19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Inessa
I don’t hesitate to listen to Julia. My feet pound the sidewalk and my arms move fast at my sides.
Now that I don’t have Viktor’s protection, if Natasha gets me, I’m dead this time. And any hopes I had for the future will be gone. I won’t have a future at all.
Julia screams and it forces me to look behind.
One of the men have her around the waist. “Don’t stop, Inessa. Keep going!”
But… I can’t. If I was in Julia’s shoes, I wouldn’t want her to leave me. And it’s me Natasha wants anyway.
With a deep breath, I turn around and run back towards the men.
“Let her go,” I gasp out. “Take me instead. You don’t want her.”
“Maybe I do,” Natasha says, trailing her finger down Julia’s face. “It would serve Viktor right for not choosing me. But apparently, he doesn’t want you anymore. How poetic.”
“If you hurt Julia, you know Viktor will kill you. I’m the only one who stopped him from killing you before. But if you take me, he won’t come for me. He doesn’t care about me anymore. You can hurt me to your heart’s content.”
Natasha eyes me over before she nods. “You make a good point. Owen, release her.”
The man holding Julia opens his arms and she stumbles forward.
“Inessa, run,” she says through a ragged breath. “Just run.”
“You’ll get hurt otherwise and I can’t have that. Viktor would never forgive me if I didn’t save you. Maybe this way he will.”
“But you’ll die. I know Natasha tried to kill you once before.”
“Shut up,” Natasha hisses to her. “Leave, Julia. Before I change my mind.”
“It’s ok,” I tell her. “Just go.” There’s no point in telling her I’ll be ok because we both know I won’t be.
Owen grabs me around the waist and shoves me towards Natasha.
“Julia, go!”
With one last gasp, she takes off running. Neither Owen, Natasha or the other man go after her.
“She’s going to get Viktor,” I remind Natasha.
“Of course she is. But he won’t come save you now. Word on the street is that he hates you. That he’s in talks to marry some Mafia girl. How sad for you. Now you’re like me. Outcasted by Viktor. How does it feel?”
“Not good.”
“Exactly. Not good. You did this to me.” She gets right up in my face. “And you’re going to pay for it. You steal him from me. Marry him. And yet, you can’t even keep him. How fucking pathetic.”
“Killing me won’t help you win Viktor over.”
“I know. But at this point, it’s just going to be fun. You shouldn’t have stopped Viktor from killing me. You know that, right? How stupid can you be?” She motions at Owen. “Get in the car. James, sit up front with me.”
Owen forces me into a large van. It’s the same one Natasha used before to kidnap me. I guess it all comes full circle.
I look at the motel as the van leaves the parking lot, wondering if my dad will ever return to it and find me gone. If he’ll try to find me. If he’ll even care to.
If he even returns at all.
Owen keeps his hand clenched on my arm so I can’t go anywhere. But where could I even go? I’m stuck in a van with two men and Natasha. I’m going to die.
It’s a fate I have to accept.
“Why aren’t you screaming?” Natasha asks from the passenger seat. “Crying? Begging for your life?”
“Because I know this is it. I tried surviving and it got me nowhere. It lost me the man I love. I have no money. No father. Nothing anymore. Why fight?”
She scrunches up her nose. “God, you’re depressing. I guess I’ll be doing you a favor by putting you out of your misery. I love knowing that Julia will tell Viktor you’ve been kidnapped again and he’ll do nothing about it. You can die knowing he doesn’t love you.”
Her words don’t even sting because all I feel is numb.
Viktor
I invite Erik and Dante over to discuss more terms of peace.
“Elio seems more on board,” Dante tells me. “I had a chance to talk to him after our meeting earlier and he’s warming up to the idea of you and Aria marrying.”
“Now you just need to divorce your wife,” Erik says.
“I know,” I say more harshly than I intend to. “Peace. I’ll actually be achieving peace. After all this time.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” Erik tells me. “It wasn’t easy for me and Dante.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“So you’re prepared. But this entire peace treaty hinges on you marrying Aria. If you back out…”
Dante cracks his knuckles. “I’ll have to go to war with you all over again for Aria’s honor.”
“I intend to keep my promise,” I growl.
The door bursts open and Finn struts into the room. “Heard there was a meeting going on. Figured I should be present for it.”
Erik sneers at the sight of Finn while Dante frowns.
“You need to leave, Finn,” I warn him. “Erik just might kill you.” I know Erik still hasn’t forgiven Finn for killing Ivan Romanov, Elena’s father.
“You’re making peace.” Finn huffs. “Figures. Of course you’d pussy out.”
“I’m not doing that. I’m just trying to make things safer for Julia.”
“Always for a woman. You men and your women. What is it about them?”
Erik steps forward. “If you’re trying to stop this-,”
“Maybe I am.”
“Finn,” I growl. “Go.”
He turns to me. “We made a deal, Viktor. We made a deal to take these fuckers down. To take my own brother down. And now you’re backing out. I can’t stand for that.”
“This is your chance for peace too, dumbass,” Dante says. “If you agree to peace, you can live.”
“I don’t know about that,” Erik mutters.
Finn huffs and saunters around the room. “Still salty over that nerd’s death? What was his name again?”
“Ivan,” Erik grits out.
He snaps his fingers. “That’s right. Ivan. Hated him. Glad he’s dead.”
“That’s your sister-in-law’s father you murdered.”
“So? Never agreed with my brother marrying that bitch in the first place.” He spins around to face me again. “Do not go back on your word. We can take both Erik and Dante down right now. Right this second.”
“I wouldn’t be too hasty,” Erik says, whipping out his gun. Finn does the same exact thing. Neither man stands down.
“Fuck,” Dante mutters.
I raise my hands in surrender. “Don’t be an idiot, Finn. If you shoot Erik, he’ll only shoot you back.”
“You promised me a war, Viktor. A war! And now you’re trying to make fucking peace with Erik and Dante? Fuck that. I want them dead.”
“Then shoot,” Erik taunts. “And see what happens.”
“If you do this, Finn,” I warn, “then we’re done. You and me. We’re done.”
“You don’t want peace, Viktor. You don’t really trust them. I know you don’t. You’re only doing this because Inessa broke your heart. Otherwise, you’d still want revenge.”
“Maybe.” Fuck him. He’s not wrong. I’m still pissed at Erik and Dante. But I have to make things safe for Julia. I have to try.
And inviting Finn into my home was not the thing to keep her safe.
“You know I’m right,” Finn says.
“Just put the gun down,” Dante advises. “There’s no going back from this. If you kill Erik, he’ll shoot you, and you’ll never get the revenge you want on Aiden. You’ll never make amends with him either.”
“Fuck my brother. He fucked me over. He chose a girl over me. I’ll never forgive that.”
I can hear the front door open and footsteps running towards my office. The door bangs open and Julia runs inside and only stops when she sees Finn and Erik.
Finn reacts on instinct. He swings his gun in Julia’s direction and fires.
Julia screams and dives behind the door.
All I see is red.
With a snarl, I attack Finn from behind and tackle him to the floor. Erik kicks Finn’s gun away.
“You just shot at my sister!” I shout as I begin to rain down punches onto Finn’s face. But that doesn’t keep him down. He attacks me back.
Grabbing my throat, he shoves me off him. “She’s fine. I didn’t kill her.”
A quick glance in the door’s direction shows Julia hunkered behind it. I can just see her through the crack in the door. She doesn’t look hurt.
But Finn has crossed a motherfucking line.
I attack Finn again and we throw punches and kicks at each other. Erik and Dante stay out of it.
“We were partners,” Finn snarls.
“For a time. But I’ve changed my mind.” Punch. Finn stumbles back.
“I want my revenge, Viktor.” Punch. This time, I stumble back.
On and on and on it goes.
“Stop it!” Julia cries.
“Get her out of here!” I yell at Erik or Dante. I don’t care who.
Erik storms into the hallway and moves Julia away from the door.
Finn keeps coming at me. The pure anger in his eyes is unstoppable. I knew Finn was pissed off at the world but this is the first time I’ve seen his anger directed at me.
And it’s frankly terrifying, I’ll be honest.
He is a beast who won’t be stopped unless he’s killed. He’ll always want war.
It doesn’t matter what I really want. If I want Erik or Dante dead, or if I want to work with them. What matters is that I’ve pissed off Finn and he’ll never stop until I’m dead.
I grab the heavy paperweight off my desk and smack it into the side of his head.
With a grunt, he stumbles back into the wall.
Finn looks between me and Dante as blood seeps from his head. For a second, I think I see fear in his eyes.
And then he bolts from the room.
Dante and I exchange a look before we follow. Erik is holding Julia in the hallway but lets her go the moment Dante and I leave the room. Finn runs for the front door.
I pull my gun out of my jacket pocket and raise it towards Finn’s back.
But then Dante grabs my arm and lowers it. “No. It should be Aiden who takes his own brother down. Not one of us.”
I rip away from Dante and try to fire at Finn but he’s already left the house. When I run outside, I don’t see Finn anywhere. Fucking bastard. How he manages to always escape is beyond me.
I rush back inside and get in Dante’s face. “You shouldn’t have stopped me!”
“This war is started because of Finn’s anger with his brother. It’s up to Aiden to finish it.”
“No. It’s just because you and he are friends.”
Dante scoffs. “Finn and I are no longer friends.”
“But you were at one point. Still have a soft spot for him, do you?”
“Enough,” Erik commands, getting between me and Dante. “We’ve come for peace. We can still achieve it.”
“No.” My one simple statement makes everyone go quiet. “I can’t trust you. I can’t trust either of you.”
“That’s why you’ll marry Aria,” Erik says through gritted teeth. “It’s a way to make peace. You can’t back out now. It will only piss Elio off if we set him up and pull the rug out from under him.”
“I’ve known Elio for years,” Dante says. “He’s a kind man but a proud one. If you upset him or insult his daughter, he’ll be coming for your head. You said you’d marry Aria. You came to us with an offer of peace.”
Fuck them. They’re right.
I look behind them to see Julia, cowering in the corner. I’m doing this for her. For the one person in this life I can trust.
“Fine,” I spit out. “I’ll do my duty. But I’m pissed that you stopped me from killing Finn. He’ll need to die one day. You know that.”
“Trust me,” Erik says. “I do.” He gives Dante a pointed look.
With a sigh, Dante nods. “I know, I know. Finn needs to go at some point. But it should be up to Aiden. They are brothers and Aiden is our partner.”
“Wait,” Julia says, stepping forward. “You’re still going to marry Aria? After all of that?”
“Are you hurt?” I storm over to her side and look her over. She’s not bleeding. Thank god. I pull her into a fierce hug. I’m never one to show this kind of vulnerability in front of my enemies but I don’t care right now. “I’m glad you’re ok.”
“I’m fine.” She pushes away from me. “But Inessa isn’t.”
“I don’t want to hear about Inessa. I told you. Me and her, we’re done.” I start to turn back towards Erik and Dante when Julia speaks again.
“She was kidnapped. By Natasha and two men. Natasha tried to kill her once before. I know she’s going to do it again. I heard Natasha with my own ears, Viktor. She is going to kill her.”
My chest constricts in pain. No. I do not care about Inessa. She broke my heart. I trusted her and she stomped all over that.
But I can’t move. I can’t say ‘fuck Inessa’ because that would be a lie.
“Viktor.” Julia grabs my arm, making me look at her. “One of those men tried to hurt me. Natasha was going to take me too. She has nothing to lose anymore. I would have been kidnapped too if Inessa hadn’t given herself over. She made Natasha let me go. To save me. She knew by going with Natasha she was going to her death and she still made a deal to save my life. Because she’s a good person. If she was some cold hearted person who didn’t care for you, then why would she save me?”
“Enough.” But the word doesn’t come out as strong as I’d hope. This one word shows my weakness. Inessa has always and will always be my weakness.
“You know I’m right. Viktor, she has no one. Her own dad stole all of her money and tied her up. I found her like that. She is going to die unless you go and save her. I saw the van they put her in. I saw the license plate. We can find it. We can find her. But we have to go now.”
Everything inside of me wants to save Inessa. But my pride has been wounded.
“Julia-,”
“No,” she snaps. “Don’t give up on her. It doesn’t matter that she lied about who her real name is. She loves you, Viktor. She told me herself. I could see it on her face and hear it in her voice. She loves you. And she saved my life. Clearly that’s reason enough to forgive her. She was willing to sacrifice herself to save me. You still love her. I can tell. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t let your pride win. Follow your heart and save her.”
“We can help,” Erik says. “We have resources. Think of this as another step towards peace.”
“But you should know,” Dante says, “that if you save Inessa, you still have to divorce her. You made a promise to Elio and Aria. You can’t insult Aria by backing out of an arranged marriage to her. It will hurt her prospects if people think there’s something wrong with her.”
Julia’s eyes flash with anger. “No offense, but I don’t care about any arranged marriage. Viktor is married to Inessa. He loves her. He made a promise to her. To protect her. Viktor, do this. Go save her. You have to. She will die. Do you hear me? She will die .”
I look between my sister and the two men. One is my family and the other are my enemies. I know what choice I have to make.
Inessa
Natasha laughs as I’m dragged into the basement of the house she took me to. It’s a nondescript house that looks like every other one in the neighborhood.
Owen pushes me to the ground and I fall onto my hip, hard. My body took a long time to heal the last time I was kidnapped and beaten. I guess this time won’t matter since I won’t be making it out of here alive.
“I want to watch as you two beat the life from her,” Natasha says, leaning against the wall. “This is going to be good.”
Both Owen and James start kicking and punching every inch of my body. Pain reverberates through me. There’s no end in sight.
Soon, I start coughing up blood. That cannot be good.
And once I see the blood, the pain starts to disappear and is replaced with complete numbness. I don’t feel anything anymore because I’m dying.
I can feel the life slipping from my body.
I guess I deserve this for my lies. I was so worried about being honest with Viktor and having him kill me that I never thought I would be killed by someone else.
Natasha is laughing like a madwoman. I do regret asking Viktor to spare her life. She deserves death for this.
But I can’t even move to take her down with me. My body is spent. My bones are broken.
I have nothing left to fight for because I never fought at all.
The door to the basement opens and multiple footsteps come running down the stairs.
The next thing I see is Viktor’s face. Did he come to save me or kill me himself?
The fact that I don’t know the answer breaks my heart most of all.
Viktor
The sight of Inessa on the ground, broken and bloody, lights a fire under me. All the anger I had for her has completely evaporated.
It didn’t take long to find the house with Erik’s contacts at the police station. We gave them the license plate number and they found the owner and this was the address. It was the only thing we had to go off on.
The moment I entered the house and heard the sounds of someone being beaten, I knew we were in the right place.
Now, I stare at the two men who are kicking Inessa to death. Erik and Dante are with me. I can feel their shock behind me.
Without hesitating, I kil the two men before they can even register what is happening. I rush to Inessa’s side.
She’s still breathing, thank god.
“Sweetheart?” My voice cracks on the word. Fuck. I still love her. I never stopped loving her.
“I’m… sorry,” she coughs out. Blood spits from her mouth.
“Don’t talk. You’re hurt. We have to get you to the hospital.” I try to lift her up but the cry of pain that leaves her makes me set her back down.
“Call 9-1-1,” I bark at Erik. With a nod, he does what I tell him.
I’m not sure Inessa will make it out of her alive but it’s our only shot.
“What about her?” Dante asks, nodding to someone in the corner. Natasha. She’s huddling behind a large crate, trying to hide.
Trying to escape me from killing her.
I cup Inessa’s face. “I know you didn’t want me to kill her before. But I have to, sweetheart. I have to.”
Her eyes find Natasha’s. “I… have… something to… say.” Every word is strained but the fact that she’s talking is a good thing. It means she still has life left in her.
“Save your strength. Wait for the paramedics.”
“No,” she rasps out. “To Natasha. I…”
“You have something to say to her?”
She nods.
“Grab her,” I tell Dante. “Bring her over here.”
Natasha screams as Dante grabs her around the waist and hauls her towards me. “What do you want to do with her?”
“She’s the reason my wife is lying broken on the ground. Inessa, say what you have to say. Then you need to rest until the paramedics get here.”
“You,” she rasps out. Natasha’s eyes widen. “You can… die… knowing he… doesn’t love you.”
Natasha’s face contorts into pure anger. “You bitch!” She tries attacking but Dante holds her back.
“She can die?” I ask Inessa.
She gives me one small nod.
“Bring her over there.” I nod to a corner of the basement. It’s as far as we can get from Inessa. I don’t want her to be more hurt seeing this.
Natasha tries fighting the whole time but she’s no match for Dante. He pushes her into the wall and I press my gun to her temple.
“Any last words?” I ask her. It’s the one thing I’m allowing Natasha because she’s a woman. Usually, I just shoot.
“I could have made a great wife to you. You will regret choosing her.”
“I don’t regret anything,” I growl.
Then I pull the trigger. Her blood splatters onto me and Dante. Neither one of us flinches. We’re used to blood and violence.
Natasha’s body goes limp and when Dante lets her go, she slumps right to the ground.
“The paramedics are on their way,” Erik explains. “I also called a friend of mine at the police station to help us with this mess.” He nods to the three dead bodies. “He’ll make sure none of this comes back on any of us.”
“Thank you. Both of you.”
Dante nods. “This doesn’t change anything though.”
“Dante,” Erik warns. “Not right now.”
Even Dante’s eyes soften when they take in Inessa on the floor.
I kneel beside her. “You have to make it through this, sweetheart. Can you do that for me?”
“You… came… for me.”
“Save your strength.”
Tears spill down her bloody face. Even though she’s covered in blood and bruises and her face is already swelling, she’s just as beautiful as the first time I saw her.
“I fucked up,” I whisper to her. “I’m so sorry. I fucked up.” In this moment, I know I’ve forgiven her. I could never be angry with Inessa again for her lie. I know Julia was right: Inessa was just doing what she had to survive.
“Viktor…”
“Don’t talk. Save your strength. Inessa, baby, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I left you alone. And this happened. This is my fault. I promised to protect you. I took a vow to protect you and I failed. I fucking failed.”
I don’t even care if Erik and Dante are watching me. Tears hit me and I let them fall. I haven’t cried in a long time.
“I’m… sorry,” she gasps out.
“I’m sorry too. I’m so fucking sorry. Just stay strong. For me. Make it through this. Can you do that?”
Her nod is barely there but it’s there. Inessa is here. She’s still alive.
But she’s hurt because I didn’t protect her and I will hold onto that shame for the rest of my life.
The paramedics finally arrive. Erik helps them into the basement where they tend to Inessa. They look at the dead bodies but don’t comment on them.
They quickly get her on a gurney and carry her out to an ambulance. A cop car is there.
Erik nods at the officer and talks with him quietly.
Dante steps up beside me as Inessa is put into the ambulance. “This doesn’t change anything, Viktor. You will not insult Aria by backing out. If you do, we’ll still be at war.”
“Don’t threaten me, Dante.” I know I’m choosing Inessa. There’s no other option.
Bring on another war.