When I open my eyes I find myself in a white room. It takes me a few seconds to realize I am in a hospital. Beside my bed, seated on a couch, Dimitri sleeps while his mother knits with a worried expression on her face. I clear my throat to let them know I am awoken. The sound causes Anastasia to look up. She jumps up from her seat to reach me, the movement wakes Dimitri who does the same.“Victoria, how do you feel?” Anastasia asks, her concern for my well being is disconcerting.“I am fine… what happened?” I ask with a weak voice.“Don’t you remember? You got in the way of a bullet that was meant for me!” Dimitri replies arching his eyebrows. “You were lucky the bullet hit your arm. Now your biggest concern is going to
We go back inside the cave. The first person we see is Kirill.“What are you doing here?” Dimitri asks.“Did you thought I was going to let you have all the fun? No way! Once you started to act weird I decided to follow you,” Kirill explains.Dimitri shakes his head with disapproval, and then he gives his cousin a hug.“Thank you, Kirill, you saved my life,” he says gratefully.“Anytime, cousin.” Kirril says as he winks at Dimitri.“Can you cut it out with sentimentalities?! This isn’t over!” Nikolay shouts.“Vincent and other scared escaped, they went further inside the cave,” uncle Vlad informs us.He doesn’t have to say it, I am certain that Tatiana and Lucas are among those who escaped.“Great… just what we were missing,” Dimitri mutters angrily.“What are we waiting for? Let’s follow them, come on!” Kirill says enthusiastically.“Yes he has to go after them,” Dimitri says. “But we need a strategy.”The Ivanov men and I form a circle to discuss the best way to proceed.“Maybe we sh
Lucas comes into the cave accompanied by four other men. The five of them carry rifles and are wearing bulletproof vests. Lucas’s eyes meet mine, I try to convey to him all my hatred and disdain with just one glare. Shame crosses his face for the briefest moment and then he goes hide behind some barrels along with the other men. This is an ambush, Dimitri doesn’t stand a chance. Tatiana puts a gag in my mouth so I can’t warn Dimitri of what is going on.“I won’t allow you to ruin another one of my plans,” she whispers to my ear. She then takes out a dagger and presses it against my neck. She is pressing so hard the metal hurts my skin.We hear the sound of footsteps. A few seconds later Dimitri crosses the arch that accesses the cave. Vincent and the hidden men point at him with their guns, although Dimit
(Victoria’s P.O.V.)My head is killing me, I open my eyes slowly. It takes me a while to focus, my vision is blurry. Once I am able to see what’s around me I draw my breath in. Vincent and Tatiana are looking straight at me, they regard me with disdain and hate.“She has finally woken! Good, I thought she was going to miss all the fun!” Vincent exclaims with a wicked smile.I remember hearing his voice, he is one of the men that forced me inside the van, he was wearing a ski mask. He kidnaped me! Cold sweat runs down my back as I realize how vulnerable I am right now. I am tied up to a chair, so tight that the ropes hurt my flesh. I look around me, we are in some sort of cave. I am cold or maybe it’s my fear that is causing me to shiver. Several lamps hang from the cave walls, they are all connected by a wire, although I don’t find where they get their power from.“What do you want from me?” I ask trying to sound firm.“I want you to pay for what you did! Everything was going according
(Victoria P.O.V.)I wait all morning to hear from Dimitri, he doesn’t come to get me or call the hotel to let me know what happened after he confronted Tatiana. I wonder how things went with Tatiana and how the family took the news. I smile a little imagining Anastasia’s face when she found out her precious Tatiana was not so perfect after all. I am a little sorry I missed it, but I am glad that I stayed here away from the drama. Hopefully, now that the truth is out the Ivanov gang is going to be able to stop the Esposito gang and the attacks will cease.Suddenly, the phone rings. I pick it up, it’s the front desk, they have a message from Dimitri, he says to meet him at the French restaurant that is across the street.I smile, I guess he is in the mood to celebrate, although it is kind of early to have dinner and too late to have lunch. I don’t care, I put on a red dress and I go to the main lobby. I smile all the way while I cross the street. I find the French restaurant and I try to
(Dimitri P.O.V.)I drive like a maniac back to the complex. I am fuming. If what Victoria said is the truth I am the biggest fool on the planet. I always had the feeling that there was someone else between me and Tatiana, but Vincent Esposito? This is too much. The humiliation is too big. I guess she was wise to fake her death because if I had known the truth I would have sought revenge and I wouldn’t have stopped until I killed Vincent.Once I get to the residential complex I go straight to my house, I run upstairs to the empty room, it takes me about two minutes to find the loose floorboard Victoria was talking about. I lift it and look inside, the box with the letters is here, just like my wife said. I feel my stomach burning with rage.I take out the box out and start reading the letters. Every word feels like a dagger to my chest. I was such a fool, I can’t believe my relationship with Tatiana was nothing but a lie. Everything between us was fake. The love, the kisses, the laughs.