My confidence shatters just by looking at Dimitri’s baffled expression staring at me. He dislikes the way I look, I am certain of it. Dimitri turns around and walks out of the room. I follow him to demand that he tells me the truth, but before I can say anything Anastasia intercepts us.
“Doesn’t she look lovely, son?” She asks with a malicious grin. “I think that dress looks really good on her, don’t you think? Irina said green was her color and I can see now that she was right.”
Dimitri looks daggers at his mother. What is going on? Instead of replying he storms out of the house, Anastasia and I follow him. Outside, the family is already gathering for the party, they are all walking towards the white tent. My husband catches up with the rest of his family, and shortly after so do Anastasia and I. I
Everyone gasps at Anastasia’s revelation. Everyone including me. She is a wicked witch, she tried to sabotage me with the dress, and when she failed she used whatever was available to her to harm me. No matter that she promised me she would keep the secret. She is an awful human being. I should have known she was capable of doing whatever it took to hurt me.“What?” Dimitri asks his mother with a scowl on his face. “What are you talking about? What man?”“I don’t know who he is... ask your wife, she had her tongue inside his mouth after all...” Anastasia says before a malicious grin appears on her face.Dimitri turns his attention to me. He is upset, I can see it in his eyes.
(Dimitri’s P.O.V.)I get in my car and slam the door close. The other door opens and someone hops in the passenger seat. It is my cousin Kirill.“Get out, I want to be alone,” I say to him in a rude tone of voice.“No way, I’m coming with you,” he says determinedly as he puts on his seat belt just to let me know he is not going anywhere.I roll my eyes and start the car. We drive out of the residential complex. I don’t care that I am leaving in the middle of my father’s birthday, I need to get away and clear my head. I can’t believe what Victoria did, after these last few days we spent together I thought she really had feelings for me, but she was thinking about another man all along. Her betrayal stings
(Victoria’s P.O.V.)While I wait for Dimitri to come back, I can’t stop thinking about Luca’s kiss. I can’t believe a stolen kiss is going to ruin my marriage and probably my entire life. It is not fair that this is happening to me! I don’t even want to kiss Lucas ever again. Lucas was a big part of my past, I was crazy about him for so long but that was before. Now my feelings have changed, I don’t entirely understand why, but whatever I felt for Lucas pales in comparison to what Dimitri makes me feel. Right now, I am disappointed in Dimitri because he denied me the chance to explain the situation to him, but deep down my heart longs for him to reconsider, I’m certain I will forgive him in the blink of an eye if he apologizes and gives me a chance to explain myself.The party ended a couple of hours ago. Everything inside the residential complex is back to its normal quiet and peace. I guess th
I lean back on the seat of the waiting area. The idea of never seeing Dimitri again is unbearable. I would rather live with his bad mood and his sullen ways than being without him. He is ill-tempered and intimidating but deep down he is not so terrible. The truth is that I love him, maybe I shouldn't, but I do. Even I have a hard time understanding the way I am attracted to him, but I am, I like to make love to him, to wake up next to him, to kiss him… It’s a kind of intimacy that I'd never experienced before, and if he dies I'll be left alone and that intimacy will cease to exist. I feel a pang of guilt for kissing Lucas. Dimitri deserves better, he has been good to me in his own way, he has made me fall for him, I don't want to be another Tatiana in his life.“That wretched Esposito gang is going to pay for this, as soon as we find where they are hiding I’ll make them pay,”
I go to the cafeteria although I am not really hungry, I look at the menu considering if I should ask for something to eat but I decide I don’t have the stomach right now to finish a whole meal. Instead, I start to wander around the hospital halls with not much to do. I forgot my cellphone at home, so I can’t even call my family to distract myself. After a while I decide to get a bag of chips from the bending machine, I’d rather have a snack than a whole meal. I put in the coins and press the number, when I bend to take the bag someone grabs me by the waist and presses me hard against his body. I startle, but I immediately know who it is.“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Lucas whispers to my ear.I hit him on the ribs with my elbow to force him to release me. Lucas takes his hands off of me but just mom
I go back to the waiting lounge. The Ivanov family is still there waiting to hear from the doctor. I take a seat next to Kirill and offer him my bag of chips. I lost my appetite after my encounter with Lucas. Kirill takes the bag and thanks me with a smile. I lean my head on his shoulder, my body relaxes and I start to doze off.Kirill shakes me gently to wake me up.“Victoria, wake up, I have to take you home,” he whispers.I open my eyes feeling a little confused for a moment and then I remember where we are and why we are here.“Home? What about Dimitri?” I ask concerned.“He is doing a little better, but he is still unconscious. The
Once Kirill and Anastasia are gone I look for a notepad and I write the way I am supposed to give Dimitri the pills in case I forget. Then I go up to our bedroom. Dimitri is soundly asleep. He looks weak and pale, but I guess he just needs to recover, it’s just like Kirill said, soon all of these would be as if it had never happened. Dimitri took off his clothes and toss them on the floor, I guess he was too eager to get in the bed; I put his clothes in the laundry basket. I try to be as quiet as possible so I don’t wake him up.“Once again, I owe you,” Dimitri’s sleepy voice startles me. I turn around to face him and I shake my head no. “Of course I do, the doctor said that if you hadn’t alerted Kirill on time I would have died. You saved me again, Victoria.”“I don’t want you to
After plotting a while against Lucas, Dimitri gets sleepy once more. I guess he is still too weak and needs a lot of rest to recover from his brush with death. While Dimitri is soundly asleep, I decide to prepare his favorite meal. I go to the kitchen, I take out two steaks from the freezer and I start to boil water to prepare mashed potatoes. Bolt is so happy to have Dimitri back that he doesn’t even come to the kitchen when the smell of food reaches the upper floor. The dog stays beside the bed waiting for his owner to wake up.The doorbell rings. It’s probably Kirill checking on us to see if we need anything, he is a really sweet guy… for a mobster…I leave the food and I open the door with a big smile. Unfortunately, outside standing on the porch I find Anastasia.She lets herself in without even saying hi. She looks around like she is tryin
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.
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.“Look at that! The latin princess 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
(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 d
(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 idiot 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
“What the heck do you think you are doing?” Dimitri asks angrily as he storms into the hotel room“How did you find me?” I ask perplexed as I move to the side.“I saw your lame goodbye note and I started looking frenetically for you. I tried to call you but your cellphone was inside the trashcan. After a while, one of the drivers admitted he took you to this hotel. Victoria, what are you doing here? What are you planning to do?” He asks with a scowl on his face.“I am leaving the country,” I reply trying to make it sound normal.“Leaving the country? What are you talking about?!” He inquires with a confused expression on his face. “Where do you plan to go?”
Someone knocks on the door. For a moment I think it's Dimitri, but then I realize he wouldn’t knock to come into his own house, he would just open the door. I get up the floor and I get the door. Outside I find Anastasia. She lets herself in as if she owned the house.“What do you want?” I ask, my voice shakes, my eyes are reddened from all the crying and she is the last person I want to see right now.“I need to talk to you,” she replies as she takes a seat in the living room and then gestures for me to come to sit next to her. “I was thinking about my attitude from before and I realize that I was very rude to you. What is said was hurtful and I regret it, but it doesn’t make it less true. My son and Tatiana were together for a long time, she was his whole world, he planned to marry her before her
The whole table gasps. Then every member of the Ivanov family looks at each other confused, not sure about what they just heard. Maybe they heard her wrong. There is no way the maid just announced that Dimitri’s dead ex-girlfriend is here to see him. There must be some kind of confusion.“What?” Dimitri asks baffled. “Martha, if this is a joke…”“No, sir, this is no joke. Tatiana Petrova is waiting for you in the living room,” the maid replies.Every one jumps up from their seats and runs towards the living room. I go with the rest of the family in the search of a logical explanation for what is happening. It is obvious that Tatiana is not here, she is dead, she died a year ago! The maid is clearly confused and I, like the rest of the family, want to know what is really goin