Chapter 25
Viktor
I hadn't closed my eyes in forty-eight hours straight.
The sleep deprivation had my nervous system teetering on a razor's edge—hyper-alert and fragile all at once. Too much black coffee and nicotine had built up in my bloodstream, sending sharp stabs of pain through my temples.
Too much shit to deal with. The war with Adam had drained me to the bone, and right in the middle of it all, Valentina's situation had gone to hell.
Jack stepped forward, voice low. "Viktor, the Rossi family—"
"Lock it down." I cut him off. "Until Valentina makes a statement herself, no one on the East Coast hears the details of that surgery. Adam Moretti has eyes everywhere. Can't have the Rossi family losing their shit and turning on us."
"Understood." Jack nodded and left.
I walked alone to Valentina's ICU room, hand on the doorknob. I stood there for several seconds.
Behind this door lay a woman who'd given up her ability to bear children. For me.
A tragedy I'd caused with my own hands. If I hadn't dragged her into this game, if I hadn't installed her at the manor as my fiancée, she'd still be on the East Coast, living her life—ruling the Rossi family's armed forces from her throne.
I'd made her pay too high a price.
I exhaled and pushed through.
Valentina was propped up against the raised bed.
In just a few days, all that aggressive arrogance and vitality had vanished. Her face was bloodless, lips cracked and peeling, eyes half-open and unfocused.
She heard my footsteps. Her eyes moved slowly until they locked on my face.
I pulled a chair to the bedside and sat.
Seeing her this broken, guilt cut through me like a dull blade, again and again. I never imagined Hazel could do something like this to Valentina.
And I'd done nothing to Hazel.
I couldn't.
Even with all the evidence pointing at her, even with the maid swearing she'd pushed, even with Valentina hurt this badly—I still couldn't bring myself to strike hard and fast.
It wasn't fair to Valentina.
She'd lost everything for me, and I couldn't even muster the resolve to make things right.
The room sank into a long, absolute silence.
Five minutes. I couldn't speak. Then Valentina smiled at me.
"Did you fall down the stairs?" Her voice was hoarse but still carried a trace of mockery. "You look worse than I do."
I looked at her, throat tight.
"How are you feeling?" I paused. "Physically?"
Valentina gave a bitter smile.
"I'm fine." She took a deep breath. "But..."
She couldn't finish.
What she couldn't say, we both knew. The baby was gone. The uterus removed. She'd never be a mother.
For a woman, that was a killing blow.
"This is on me," I said.
Valentina looked at me without moving.
I paused, meeting her colorless face head-on.
"I didn't think Hazel would do this to you. I was too confident. Thought she was gentle enough to tolerate your presence. Now you've lost your organ, lost your child. This wasn't in my plans. I take full responsibility."
No excuses. In the mafia world, failure was failure. My miscalculation had cost Valentina irreversible damage. I had to own it.
Valentina listened, then slowly, firmly, shook her head.
"No. This isn't just on you, Viktor." She stared into my eyes. "Put away that mob boss martyrdom. I volunteered for all of this."
I frowned slightly.
"From the moment I got your encrypted message, I knew the risks." Valentina's pace quickened. "I knew I might pay dearly."
Her eyes reddened, tears pooling but held back.
"But I came anyway. Boarded that private jet to L.A. without hesitation." She paused, voice trembling. "You think I did this for family interests?"
Valentina gasped for air, chest heaving. She looked at me as tears fell silently.
"It was for you."
I closed my eyes, unable to respond to feelings I'd long known existed.
"Since I was nineteen, since I first saw you in that underground Boston casino—you've been the only one.
" Valentina's voice shook. "Twenty years, Viktor.
Twenty years. I turned down every mafia marriage proposal.
I clawed my way to the top of the Rossi family, controlled those bloodthirsty uncles and brothers, all so I'd be worthy of standing beside you. So I'd have some value to you."
Tears streamed down her pale cheeks.
I watched her cry, something gripping my chest hard. I'd never intended to return her feelings. Never. But I'd never wanted to hurt her either.
"I know," I said quietly. "But Valentina, my heart belongs to someone else."
"You love Hazel. I know." Valentina let out a weak, cold laugh. "I see it all clearly. But I don't care."
Valentina took a deep breath, looking at me almost pleadingly.
"I don't care that you love her. I don't care that I've lost my uterus, that I can't have children."
Valentina lurched forward. The movement tore at her massive surgical wound. Her features twisted in agony. Blood began seeping through her hospital gown, staining the white fabric red.
But I didn't stop her. She needed to finish.
"The baby in Hazel's belly." Valentina bit down, enduring the pain. "Once she gives birth, I'll raise that child as my own flesh and blood."
She looked up, those deep brown eyes full of humble pleading.
"Viktor, I'm not asking you to love me." Valentina's voice softened completely, thick with tears. "I don't expect you to split the heart you've given Hazel. I just need you to let me stay by your side. That's enough."
She reached out with bloodless hands, grabbed my sleeve, and pressed her body against mine.
Her arms wrapped around my waist. Hot tears soaked through my tactical shirt to my skin.
I stood there, feet nailed to the floor.
I'd always known how Valentina felt.
For twenty years—across negotiation tables in Boston, black market arms deals in New York—the entire East Coast underworld knew the Rossi heiress had an obsessive fixation on the Gromov Pakhan.
I'd always known.
But I'd never responded. I'd kept absolute distance, maintained purely transactional relations. I'd never used her feelings for political leverage.
Until now.
I'd finally remembered this feeling I'd never cared about, and in doing so, destroyed Valentina completely.
Every word she'd just spoken piled on the debt I owed her. In the mafia world, money could be settled, territory ceded. But this kind of feeling? That debt could never be repaid.
The crushing guilt pressed on my heart, making each breath heavy.
Valentina trembled in my arms, then slowly lifted her head.
Tears hung at the corners of her eyes. More blood seeped through the gauze on her forehead. She looked up at me.
Then she pulled me down and pressed her dry, pale lips to mine.
Her movement was slow, but I couldn't dodge it.
Guilt had become physical chains, locking my body in place. I accepted the kiss, viewing it as the first installment of interest I owed for my cold calculations.
But my heartbeat didn't quicken from the intimacy.
Instead, another person's shadow appeared in my mind, unbidden.
Hazel.
Those clear amber eyes projected onto my retinas.
My temples throbbed. A severe migraine began.
I couldn't understand it.
That deeply insecure girl who barely dared speak up, who silently endured the housekeeper's cruelty, who threw her body in front of Anya at that party—that kind woman—how had she become this?
How had she turned so vicious?
Could jealousy truly twist someone's nature so completely? To secure her position as the mother of the heir, to monopolize the Gromov fortune and power, had she really become cruel enough to strike down another pregnant woman and destroy Valentina's lifelong hope of motherhood?
But maybe...
Maybe it was my fault.
I'd brought Valentina to the manor. I'd made Hazel watch another woman take her place. I'd wounded her again and again with cold words, stripped away her sense of security.
Even if I meant to protect her, I'd driven two innocent women to this.
The best move now was to separate them.
Valentina's situation couldn't be hidden from the Rossi family. Eventually it would come out. When it did, they'd go insane trying to get revenge.
I had to act now, before things spiraled completely. Remove Hazel from the manor. Separate her from Valentina. Protect her.
That would also get her completely out of Adam's sight.
Valentina released my lips. She sank back against the bed, gasping.
I reached out, awkwardly pulling the cashmere blanket over her blood-soaked gown.
"Rest." I looked down at Valentina, voice returning to its usual flat calm. "I'll make this right."
Valentina nodded obediently.
I turned to leave.
"Viktor." Valentina stopped me.
I paused but didn't turn back.
"What I just said..." Her voice was soft. "What do you think?"
"Sorry."
That was the only answer I could give for her lost organ and twenty years of her life.
Behind me, Valentina's breathing shifted.
"It's okay." Valentina laughed weakly. "I can wait. I've waited twenty years. I don't mind waiting twenty more. Viktor, use me all you want."
I didn't respond. I opened the door and walked out.
"Someday you'll change your mind." Valentina's voice came through the gap before the door shut completely, cutting it off.