Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

AVA I believe you have something that belongs to me. His words linger in the air for only a second before gasps erupt from the audience. My heart hammered against my ribs, and I blinked at the intruder in disbelief. His? What was he talking about? My gaze finds my father. He stands frozen, his lips slightly parted and eyes wide with shock as he looks at the man who called himself Nikolai. “What is going on Marcus!” Alessandro roared, his rage-filled gaze fixed on my father. His face filled with rage. A smile peaked at the corner of the intruder’s lips as he shoved his hands into his pocket. “It’s quite simple, Alessandro. You’ve been played.” Played? As if snapped from a trance My father looked up, his gaze finding mine amid the chaos. Remorse clouded his features. “Forgive me, Ava.” my father says, giving me an apologetic look. My brows knitted together as a slow wave of dread settled at the pit of my stomach, “What have you done?” “It was a long time ago.”

Nikolai Volkov “Papa” Kira's excited squeal hits me before I see her. She runs up to me, wrapping her tiny arms around my leg like a vine. It's a habit she's developed recently and one I planned on breaking - eventually. Her small, chubby face beams up at me, and her eyes sparkle with the kind of joy that I've become immune to. I let out a breath, resting my head on her curls. “What are you doing here Kira? You're supposed to be with Lydia” Kira giggles, clearly missing the annoyance in my tone. She's made a habit of escaping her nanny at every little opportunity since we got back from Russia. It was a habit that was becoming increasingly worrisome, considering she was a five-year-old child who thought that every opportunity should be seized to play hide and seek. Shaking her head, she grins up at me, revealing a missing tooth that was still intact when I left this morning. I make a mental note to put a hundred-dollar bill under her pillow tonight because the last thi

Ava The walls of Nikolai's office are cloaked in a deep charcoal that blends seamlessly into the dark wood design, creating an intense atmosphere. The shelves are filled with all kinds of books, new and old, all turned to the spine. The books are arranged in such precise colour coordination that they look a bit too perfect. The space is much bigger than I expected it to be and I'm almost consumed by its vastness. A large mahogany desk stands at the centre of it all, polished to a gleam with neatly stacked papers arranged on each side, and not a single paper document out of place. A sleek black leather chair stands just behind the desk, its high back giving off an air of authority against the soft glow of the crystal chandelier above the room. Nikolai occupies the chair, matte-framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as his pen moves frantically over a document, his brows furrowing in concentration. In the last twenty minutes I've been seated opposite this man

Ava. The devil is real. And he is not a little red man with horns and a fork for a tongue. No, he can be beautiful. A fact I think most people forget. Nikolai was the devil in this scenario, and much like the actual devil, he was the ruler of my personal version of hell. He consumes my thoughts as l lay in bed, tangled in the sheets, our conversation from hours ago - if you could consider it that- replay in my mind. My thoughts drift back to his request in his office and I feel a knot tighten in my stomach at the memory. It was already dark outside, the cool glow of the moon slipped in through my window, casting a dim light across my bedroom floor. I had spent the last couple of hours locked up in here, trying to rid myself of the anger that had now turned to confusion that still burned brightly within me. Nikolai was accusing my father of murdering his brother who just so happened to be Kira's biological father. He wanted revenge for the blood my father spilled and he wa

Nikolai “I need a cell new phone” Ava announces on a sunny afternoon, three days after our last encounter in my office. She looks down at me, determination filling her gaze as she makes her request. I hadn't expected Ava to willingly enter the same room as me after our last encounter. Yet there she was, standing across from me, the sunlight streaming in from the window casting the perfect glow on her silhouette from just the right angle. To say I was surprised to see her again in my office would be an understatement, to say the least, but then again what is life if not full of unexpected surprises and Ava standing before me, dressed in a little red top that hugged her figure, partnered with a pair of black jeans that accentuated her curves would be the most unexpected surprise of the century. We've barely seen each other since our last encounter, and I had convinced myself she was running away from me or, at the very least, avoiding me. I guess I was wrong on both accounts b