T H R E E

~ ANASTASIA ~

And all the memory comes rushing in again. He's probably here to pick up the remains of my shattered soul. The door was opened for him and he strolls towards us. I inhale, barely regaining my composure after hiding my shaky hands behind me.

All the nerves in me are screaming for me to run. The enemy is here, and for what reason if not to cause destruction.

And before I can stop myself, I find myself saying. “Well well, look what the trash truck spit out.”

Then, I grab Isabella in panic and start to run towards the entrance of the restaurant. Vincenzo won't hurt a Zhukov in public. He… won't…

But I'm not even halfway towards the entrance of the restaurant when a warm hand grabs my shoulder and I try to wiggle free with my grip tightening on Isabella's wrist who's spotting the same reaction as me.

“Chill, will you?”

It's Claud's voice. I turn to him and he winces, probably seeing the confusion and question mark on my face.

“Chill?” I ask, assessing him as if he'd grown two heads. “Do you need me to spell out the name of…” I tilt my chin to his direction where he stood, leaning casually on his car with his hands in his pocket.

But wait.

My eyes dart around my surroundings in panic. His men. His men that are present are not even drawing their guns and he's not too. Is this some sort of prank? Like, according to the lifelong enmity between the Vincenzo and the Zhukov, they will always be at each other's throats.

I turn to Claud again. “What's going on?”

“Just… chill.” He says, looking anywhere but me.

I bite my lips, moving beside him and some minutes later, Damien walks past us, two of his men in tow while the others wait outside.

“Where's Alexander?” I ask.

Claud turns his gaze away from his phone. “Inside. He said we should wait for a few minutes before going in.”

“What's going on?” Isabella asks and I nod at Claud.

He turns his gaze to the entrance of the restaurant. “You will know soon.” Then, he's back on his phone.

His face lights up. “We can go in now.”

Isabella, as if sensing my distress, squeezes my hand and I smile at her. And when we entered, Alexander was seated at the edge of the empty table, Damien also sat at the second edge. They were in a glaring competition and the air was thick with tension. I can already feel an oncoming headache.

I sit down resting my elbow on the empty table before clearing my throat. “Can we get this shit over with?”

Alexander turns to me, his face stretching into a smile. I can feel his gaze on me so I turn to him. He's looking at me with raised brows and a lopsided grin which makes me uncomfortable on my seat but I made sure I didn't spot any reaction. I turn back to Alexander with a questioning look on my face.

“Welcome, Nastya.”

I nod. “Where's the dinner?”

He sighs, turning his gaze back to Damien's. He holds it for some minutes before he rakes the table with his eyes.

Alexander became the king of our empire after losing father to the feud between the Vincenzos and Zhukovs. Funny right? Like, the mother fucking feud has been in existence for over four generations. I read that it was because of a business that went wrong between the two families which led to them fighting over some piece of land on a land that was not even theirs in the first place. Like, we are in the U.S for fuck's sake and we are Italian and Russian respectively so what. The. Fuck.

All in all, we lost father, and Damien fucking Vincenzo lost his uncle so right now, I don't understand what we are doing seating on the same table like…

It better not be what I'm thinking. Heavens please.

“So today.” Alexander starts and nothing has prepared me for the next words that came from between his lips.

It's like I'm in another dimension. One that I don't know how to get out of. The walls are closing in on me and… I feel stuck.

“Alex…” I whisper.

“ …uniting our family.” He adds and turns to me.

“What's going on between our families?” I ask, feeling sweat trickle down my temples.

He sighs, his gray eyes which mirrors mine boring into my soul. “A marriage.”

And right there and then, I know I'm doomed. And like always, I'm always doomed. It started when I discovered that I'm the middle child and at the same time the first daughter and not just any first daughter, the first daughter of a crime family for that matter. I knew my marriage was set in stone so I did everything and when I say everything, I mean everything.

I got drunk right from eight grade. I frequent parties with fake IDs, I had sex when I was fifteen and it was intentional. I had to do everything before I became shackled. Then, father died.

And everything died with him. I thought it was over. But, what's going on… right now.

I turn to Claud. “You knew all along?”

He said nothing and his silence was all I needed. He knew. He fucking knew and he never told me.

Isabella reaches under the table and takes my hand in hers. I turn to her smiling and she winces. When I can no longer hear Alexander's voice, I stand up.

“I need to leave.” I say, my eyes on Alexander.

“Sit down Nastya.” He orders

I grit my teeth, knowing that I can't question his authority in front of his men and especially not in front of that fucker. I sit back on my seat which feels like hot prickling needles and I close my eyes.

There's no way in actual hell that I'm getting married to Damien. But… what if Alexander ends up losing his life to the feud just like Father.

No. I think there's still a way out of this. There must be.