Chapter 55
RAYANA POV
I remained curled up and under a warm fleece blanket as Kaito and Alejandro paced the space in front of me while I stared blankly into space. I couldn't hear anything passed the angry raw of my blood that rushed within my veins, making me feverish. My mind was a loud incoherent mess of what ifs, chunk a mix of Italian slurs and curses; I felt like I was going crazy. The sound of something colliding with the wooden floor had me jumping out of my skin, my heart thumping uncontrollably in my chest.
What if I hadn’t left in that car? What if I hadn't heard those beeps and then...
"Rayana..." rough hands clutched me by my arms, bringing me back to reality. Alejandro was staring at me with black, dark, and dangerous eyes. I could see the darkness ins
Chapter 56KAITO POVThey said curiosity killed the cat. And indeed, it was true. People disappeared after poking their noses where they shouldn’t have; people died after discovering secrets that were left hidden. Some of the things were hidden for a reason; because they were lethal, apocalyptic!I wanted to tell her that. I wanted to tell her that what she wanted to know was something she would come to discover on her own, that I was in no way, shape, or form capable of answering her question or feeding her curiosity. But how could I deny her all that while she looked like she would die any second from now if I didn’t say even a single word? Forget her curiosity; any
~~~CONT~~~“About six guards climbed the ring and tied him down, one even put his boot on his head. They cuffed him, took him out of the ring and that building…“I remember Boos ringing, new recruits wanting to fight for their fellow peer; only to be silenced by gunshots. Many died that night, and that was the last time I ever saw him with my own eyes.” I paused to catch my breath, the memory causing something dark and dangerous to slither inside of my veins. He had already avenged himself and all others who were wrong in that place; yet if I could be given a chance; I would fucking go torch that place to ground, turn it into the real that is!“What happened?” Rayan
Chapter 58RAYANA POVI didn't realize I was a sobbing mess of snot and tears until that magnetic pull yanked at me from all corners of my soul."Kaito, enough. " Alejandro commanded on a roar, and I knew it right there that he had caught our conversation. I searched his face for any sign of emotion, but the fucker looked like he wore a mask, hiding all he felt and thought. His indifference made everything Kaito dished out sound like a tale. Something he read out of those documentaries you watched on tv.And there I was, my heart shattering every single second I thought of the injustice he suffered. How could people be so cruel? A 16-year-old already killing his way through the cartel just so he could see the rise of the next day?
Chapter 59RAYANA POV‘In today’s top stories, we have shocking developments in the ongoing investigation into the attempted assassination of the royal Archduchess Rayana Elizabeth Mountbatten, shortly after her return from the official assignment in Russia. The media descended upon her residence and office, eager to get into the depth of the story with no luck, as the archduchess has barely shown her face in public this past week. Some even suspected…’I couldn’t let her finish, I knew whatever was going to come out next was going to be a complete BS and I was so not ready!I angrily yanked the remote from where it sat and flipped through a few channels. An advert played as I waited patiently t
Chapter 60ALEJANDRO POV“What is this madness of going out?” I asked, trying to be as understanding as I could possibly be. I seriously didn’t think Charlotte would come knocking here. It was clear I underestimated the lengths the two sisters could go just to see each other. The how’s of it didn’t matter, because she was here now. And it could only mean one thing; they were dead set on going out. “All we are asking for is a few hours of gallivanting around the mall. Just a few hours. I mean look at her. She is room-rotting in here.” Charlotte pleaded her case and gestured to Rayana. She looked perfectly fine to me. I am talking about a grey loungewear set that clung onto her body, accentuating her lush curves and perky tits. I
Chapter 61RAYANA POVWestfield London plus month-end frenzy was not the most ideal combo for a little getaway… Especially for the most wanted person! The mall was insanely crowded with month-end throngs, and going up and about was almost a pain in the mess. If bumping into people here and there was not crazy on its own, I just couldn’t shake off that rattling awareness of eyes following me at every turn. And no matter how long I had it, I just couldn’t get used to it. It was unnerving, and there was no way I could relax under the watchful gazes of Alejandro’s men. I would look around at some point to see if they were near, and I would see nothing! Just normal civilians going about with their lives.
Chapter 62ALEJANDRO POVMy whole body felt like a weightless piece of paper when the news reached my ears. I felt light on my feet, the blood inside of me simmering on low. I allowed the bloodlust to infest my system, let the darkness swallow my soul whole, blackening every piece of me that was left human.Calamity brewed and formed its path to my throat, the bitterness of it spreading inside my mouth. My whole body itched to destroy, to shred everything in the vicinity to pieces… It was not the fact that my girl was almost killed, twice in a week while I fumbled on straws trying to nail the one person who was after her head; or that I warned her against this crazy idea of going out there in public.
Chapter 63RAYANA POVWhen the door slipped closed, the first thought that infested my mind was that I was not staying behind! Fuck everything else. The times I had been without Alejandro, something lethal always happened, something that always resulted in a near-death experience. And I would be damned. “Where are you going?” Charlotte sat up straight when I jumped out of the bed, her face puffy and tear-stained. One look at her and I knew I owed her my life. Which meant I wasn’t going to sit around here and wait to be fed with the news of why I was hunted by the Russians. I needed to hear it all with my own ears, and then decide what I was going to do about it!
Chapter 77ALEJANDRO POVMy ears clogged on ascending. Luckily I had a little good human to keep my mind occupied. Viper had made it a deal to call us into the small office at the back of the jet, between the lounge space and the bedroom space, to fill us in with the happenstances that had occurred in my absence. Some of the things he hinted was that maybe, just maybe, we have been hunting for the traitor from the wrong huddle. His words haunted me even an hour later as I lay in the lounger with Rayana’s body on top of mine, her head snuggled in the crook of my neck and her breaths coming out in small pants. Everything about her was just so perfect. So natural. Even the way she casually touched my cheek here and there while looking into the small device in my hand, all made me believe my little notion that she was indeed the rib of my ribs!“Check this out.” I drawled in a small raspy voice. Her attention flew to the tablet in my hand. I scrolled a few before clicking onto the link
Chapter 76RAYANA POVI woke up curled into Alejandro’s side, his whole being wrapped around me like a warm comforter. I let my eyes take him in fully, let them wander on every single nook and crook of his face. I printed each detail to memory, and for the umpteenth time, I was awed by the beauty of this man. Long lashes, thick eyebrows that only models could get from terrible laser operations, lips so full and lush that the V dipped so down low. He had these beads of sweat on his forehead that I just wanted to lick with my tongue because that’s how much I loved him. When sleeping, he looked so beautiful. No angry grunts, no heavy sighs, no tiredness that weighed so heavily on him that it was all evident in his simple glance… Just peace. His scent was the soothing elixir I never knew I needed. I was never really a big fan of scents and personal odors, but Alejandro made me find out things about myself I never really knew I had in me. If it were a few months ago I would cringed at t
Chapter 75RAYANA POVAlejandro balanced me on one arm as he attempted to open the door, but I beat him to it and twisted the door hand. He pushed it open to reveal a pathway of roses and candles all around. My mouth fell open in a small gasp of surprise as my eyes took in every little detail. Somehow in a span of few hours, they had managed to turn my bedroom into a whole honeymoon suite. The entire room was filled with red and white, from roses to the white small throw on the red bed… And everything else reminded me of the time he first took me. The time he claimed me and destroyed for any other man, living or dead. My breath hitched at the memory and heat spread all over my body like wildfire.“Wow…” I breathed out softly. Alejandro simply le
Chapter 74ALEJANDRO POVEvery time THAT thought crossed my mind, my whole body shook. Shivers rattled my bones and an unknown force slammed right into my chest, causing goosebumps to erupt all over me and sheathe my body like a second layer of skin.At some point, I almost freaked out thinking I was scared, that I was regretting all of this… But then I figured it was because everything was all too surreal. All unbelieveable. A man like me didn’t deserve this much happiness. A man like me with a closet so full of skeletons that they couldn’t be hidden anymore, deserved nothing but isolation for the rest of his life. Cause as they all love to say, people in our world were all beyond redemption. Right now, I was starting to wonder if that was even true.
Chapter 73RAYANA POVGrowing up, I always imagined that my wedding was going to be the grandest of all times. I imagined it being the most iconic, even more grand than Princess Diana’s herself. I pictured the entire country going on a national lockdown to celebrate the holy matrimony of the Archducke’s older daughter.I imagined chariots, horse carriages straight out of Disney movies, cherry blossoms littering the ground I walked on. I imagined a literal fairy tale, straight out of the books and brought to life. I pictured myself wearing a beautiful princess gown, all white, my teeth brighter than the golden rays of the sun.It probably would have been like that if my dad was still alive, or maybe if Luke was still alive and it was him I was tying the knot to. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever pictured myself being pushed down the aisle in a wheelchair by my younger brother, while my family stood at the head of the chapel watching with eyes filled with tears. At that point, I j
Chapter 72RAYANA POVAwareness came in bits and pieces. I could feel it by the slow intake of breath and the blood thrumming inside of me that I was alive. But I was not in the world where the sun rose from the east and set in the west. That one was very much evident. Where I was, everywhere I looked, everywhere my eyes landed on was nothing but pure and raw darkness. It was cold, bone-chilling and there was this eerie sensation that kept on washing over me, like cold fingers caressing my skin and making it crawl. And the funny thing was, I felt like I was floating. There was no ground beneath my feet, and my whole body was lighter than a feather. But in this darkness, nothing else existed. It was just me and the deep nothingness that had swallowed me. There was no pain, no joy, and the entire place was void of any sort of feeling.That’s when I heard it. A low murmur of voices, like I was somehow inside a closed drum and they were coming from the outside. That would fucking explai
Chapter 71ALEJANDRO POVNausea and fury rolled inside of me like hot green acid. I had hoped that the solo drive after the damn ambulance would calm me the fuck down, but the annoying wee! Wee! Wee! Oof the bloody siren made me want to gut the steering wheel right out of its cradle. Every single sound of it meant Rayana was inching closer and closer to death, and that could only mean one thing. My days of pure and unsullied happiness were over!And no. That couldn’t fucking be. I couldn’t allow it. Rayana was not going to leave me because if she left, then she’d leave with the little remaining piece of my soul.And that would be the worst punishment any man cou
Chapter 70ALEJANDRO POVPain sliced through me. The kind of agony that made me weak in the knees.I’d fucking seen that bloody red dot as it danced around her. But I was fucking slow. Too slow to react and was not faster than a damn bullet. Horror landed inside of me in all its form as I raced up the raised deck, watching with eyes snapped wide as Rayana went lax in her seat. Her head rolled to the side, and her eyes found mine just before she closed them and collapsed. I caught her body before it could collide with the floor, then placed my hand on the reddened spot where her blood was coming out in gallons. The tether of her pain echoed all around me, and I could all bu
Chapter 69RAYANA POVA rattling shudder rolled down the length of my spine as we rolled down the long, narrow, and carpeted hallway inside Buckingham Palace. It felt like forever since I had stepped foot in here and I hated the fact that I wasn’t so thrilled about being back to my office. If it were any other day, I would have been on the fucking cloud nine. “You alright?” Alejandro’s hand dropped to my lower back, and the heat from his palm seemed to permeate right through my skin and disperse the concentrated tension down there. I let out a huge puff of breath before staring at him in my peripheral, then gave him an unsure nod. I had wanted to carry out the press conference in my own time and on my own terms: when I felt ready to take over the world again. But that visit from my aunt had me sleepless for days, gnawing and churning me from the inside. The disapproval inside her voice had been deadly; but despite all of that, there was no way I would undo what I did. Yes, I und