a call that she was traveling to Italy. We would figure the rest out later. However, for now, it would be best that he believed that she was aw
Eliana:“And how am I to earn your trust?” I asked Lorenzo as I sat in his office. The two of us came here almost immediately after eating, and Lorenzo seemed to find my impatience amusing. However, he didn’t understand that it was mostly annoyance “I believe that you stripped me out of anything for a while now to know that I have nothing to hold on to”“Exactly” he said crossing his arms over his chest “for now, you have nothing to hold on to. But I don’t trust what you’d do if you ever get to have everything”I simply nodded as a response, waiting for him to proceed with what he was going to say. Seeming impressed, Lorenzo opened a drawer, handing me a file. I stared at the file, but didn’t bother opening it until he nodded at me to do so. Inside the first nylon sheet was a picture of a woman. The woman looked no older than thirty, the smile on her face reached her eyes. But going through the pictures, I frowned when I saw that she was stealing money, putting it inside a bag she had
Vladimir:I stared at the message Eliana sent me for a few seconds as I tried processing what might have been going on.My heart raced against my ribcage as I fought the urge to call the number, trace where the person was, and go ahead searching for my beauty. It would only cause her trouble and for that reason, I was forced to stay quiet, and remain calm.“What do you want us to do?” Luka asked. The two of us were inside the office when I got the message, and I have been trying to collect my thoughts since then.“Find out where she sent the message from, I’ll manage a way to reach to her” I said and Luka nodded “try hacking through the cameras if any, anything that could help me listen to whatever conversation they may be having. I need to hear Lorenzo’s next move for me to be able to know where to find her”“We need to tell Viktor about this too. He and Anastasia would try and find something too. Thing is, we need to ensure that things go smoothly as anything detected could be an is
Eliana:I paced around my room as I waited for Vladimir to come.The man was mad for coming here, and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t take everything in me not to wrap my arms around him, hug him tightly, and kiss him senseless. The way the two of us looked at one another, shared a glance, then forced ourselves to remain calm was painful, but it had to be done.The bedroom’s door was knocked twice before it was opened, revealing my husband who was escorted by two maids. The maids were outside the bedroom. They helped me get dressed in the black sleeveless dress that I was wearing before leaving the room, leaving me to wait for my husband.He stood by the door, waiting for the maids to close it before he turned around and locked it. His eyes looking me up and down before he opened his arms for me to walk into. I ran toward him, ignoring my aching muscles. The bruises that Lorenzo inflicted on my body were yet to heal completely, but I was thankful that I was at least somehow
Vladimir:Eliana and I walked toward the dining room. The two of us playing the cold act despite the love bite on my beauty’s neck. If anyone told me that my longing for her would drive me into a full night of sex before; I would have told them that they were crazy, but fucking hell did I miss her a lot.Having skipped dinner yesterday, we knew that we shouldn’t skip breakfast. Otherwise, Lorenzo could be disgusting enough to try and enter the bedroom to see what we were on about.We entered the dining room. The maids having opened the door for us, neither one of them bothered saying a word, I don’t even think that they were allowed to. Lorenzo’s eyes met mine and he smirked, placing his hands on the table and resting his chin on them “I take it that you too had an active night”“I don’t think you missed us too much. Plus, you would have needed time to digest the fact that you’d be seeing me every day” I answered coldly. I nodded at Eliana to go and sit, and nodding, she played the ac
Eliana:I stared at the wall in front of me as I sat in the bedroom, waiting for Vladimir. The anger that I felt at both myself and the man who thought that he had every right to break me was one that I couldn’t just easily get over, and knowing Vladimir; I knew that things wouldn’t just slide like that.I knew that he would mostly be furious with what Lorenzo said and tried to do. But he was a lot calmer than I was at that point, controlling his every emotion as not to break the bastard’s face.The door was knocked twice before he walked inside. He closed the door before he walked toward me, his steps quick before he threw the file on the bed and pulled me in for a hug. Vladimir kissed the crown of my head, letting his lips linger there for a few seconds “I’m so sorry”His voice was above a whisper as he spoke, and I had a feeling that his regret had something to do with the fact that he took a glimpse of the hardship I lived through when he wasn’t here. Lorenzo was a cold man, one t
Vladimir:“You have lost your mind” Elijah said shaking his head. Anastasia ran her fingers through her hair, clearly not liking what I was suggesting. They would have shared the same opinion if they saw what I did, but considering that neither one of them knew what my wife lived; neither one of them understood that I had to do so. If they did, they would have most probably killed Lorenzo for even approaching Eliana.“I had no better option, and I’m glad to have been there. The man has been physically abusing Eliana, and actually dared to almost do that in front of me” I said glaring at the wall. The memory of him standing up, threatening Eliana as he did was still fresh in my head, angering me even more. Anastasia heaved in a sharp breath. If anyone was against Eliana doing this, it was her. The woman fought me, Eliana, and even her husband Elijah to stop this, claiming that it was madness, and in a way; I knew that it was. However, a sacrifice must have been made, and this was one o
Eliana:I leaned in to my husband’s touch as he wrapped his arms around me while I stared at myself in the mirror. The bruises on my face made my chest ache as I remembered how coldly he was able to hurt me with no remorse or mercy. But then again, after being locked for God knows how long, being whipped, burned, kicked, and beaten, what else would I have expected, right?I just didn’t like the fact that Vladimir had to see me in this state when he came back yesterday. Despite not saying much about it, I knew that the subject was still playing in his head, making him regret ever sending me here, or ever agreeing on me coming here. But the arrow has been shot from its bow, there was no turning back from this now. We were going to deal with whatever consequences we were put in front of, and we were going to come out of them as winners.I was getting ready to leave the room and head to breakfast. Having skipped both lunch and dinner yesterday; I really wasn’t in the mood to face Lorenzo,