CHAPTER 53
PRESENT
“Istayed in my car, waiting for you to come out. Then I followed you. There were cars behind me, but I was blinded by rage, so I didn’t care if I was caught.
“When you got to that cottage, I prepared myself to kill him, but when I was about to kick the door down, Alexei and his men shot a taser at me. I didn’t have any time to react, and he—” His voice cracks, and it breaks me.
“They forced me to watch until Stefan finished with you. Then they locked me up in a warehouse.” He shakes his head.
“I was inside for almost four months, or five; I can’t remember.
They forced me to watch you call me, unable to pick up the fucking phone.
” He reaches out. “It was right there, and I couldn’t—”
“You… saw me,” I whisper.
That night, I was so high Stefan used me like a doll. He consummated the marriage without even kissing me, treating me like rubbish, insulting me again and again, spitting out things I didn’t want to hear. He used me until he was satisfied and too exhausted to do anything else.
When he finally lay down beside me, I stared at the sea, wondering how effective it would be to walk into the water and drown.
Of course, I didn’t. I was too frightened to even try.
“I screamed and fought so hard at first, but I couldn’t… After a while, I was useless. I was starved, dehydrated… and honestly, I can barely remember those months or what happened later.
“I saw the text they sent you, telling you to get over it.” I didn’t hear from you until months later.
You were pregnant, and my world shattered.
I saw you with a belly I should have been protecting, and I crumbled.
I called you repeatedly, but the line was dead.
Then I went back to work—though not like before; I was terrible—but I followed you everywhere and began trying to rescue you.
“I sent my men to speak with Stefan. I made up a trafficking organisation so I could get closer to all of you. My men attended meetings wearing hidden mics, and I listened to them afterwards.
“Whenever Stefan talked about you, my blood boiled. When he said Finn was mine, you’ve no idea how happy—and how furious—I felt. I couldn’t hold back any longer; I had to be with you both. Some bastards even said he’d pay a fortune to use him as if he were me, and I almost lost control.
“As much as I hated it, I couldn’t allow myself to go mad. Even though I planned every detail, I failed each time I got close to you—until Stefan ruined everything, and I took advantage.”
“Why did you have to behave like a twat when you came back into my life? Why did you have to show me how you killed him?” My voice is barely audible.
“That day I didn’t feel safe. You dragged me out of my comfort zone; you shot me; you showed me how you dismembered him…
I did what I could to avoid thinking about you, to forget the last message you sent me, to endure it—but you practically killed me there. ”
“I had to play the villain. I wanted you to react differently, but you weren’t doing your part, so I had to force you.
You didn’t listen, and anyone watching us would have thought I had no feelings for you whatsoever.
You were being hunted; if there were witnesses, I needed them to hear your desperation.
If I took you to the woods, it was because I couldn’t let you out of my sight.
I needed you close because I didn’t know if they were following us, if they saw us…
I needed them to hear your pleas, for everyone to know the Noskov family was dead. ”
“Why?”
“Because everyone knows where to find you.” He stares at our hands. “You’re the only source of information linking the Noskovs and me.”
“But I don’t know anything!”
“I know—they don’t. They would have used Finn to torture you until he was no use to them, and I couldn’t allow it.”
My heart clenches. “But you allowed other things.”
Pain flickers across his gaze. “Not willingly. I did everything I could. I sent people to look for you; I risked my hospital’s security so you could have Finn in the best place—”
“Your hospital?”
He smiles. “You think I was going to leave you alone on the most important day of our life, amore?”
“What—”
The man’s eyes meet mine with such sadness that it’s contagious. It even looks like he’s been crying.
“You won’t… take him from me?”
“No, sweetheart,” Daniel murmurs, his voice sounds… hurt.
I want to believe him. Just for today. I need to use the little trust I have.
My eyes water. “Can you take care of him? Don’t lie. I can’t take any more lies.
“With my life, Lana,” he says, and something in his voice strikes deep within me.
Dante.
No. He’s not him. I know he’s not. But my mind—my heart—is playing cruel tricks again.
Oh, God.
“You were Daniel,” I whisper.
He smiles faintly.
He had been holding my hand while I was in labour. He had been humming.
He was with me…
But if it was just us, why didn’t he take me with him?
I pull my hand away from his. Everything that came afterwards was pure torture I endured for Finn—for our son.
And I’m disgusting.
Everything Stefan said crashes over me again. All his threats, all his lies…
I believed every word.
My skin prickles as I feel every touch again, every blow. Tears sting my eyes, and I just want Dante to get away from me before I crumble.
I hate when he sees me like this.