20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Inessa
W hen my eyes open, the first thing I see is Viktor.
He’s seated in a chair, his chin to his chest, breathing heavy like he’s asleep. I blink my eyes more to take in my surroundings. It’s a hospital room from the bed I’m in to the monitor next to me to the IV bag dangling above me.
I turn my head in the other direction and see Julia there, reading a book. She glances up at me and gasps. “You’re awake.” She rushes over to Viktor’s side and shakes him.
He instantly jerks up. “What”?”
“Inessa’s awake.”
He turns to me. I’m expecting anger and disgust in his expression, but instead… it’s warm and soft.
“Sweetheart?” He takes my hand. For a moment, I’m tempted to pull away but his hand feels too good on mine. “How do you feel?”
I groan as I try to speak. “Not good. Tired.”
“You were hurt really badly. I’m so sorry. I should have been there for you. I should have protected you. I failed you.”
It hits me: what Natasha did, what her men did, how Viktor killed her. The pain I experienced.
“A mirror,” I croak out.
“Are you sure you want to see yourself?” Julia asks.
“I want to see.”
With a nod, she heads into the bathroom and comes out with a small mirror and holds it up to my face. What I see startles me so much, I almost can’t move. My face is swollen and bruised. My left eye is swollen shut. My cheeks are red and puffy. I have a nasty black eye over my right one.
“Oh my god,” I whisper.
Julia quickly lowers the mirror. “But you’re ok now. Those men are gone. Natasha is… gone.”
I try to keep my composure but I can’t hold back my tears from streaming down my face. “I deserve this. For lying.”
“No,” Viktor says roughly. “You don’t deserve this. I was an asshole to you, Inessa. I kicked you out when I knew Natasha was still a threat. I let my pride get the best of me.”
“But I hurt you.”
“You did,” he admits. “But I should have let you stay at the house until we could figure things out. I still should have protected you. This is on me.”
“But I lied.”
“I know you did. But I know you’re innocent. I realized that when I saw you like… this. I realized my mistake. I let my pride and stubbornness get the best of me. And you paid the price for it. But sweetheart, I don’t blame you. I’m not mad at you anymore. I know you lied just to protect yourself.”
“I really did fall in love with you,” I say. I can’t believe Viktor is telling me he forgives me. It’s what I wanted. And yet… “But how can we make this work if you don’t trust me? I betrayed you. And you… betrayed me. You promised to always protect me…”
He hangs his head. “I know. I know I did. Why don’t you take time to get better? I’m not going anywhere. We have things to work out, yes. But I want you to know, Inessa, that I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere ever again. I’m not mad that you lied about your real name or who your dad is. I know I love you. I know I fucked up. And I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to you how much you mean to me. I’ll never let you get hurt again. Not like this. If you’ll still have me.”
I open my mouth to speak but no words come out.
“Don’t say anything now,” he says. “Just let me be here for you. Let me take care of you. Ok?”
“That does sound nice,” I admit.
He gives me a smile – a genuine, happy smile. “I’m just glad you’re alive. It was pretty dicey for a moment. You were in surgery for a while. You had some internal bleeding but the doctors were able to stop it. I’m sorry, baby, that it took you almost dying for me to put my pride aside. It wasn’t fair to you. It’s not fair. I don’t deserve you.”
“I felt like I didn’t deserve you.”
“You do. You deserve everything. And I’m sorry I couldn’t see that in my anger.”
“I did betray you,” I say. “I did lie. I don’t blame you for being upset over that.”
“Let’s just focus on getting you better. But I want to start again, If you do. Put everything in the past and focus on our marriage now. Think on it.” He kisses my hand. “I should inform Dante and Erik that you’re doing well. They helped bring you here.”
I grip his hand before he can leave. “You’re coming back?”
“I’m coming back.” There’s so much truth in his words, I believe him instantly.
Julia remains at my side once Viktor leaves the room.
“What happens now?” I ask her.
“Now? There’s a lot of uncertainty, I think, with Viktor and Erik and Dante. I’m worried peace won’t be achieved.”
I hold out my hand and Julia takes it. Despite the uncertainty, I feel more safe than I have in a long time.
Viktor
When I find Erik and Dante in the waiting room, I’m surprised to see another man with them. Matteo Conti. A Mafia man who used to work with Dante before he went into hiding after he killed a Bratva man, Sergei Belov. Sergei was Erik’s wife’s father.
I always hated Sergei – the man was too controlling and abusive towards his daughters – but I was still pissed when Matteo killed him. A Mafia man killed a Bratva man. There needed to be justice in that and yet, none was served.
And now Matteo is back it seems.
“What’s he doing here?” I nod at Matteo.
“He’s here because I told Erik that I wanted my second in command back,” Dante explains. “It’s been two years since he killed Sergei. Enough time has passed. And to signify peace between me and Erik, Erik is pardoning Matteo.”
I snort. “I bet he is.” I glare at Matteo. “The price should have been death.”
Dante crosses his arms. “We’re not here to talk about Matteo. We’re here to talk about you and Aria. Your wife survived the… incident.”
“Her kidnapping, you mean,” I snap.
“I don’t know why you’re getting prissy with me. I had nothing to do with it.”
Erik steps forward. “What Dante is saying is that Inessa is alive. Which is great news. But you still promised to marry Aria Romano for peace. Are you still willing to do that?”
“No.” There’s no hesitation. “I love my wife. I made a mistake in coming to you men. I never should have agreed to marry Aria. It was a moment of weakness.”
“Hypocrite,” Dante mutters.
“What did you say?”
“Oh, just hypocrite. You judged me for taking Nadia away from you and now you’re doing the same to Aria. You promised to marry her and now you’re backing out.”
“I met Aria once. I wasn’t about to marry her like I was with Nadia when you kidnapped her. Aria doesn’t even want to marry me anyway. I’m going to remain married to my wife. And if you still want peace with me, we can figure out another way.”
Dante scoffs and walks away.
“I was forgiven for my past mistake,” Matteo says. I glare at him. “We can do the same with you.”
“You speak for Dante now? I thought you were just his little worker bee.”
“Erik has agreed to let me come back so he and Dante can continue to work together.”
“What Matteo is saying,” Erik says, “is that I can forgive your mistakes, Viktor. You don’t have to marry Aria. I wouldn’t make you divorce your wife, who you clearly love. But you’ll have to show some other act of sacrifice to show that you’re willing to make peace.”
“Forgive me?” I scoff. “What’s there to forgive? I only went to war with you because you fucked me over. Twice. If anyone needs forgiving, Erik, it’s you.”
He crosses his arms. “So what are you going to do? Work with Finn again?”
“No.”
“Then you’re on your own, Viktor. Unless you agree to work with us right now. Agree to peace. For your sister. For your wife. We won’t hurt them if you agree to peace. We put this war behind us.”
Erik has a point: I have to think about Inessa and Julia. I have to keep them safe. After I failed to protect Inessa, I will do anything to make sure she’s never hurt again.
Even if that means making peace with the men I hate.
“Fine,” I spit out. “You have your fucking peace. But I’m not happy about him.” I nod at Matteo. “He killed a Bratva man and should be punished for it.”
“You worked with Finn,” Dante snaps. “And he killed a Bratva man too.”
“But I’m not working with Finn any longer, am I? Besides, I never truly liked him. He was just a means to an end. He didn’t walk in here like he owned the place like Matteo has.”
“I am sorry for Sergei’s death,” Matteo says. “It was pure self-defense. But Erik has forgiven me.”
“If we’re going to work together,” Erik says, “then you need to forgive Matteo. You need to learn to put aside your anger.”
“Like you men have? You’re full of anger too. We’re Bratva and Mafia men. We’ll always be angry. Now, I agreed to peace. I’m not happy about it but I’ve done it. Leave. My wife needs me.”
I watch the three men go. This is not going to be easy. There’s too much balancing on the edge. This peace treaty could easily fall over and lead back into another war.
But I don’t want to worry about Erik and Viktor and Aiden and Finn and Matteo and everyone else who has ever pissed me off. I have my wife to worry about.
Will she truly forgive me? Only she knows.
Inessa
Viktor brings me back to his house.
“Our home,” he reminds me. I want to believe him but he betrayed my trust just as much as I did to him. I almost died because of that betrayal.
Mrs. Green rushes to my side the second I walk through the door. “Oh my god, Inessa. Mr. Smirnov called me and told me you were in the hospital. Come on. I’ll get a bath ready for you. You need it.”
“Thank you.” I look at Viktor, hovering in the foyer. I’m desperate to ask him to stay with me while also knowing I need some space.
I follow Mrs. Green into the bathroom and she gets the bathtub ready for me. I struggle to take my clothes off from the pain of it all.
“Do you want me to help?” she asks.
“I want… Viktor. I want Viktor.”
Her smile is warm. “I’ll go get him.”
Viktor shows up a moment later. “You needed help?”
The moment I see him, I break down into tears. Viktor doesn’t hesitate to wrap me into his arms.
“I’ve got you,” he says roughly into my hair. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
“How can you forgive me when you couldn’t before?”
“I realized I was an idiot. You saved Julia’s life when you didn’t have to. That told me everything. That the kind, sweet woman I know is who you really are. And when I saw you… on that floor… hurt.” He sucks in a breath. “I knew I had made a terrible mistake. I will make it up to you every day, if you’ll have me.”
“Just hold me,” I say against his chest. “Just make me feel safe.”
“I promise.”
I just hope he can keep it this time.
Viktor
I have to prove to Inessa that she can trust me again. I know one way I can do that.
Her father.
I hate him for what he tried to do to me but I hate him more for what he did to Inessa. Julia told me he tied her up and stole all of her money from her. If I had my way, I’d kill him just for that alone. Knowing Inessa and her dad have a complicated relationship makes it clear to me that she didn’t marry me to steal from me. She married me because she loves me. Because she was searching for a safe place she could call home since her dad wasn’t able to give that to her.
But despite all of this, I also know Inessa cares for her dad and she probably always will.
Which is why I cannot just kill him.
So instead, I track down Gleb Petrov and find him holed up in some dirty motel room.
“Where’s the money?” I bark at him the moment I kick down his door. He springs into action but I knock him onto the bed before he can do anything.
“What money?”
“The money you stole from Inessa. Where is it?”
He hesitates and that tells me everything I need to know.
“You gambled it all away, didn’t you?”
“I needed that money!” he objects.
“So where is it now?”
“Gone,” he grumbles.
“I thought so. Which is why I’m going to pay off all of your debts. You must have a lot of it, I presume. How much?”
Gleb scratches the back of his greasy head, sending flakes falling to the mattress. When was the last time he even took a shower? He’s a fucking mess.
But if I could bring my parents back from the dead, I would. So I understand what kind of hold parents can have on children. Inessa cares for her dad no matter how I feel about him.
“Two million dollars.”
I huff. “You’re two million dollars in debt? Jesus fuck. Listen.” I grab his jaw and press him into the mattress. He gulps. “I will pay off your debts. And I will give you a place to live and pay for your food so you don’t end up on the street. But I will not pay you any money. You will get to live rent free somewhere, so count yourself lucky. This is a better deal than most people get from me. I’m only doing this because I love Inessa. I am going to make sure you don’t die because of your stupidity. But this doesn’t grant you leave to get into more debt. If I find out you’ve fallen back into debt, I will take the apartment and free food away from you. And you will be on your own. And you will have nothing and no one and you will die. Is that understood?”
He lets out a feminine squeak. “Yes.”
“Good.” I let him go. “Now, go take a shower. You reek.”
“Thank you, Viktor. Thank you.”
“You should be thanking your daughter. I’m doing this for her and only her.”
“Thank you anyway.”
I ignore his thanks and leave the shitty motel room so I can get back to my wife. Gleb Petrov will be ok, if he’s not stupid.
Hopefully this will start to mend things between Inessa and I.