Chapter 26 - Darya
The car comes to a stop on some gravel which crunches beneath the tires. I roll onto my back in the dark space, ready to kick someone in the face as soon as they open the boot of the car.
I hear voices and don’t recognize any of them.
Counting my breaths to try and calm myself down, I wait with an edge of anticipation and fear.
Finally, the trunk opens, and an intensely bright light shines directly into my face, blinding me. I can’t see anything other than the white ball of light.
“Before you even think about running or causing shit, just know that there are about six guns pointed right at you now.”
I sigh, biting the inside of my cheek and blinking as I hold my hand up in front of my eyes to protect them from the blinding beam.
Rough hands grab my arms and yank me out of the trunk, letting me fall hard onto the gravel. Again the air is knocked out of me.
I cry out as the gravel bites into my knees and the palms of my hands.
“Stand up. We don’t have time for this.” Someone grabs a handful of my hair and drags me to my feet.
I bite down the words of anger that want to fly from my mouth, because I don’t know where I am yet. I have to try and stay calm. Knowledge is power, and right now I have none.
When we enter the warehouse, I know two things.
I know that this is not Marco Colombo’s warehouse. And I know that this warehouse is not linked to my family in any way.
This is not one of our rivals, and not someone we have done business with.
I have no idea where I am. I don’t know if that is worse or better than at least recognizing the place.
They lead me inside and shove me into a chair.
My hands and feet are tied to the chair and two armed men are set to stand behind me, their guns aimed right at me.
I bite my lip again.
Where the fuck am I? What is going on? Is this something to do with my family, or with Stefano?
I peer around the warehouse looking for anything that might give me a clue.
Then I spot him.
One of the guys who abducted me pulls his black mask off his face and I recognize him right away.
He knows Reina.
I saw them working together in Stef’s warehouse and I saw them laughing together at the camp out we had.
If he is here, maybe Reina is somehow behind all of this.
“I want to speak to your boss.” I demand loudly.
The guy wanders over to me, dragging his feet as though he has all the time in the world.
“What makes you think I’m not the boss?” he sneers.
I crack up laughing. “Oh please, you ? Let’s be honest. You don’t look stupid enough to kidnap me.”
“What the fuck? I did kidnap you, and what has being stupid got to do with it?”
“Do you know who I am, pretty boy?” I grin, tilting my head to the side.
“Napoli. You’re his wife. Don’t really care what your name is, but I know you are a Napoli.”
He snorts in satisfaction as though having the right answers gives him power.
“And who was I before I was a Napoli?”
“Who gives a fuck, bitch? Some street whore, for all I care.” He shrugs, agitated with the fact that this conversation seems to be going nowhere for him.
“Dubrov.” I say, smiling sweetly.
“Hah. Nice fucking try.” He laughs, but I see the men around him beginning to shift nervously.
“Dubrov? She can’t be?”
“Did we just kidnap a Dubrov?”
“No way, man, the boss ain't that stupid.”
“Fucking hell. If she is a fucking Dubrov I’m not staying here.”
The men are starting to panic.
“Just fucking stop panicking. I’ll call the boss. She’ll come and set this straight. That bitch is just trying to freak you out.”
He walks away from us with the phone pressed against his ear.
He paces up and down and kicks at the ground. He looks pale. His mouth goes tight as he speaks. He nods. Then he slides the phone back into his pocket.
When he walks back towards us, he doesn’t look happy at all.
“The boss is on the way,” he snaps.
“Is it her?” someone asks from behind me.
“Shut and do your job. I don’t want to hear another word about Dubrovs.”
I grin. He knows. And whoever is running this show is now on their way here, which makes me very happy. At least I get to figure out what the hell is going on.
Not fifteen minutes later Reina arrives, looking arrogant and pleased with herself. She strides in wearing heels that are far too high for work and pants so tight they leave nothing to the imagination.
“Reina, so nice to see you again,” I say, my voice thick with sarcasm.
“I don’t know who you think you are, sweetheart, but your name means nothing here. I am in charge here. I run this show. Do you understand? You mean nothing.”
“If I mean nothing, then why did you go through so much trouble to kidnap me?”
She pulls her mouth tight and glares at me.
“Because you stole him from me. And I want him back.”
“What are you talking about? Who?”
“Stefano. He’s mine, and you are interfering in our relationship. You just showed up out of nowhere, and I know he doesn’t love you. He loves me. We have been together for so long now—he was meant to marry me.”
“He told me about your involvement with each other, Reina. He said it was a casual fling.”
“ It wasn’t!” she screams, clenching her fists, her cheeks flushing red. Then she turns her back on me and starts pacing in agitation.
I have to stay calm and talk to her as though I am on her side. The way Stefano spoke about their relationship, he made it sound as though they were both on the same page and knew it was casual. She is not acting as though that was her understanding of things.
I bite my lip.
“Did he tell you he wanted to marry you?” I ask gently.
She spins around to glare at me.
“He didn’t have to. I could feel it. A woman knows these things.”
“Did he ever make any promises to you? I mean, about being together?”
“I just told you , he didn’t have to. I know him better than anyone in this entire world. He belongs to me. I can read him like a book.”
She looks like she is stuck between rage and tears.
“But, Reina, why did you kidnap me? hy didn’t you just talk to him?”
“He won’t talk to me. And I tried to get his attention by messing with the shipments, and I thought—I really thought—that he would turn to me for help and that we could work together to figure out who was behind it all. Stefy used to chat to me about work all the time, before he met you. I thought if he just spent some time with me again, he would remember what it was like between us. That we are meant to be together—but he didn’t turn to me.” She sighs heavily.
“You were the one who was messing with his shipments this whole time?” I say trying to hide my shock.
“ It didn’t work . Don’t you listen?” she screams. Her face turns bright red.
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes trying to recompose herself.
“But I have a new plan now. And this one is sure to work.” Reina smiles, and it sends cold shivers down my spine.
I tilt my head, noticing how her eyes have grown colder, as though all emotion has filtered out of them. She looks completely cooked. I don’t think she functions in the same reality that everyone else lives in. She seems to live in her own delusional made-up world.
Still, I need to try and figure out what exactly is going on so that I can escape.
“What new plan?” I ask gently.
She walks over to me and brushes her fingers over my cheeks. “ You, sweetheart. You are my new plan. If I can’t get his attention through his business, I will get his attention through you.”
“How?” I ask, knowing I don’t want to know.
“Imagine—just picture it—his wife meets a brutal and tragic death after some rivals kidnap and torture her. It will be gruesome and horrific, and he will find your body. He will be torn apart and, well, guess who will be there to comfort him?” She grins and does an odd little curtsey. She looks as though she is incredibly proud of her idea.
To me, though, she just looks psychotic.
I bite my lip, holding back the thoughts that are threatening to spill from my mind to my mouth. I have to play nice. I need to somehow keep her talking and humor her ego. She is truly batshit crazy, and if I push her over the edge, she could snap and start carrying out her plan right now.
I need time. I don’t know how long, but I need to delay this long enough so that Stefano can find me, or I can figure out how to escape.
“Reina, I know it’s difficult, but for the sake of his business he had to marry me.”
“Oh, I know that. I know it wasn’t anything more than a contract. He wouldn’t do that to me. He adores me. He is my soulmate, my twin flame.” She grins, brushing her fingers through her hair to neaten her appearance after her outburst. “But Darya, I think it’s time—what was that?”
She spins towards a loud banging sound and her security guards turn to look too. Their guns raised. “Don’t just stand there, go and see what it was.” She yells waving her hands in the air wildly.
Five men come rushing in through the warehouse door, quickly followed by three more.
Every single one of my brothers is here, and Stefano is leading them. They have brought a few security guys, too.
“Reina?” Stefano yells in shock.
“Stefy?” Reina looks horrified and glances down at her clothes to check if she looks okay. “What are you doing here?” her voice has changed to a sweet little girl's voice, innocent and calm.
“What the fuck are you doing with my wife?” Stefano bellows.
“You don’t care about your wife. Just admit it once and for all. You love me. You have always loved me.” She is practically begging him to agree with her.
“I have never loved you, Reina. You and I were never like that.” Stefano looks annoyed and angry. “We spoke about this more than once.”
“Lies,” she screams, raising her gun towards him.
I can see exactly what is about to happen. She is going to take out her anger on Stefano now instead of me.
“Reina, don’t do it,” I scream. “You can’t kill the man you are in love with.” Panic is rushing through me like a wild fire.
“If I can’t have him, no one can. That’s all there is to it. Say goodbye to your husband.”
Terror stabs into me when I realize I might be close to losing the man I love.
I kick hard and my chair rocks backwards. It slams into the warehouse floor, and the hard concrete snaps the back of the chair off, freeing my hands. Chaos breaks out around me as the guards are rushing around in panic, unsure what to do and terrified of the fact that the Dubrov clan has arrived.
I work quickly to untie my legs as shooting breaks out.
Reina seems entirely focused on killing Stefano and no one else. She isn’t watching me.
I leap up and run straight for her, slamming into her with my full weight, and we both tumble to the ground in a tangled mess.
Gunshots fire as we roll, and she grabs a handful of my hair.
Then Stefano is by our side, trying to pull us apart while my brothers deal with her security team, most of whom have fled.
“Stop, dammit, Reina!” Stefano yells, pulling her off me and throwing her across the floor. She slides away from us.
He grabs me and shoves me behind his back, but she sits up on her knees and aims her gun straight for him again. “You can’t have him,” she whimpers pathetically, and then she squeezes her finger against the trigger and fires. But she misses because she is crying so hard and can’t even see clearly.
She takes aim again, and Stefano can’t take the risk a second time.
He raises his gun and shoots her in the head. Her neck snaps back at the impact of the bullet.
I gasp as her eyes roll back in her skull and a gurgling sound escapes her throat.
She slowly slumps backwards, and blood begins to pool around her shattered skull.
I breathe a sigh of relief and move in front of Stef to wrap my arms around him. “Oh my word, I can’t believe you came so quickly. I was so scared,” I blurt out, clutching against him.
But then I feel the sticky warmth soaking into my clothes, and in horror, I step back to look down at his chest.
“She didn’t miss,” I scream. “She shot you.”
Stefano chuckles. “I’m fine, baby girl.” Then he drops to his knees.
“Maxim, Paval, Ivan—" I start screaming for everyone.
They rush over and pull Stefano to his feet. His eyes are drifting; he is losing consciousness.
“Get him to the car.”
I run behind them in shock. I feel numb with fear.
They get Stefano into the car, and I climb in quickly after.
In the back of the car, I sit with Stefano’s head resting on my lap as I rub my fingers through his hair. He is still chuckling. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about,” he says sounding delirious and out of it.
“You’ve been shot in the side you idiot.” I say through my tears.
Paval is applying pressure to the gunshot wound, but so much blood is still spilling through his fingers. My heart is full of pain and worry for Stefano. I can’t lose him. I need him. I love him.
We drive straight to the doc and rush him inside, then we all stay in the waiting room as Stefano is taken straight to surgery.
Nervously, I pace up and down for hours, waiting to hear if he is going to be okay.