All Chapters of TROUBLES OF THE HEART: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Elena’s POVAlthough I had never visited this hospital before, just now it felt all too familiar. Everything appeared to reflect the chilly indifference of the world I was born into—the white walls, the distant buzz of fluorescent lights, the faint whispers of staff strolling past. Though Mafia life had advantages, it also had drawbacks; I had always loathed the coldness around it. Here I was, though, standing at the emergency room's threshold, clutching sweets and flowers in a plastic bag, trying to somehow make the visit less embarrassing.About Marko Kuznetsov, I conflicted emotions. Indeed, he was the ex-sister of mine and indeed, he was a dangerous man in every respect. But there was something about him that made me pity him. Not the merciless monster my relatives depicted him to be. Though no one ever bothered to find out, he had also suffered."Excuse me," I began, attempting to keep my voice steady as I went forward to the front desk receptionist. Here I am to see Marko Kuznet

Elena’s POVI ought to have known more. I ought to have been ready for the cruelty running through the veins of my family like a poisoned thread. But I was not ready for what lay next even as the weight of the past hour fell on me.I had assumed I had locked the draw-on. The one I kept the money I had stashed away from my family over the past few months. It was my means of guaranteeing my escape should the dream of my life in this mansion ever become intolerable. Now, though, that sense of anxiety wriggles at my belly. I understood. I knew it vanished before I even started to open the drawer.Pulling the drawer open, my heart crashed into my chest and discovered it empty. My last means of escape, the carefully buried money disappeared."Elena, darling, did you honestly feel you could keep secrets from your mother?" Behind me, Viktoria's words sounded like a slick, deliberate calculation. I turned, angry flashes in my eyes."You—." I gasped, but as I whirled to meet her words left me.

Marko’s POVThe space was overly silent. The grandfather clock in the corner ticked, and the sound resonated in the stifling silence all about. Though it was one I hated, it was the silence I had become used to lately. I stayed limited to this chilly, gloomy home while the outside world was moving, busy, vibrant.My body no longer served the machine it once did. That had been visible from the accident. A few missteps, a poor break in the wrong location, and here I was—helpless, unprotected, a prisoner of my own house. Nevertheless, the hardest aspect of all was not the bodily suffering. The loneliness was what drove it. The sense of put away, forgotten.I had built an empire, bled for it, and now it was slipping through my fingers.The door creaked open, and I turned, looking for Tatyana, the housekeeper, with some menial chore to deflect my own self-pity. But the visitor that entered was not her. Elena called it.Though at first I thought I was having hallucinations, it was Elena. On

Elara's POVDmitri's fingers sank into my skin, each second stretching longer than the last, and I could sense his heat on my wrist. Though every muscle in my body screamed at me to break free, the room was tense and I couldn't move. I felt caught.Leo's look stayed fixed on Dmitri; his expression was incomprehensible. Benevolent on the surface, though, I could see the storm building in his eyes—one I had been too terrified to confront. Dmitri, on the other hand, was like a beast captured, his resentment boiling just under the surface."What the heavens is going on here?" Dmitri's voice was a low growl full of the kind of fury that made the room feel smaller. "You think I should let you pick her, Leo?"Leo did not reply straight away. Rather, he shifted his slow attention toward me, his eyes locked with mine, and momentarily all else vanished. My stomach tightened as the raw feeling in his eyes hammered in my chest.Though I realized this was a risky game, in that brief second I paid

Elara’s POVEvery second the weight of the phone in my hand felt increased. The message on the screen captured my attention, the words blazing into my head. "You have twenty-four hours. Everything you value will then burn." Dmitri's comments rang in my ears, and every bit of air in my lungs felt stifling.Leo was standing near, his presence like a wall separating me from the turmoil, but even his consoling silence couldn't stifle the panic developing inside me. My fingers were clammy and my pulse accelerated as I stared at the phone as though it could provide answers I wanted not to hear."Elara... Leo's voice was low and gentle, yet it was sufficient to rouse me from the trance. Not knowing what I was feeling, I jerked my hand away when he went for it. Anxiety is great. treachery? or something more complex? "Elara, talk to me."I shook my head and let sharp intakes of breath flow forth. I was surrounded by walls. Though Dmitri had always been erratic, this? I could not have predicted