by Shandi Boyes
I cough, clearing the nervousness from my throat before whispering, “What’s going on, Rico? I thought we were dining alone.”
Before Rico has the chance to reply, the chatter is the room dulls to a faint hum. I don’t need to look up to know Vladimir has entered; the ice-cold fear sliding through my veins is the only indication I need.
My brows knit in confusion when Rico stands from his chair and greets his father with a kiss on each of his cheeks. Fear clutches my throat when Vladimir peers down at me and says, “Hello Blaire.”
Who knew two words could sound so threatening?
I turn my gaze away, refusing to peer into the eyes of a monster. Rico retakes his seat, then leans over to intertwine our fingers together. With a wave of his hand through the air, Vladimir gestures for the remaining attendees left standing to take their seats. My chest rises and falls when I notice the two seats opposite Rico and me remain vacant, the seats that belong to Nikolai and his mother, Oksana. Oh my lord. What did he do?
My regular breathing pattern returns when a commotion at the front of the restaurant secures my devotion. Nikolai and Oskana are pushing their way through a gauntlet of paparazzi guarding the restaurant doors. After slinging off her lightweight coat, Oskana saunters into the room with a vibrant smile stretched across her face. She places a kiss on the edge of Vladimir’s mouth before taking the seat across from me.
My stomach winds up to my throat when I notice a range of fresh bruises on Nikolai’s face. But even battered and bruised, his cockiness is still paramount. After giving me a sneaky wink, he takes his seat next to his mother.
“Shyulakas don’t belong here,” Oskana snarls at me, glaring.
“Neither do old sukis,” I fire back.
Nikolai coughs, only just holding in his laughter. Rico isn’t as reserved. His beautiful laugh quickly fills the silence. Oskana’s furious gaze scorches into me before she shifts her eyes to Vladimir, soundlessly demanding justice for me calling her an old bitch. The expression on Vladimir’s face remains unchanged. He looks as hideous as he always does.
Rico leans into my side. “Maya?” he mutters so only I will hear.
I nod. It took me hours to explain the term I wanted to say to Maya, but we eventually got there. A lazy smirk stretches across Rico’s mouth as he glistening eyes stare into mine. His new carefree approach fills me with hope that he hasn’t fully succumbed to the darkness surrounding him.
My heart swells as a spark of the man I’ve fallen in love with leans over and place a kiss on the edge of my mouth. They escape my eyes and trickle down my cheeks when Rico mutters, “Never forget me, Kitten” against my lips.
Before I have the chance to respond, Rico stands from his chair, produces a gun from the back of his trousers and points the barrel at the small portion of skin between Oskana’s green eyes. Fear overwhelms me when over half a dozen men push back from the table and aim their weapons at Rico. I shake like a leaf, my lips twitch, but not a peep escapes my mouth as I watch a series of stomach-churning events unfold before my very eyes.
My eyes bounce between Oskana and Rico when he sneers, “First you murdered my mother, then you tried to kill my wife.”
Oskana viciously shakes her head, sending tears rolling down her cheeks.
Rico’s jaw tightens. “You can deny it all you like, but don’t underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak, and notice more than you realize. It’s usually the people you least suspect who are your biggest enemy.”
Oskana’s eyes rocket to Nikolai. Shock and disbelief is tainting her face. Nikolai keeps his gaze planted straight ahead, refusing to even acknowledge her presence.
When she returns her gaze to Rico, he demands, “Tell Vladimir what you did. Tell him how you scheduled my mother to meet with a monster because you knew she wouldn’t give herself to him.”
Vladimir sinks deeper into his chair as he drifts his eyes between Rico and Oskana. His eyes show his interest, but his composure remains calm.
“Tell him how you set her up!” Rico startles me with his loud voice. “You may not have strangled my mother, but you still murdered her. You knew she was Vladimir’s ahren and that he would never love you like he loved her.”
Osaka pupils widen, and the veins in her neck thrum, abundantly proving Rico’s accusations are true.
“You killed my mother so he wouldn’t leave you for her. Then you tried to do the same thing to my wife because you knew she would take your place!”
When Oskana shakes her head, Rico’s index finger squeezes the trigger of his gun. My chin quivers when a scattering of laser dots shimmer on the black material covering Rico’s chest—the same area my name is inked on.
“Tell him!” Rico roars, not the slightest bit intimidated by all the guns pointed at him. “Tell him you killed his ahren!”
My eyes shoot in all directions when the men with their guns drawn step away from the table and move in on Rico. I stand frozen, my brain incapable of formulating a way Rico and I can get out of this situation still breathing.
When Oskana’s lips remain tightly shut, Rico mutters, “Tell him or I’ll kill your son.” His voice dangerously low—a stark contradiction to tone he was using ten seconds ago.
Oskana gasps when Rico turns the barrel of his gun to Nikolai. Unnerved, Nikolai holds his brother’s gaze, his stature composed, his facial expression deadpan.
“Three. . . Two. . . One,” Rico counts down in a tone I’ve never heard before.
“Okay,” Oskana shouts, her voice jittery. “Okay. I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him everything, but please, Rico, don’t hurt Nikolai. Don’t kill my son.”
I pant, unable to secure a full breath when Rico ignores her pleas and firms the grip on the trigger of his gun even more.
“No!” Oskana shouts. “Have a heart, Rico. You have to understand. I had four late miscarriages. All boys. Then Felicia had you. A son. Vladimir’s firstborn son.”
She shifts her eyes to Vladimir who is still seated at the table, seemingly unmoved by the devastating events happening around him.
“Felicia ruined everything! I wasn’t going to let her take my place as well. I earned it! It belonged to me. I loved you. I still love you! But you only cared about her. Even when she wasn’t with you, I could tell you were thinking about her. If that weren’t bad enough, her son took the title our son deserves to have. Nikolai deserves to rule the Popov empire. Nikolai deserves—”
“Nikolai is not my son!” Vladimir low tone sends a chill down my spine.
A collective sigh sounds around the room as my eyes rocket to Nikolai. He appears just as unmoved as Vladimir was earlier. Clearly, today is not the first time he’s been confronted with this news. My massively dilated eyes shift back to Vladimir when he stands from his chair and signals for his men to stand down. I inhale my first full breath in over ten minutes when the red dots shimmering on Rico’s chest disappear.
“You knew?” Rico voice is as shocked as his facial expression. My heart starts beating again when he lowers his gun to the side of his body.
Vladimir smiles a vindictive grin before muttering, “Yes.”
A chair scraping across a wooden floor booms into my ears when Nikolai stands abruptly from his chair. “You knew? This whole time you knew?”
Vladimir doesn’t need to answer his questions, the callous grin etched on his face tells the whole story.
“Then why did you pretend I was your son?” My heart squeezes painfully from the hurt projected in Nikolai’s voice.
“Because you were the ultimate pawn,” Vladimir snarls. “My plan was to nurture you into a born killer, then I was going to make you kill your father. It would have been the sweetest revenge for your mother’s betrayal.” Vladimir turns his lifeless eyes to Rico. “But Rico beat you to it.”
Another collective gasp bellows around the room, the majority of it from me. I know Rico was forced to do some terrible things in his life, but hearing it firsthand is still shocking.
>
Taking advantage of Vladimir’s honesty, Rico questions, “Then why did you sell Isabelle? If you loved my mother so much, why sell her daughter?”
My jaw muscle slackens when Vladimir’s impenetrable mask momentarily slips, exposing a flare of emotion I was certain he didn’t have: remorse.
“Because I couldn’t look at her without seeing your mother’s betrayal,” Vladimir spits out in disgust, his stern mask firmly back in place.
Rico shakes his head. “She never betrayed you! That’s why Col killed her!” he replies, his anger rising. He turns his eyes to Oskana. “Tell him how Col strangled my mother because she refused to give herself to him. Then tell him how you helped Col cover it up.”
Oskana’s throat works hard to swallow, but she doesn’t attempt to refute Rico’s claims.
Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt blazes through my blood when I catch sight of the threatening glare Vladimir issues Oskana. “You said Felicia betrayed me! You said you saw it with your own two eyes!”
“She played you for a fool,” Rico sneers before drifting his eyes back to Vladimir. “Everything she ever told you was a lie.”
Oskana’s vow of silence continues, proving what Rico is saying is true.
“I did what you asked,” Rico says, speaking to his father. “I brought you the person responsible for killing your ahren. Now you need to keep your side of our agreement.”
Time comes to a standstill when Vladimir and Rico undertake a heart-strangling stare down. It's steaming and full of palpable tension.
The red-hot anger lining Rico’s face softens when Vladimir nods. “One wish,” Vladimir mutters while holding his index finger in the air.
“Let Blaire go,” Rico responds immediately, not even taking a second to deliberate. “Full sanction. She can’t be touched.”
I jump to my feet, my body responding before my brain has the chance to register an objection. I slip my hand into Rico’s sweaty half-clenched fist, and turn my eyes to Vladimir.
“Us. Let us go. Rico meant to say us,” I mumble, my shallow words barely heard in a room quieter than a graveyard at midnight.
I tilt into Rico’s side when Vladimir swings his barren eyes to me. “That would be granting two wishes, Kitten, not one. Besides, Rico and I discussed the terms of our arrangement. No mention of his pardon was ever debated.”
Rico’s hand tightened around mine when Vladimir called me “Kitten.” It firms even more when Vladimir paces closer to us, his demeanor frightening, his eyes lifeless.
After he finishes assessing every inch of my face in skin-crawling detail, Vladimir turns his desolate eyes to Rico. “I'll let your kitten go, full sanction, if you agree to the terms we discussed last night. You stop this nonsense of equity and go back to the man you were before your ahren misguided you. Become a true Popov. One worthy of the name.” Vladimir’s eyes flick to me for a fleeting second when he sneers, “Ahren.”
When Rico remains quiet, Vladimir asks, “Do we have an agreement, Rico? Your soul to set your kitten free?”
I squeeze Rico’s hand, begging him to deny Vladimir’s demands. My heart falls from my ribcage when the conceited grin on Vladimir’s face tells me he already knows Rico’s answer. He's going to accept his offer.
The thick stench of panic leeches from my pores when Rico does a single nod of his head as he mutters, “Yes. We have an agreement.”
Fear spreads through me like brittle ice, shredding my heart with tiny, invisible nicks. My bleeding heart suffers more damage when Vladimir smiles a grin no woman should ever have to witness. It's the smile nightmares were created from.
“Good. Start with her.” Vladimir jerks his head at Oskana. “If you handle this situation, your kitten will be given full sanction. You have my word, no one will ever touch her.”
A chill runs down my spine when Vladimir turns his evil eyes to Oskana and sings the rhyme Nikolai sang in the plane two weeks ago. “Send the angel to the devil's bed, hold her, cherish her, then cut off her head. She danced with Satan, and now she's dead, all for lying in the devil's bed."
Fear paralyzes me when Oskana remains quiet, absorbing Vladimir’s cruel taunt without the smallest switch in her composure. My eyes glare at her, urging her to fight, begging for her shocked state to lift. No matter how much I stare at Oskana, she maintains a dignified approach, either accepting her fate with quiet poise or stuck in the trance of denial.
After clearing the room with a wave of his hand, Vladimir spins on his heels to face Nikolai. “Are you coming, Son?”
My astonishment grows when Nikolai dances his eyes between Vladimir and his mother before he stands from his chair and follows Vladimir out of the room. Oskana appears just as mortified as me.
My pupils widen to the size of dinner plates when Rico lifts his gun dangling at his side and points the barrel at Oskana. The veins in his neck are bulging, and his lips are set into a hard, determined line.
“Enrique, don’t, please,” I plead, my voice weak.
Rico glances over my shoulder for the quickest second, his eyes dark and bleak. “Erik, take Blaire back to Ravenshoe,” he demands, his voice as lifeless as his narrowed gaze.
“No!” I scream when Erik attempts to pull me away from Rico’s side. “This isn’t you, Enrique. Don’t do this.”
“Take her now!” Rico roars, the vein in his neck protruding.
When Erik wraps his arms around my torso, I kick and thrash against him. Fear scorches my veins, but I fight with all my might, not willing to give up. If Rico does this, I’ll never bring him back. He will merge too far into the blackness.
“This isn’t you, Enrique!” I scream at the top of my lungs as Erik drags me across the restaurant floor. “You’re not a monster. You were just raised by one!”
The refreshing wind from the air-conditioning does nothing to settle the sick fear creeping up my wind pipe when Erik swings open the restaurant doors and drags me outside.
“Don’t, Enrique! Don’t do this!” I yell with tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Don’t forget me, Kitten,” is the last thing I hear before the restaurant doors slam shut.
My heart shatters into a million pieces when a bullet being dislodged from a gun booms into my ears. There's no noise more devastating than the crippling sound of death.
Chapter 31
“Hey, you look nice,” Lacey greets me when I walk into the kitchen of our modest two-bedroom apartment.
“Thanks.”
Smiling, I run my hands down my floral knee-length skirt, clearing away the invisible wrinkles I believe are in the dead-straight material.
Lacey puts an extra dash of vodka into the dirty martini mixture she's mixing before pouring half of the contents into two salt-rimmed glasses.
“You’ve got this, Blaire.”
She hands a full-to-the-brim martini glass to me. I nod, even though my heart is screaming no she doesn’t.
“To getting my life back on track.” I clink my glass against Lacey’s.
She returns my gesture before running her hand down my arm in a comforting manner.
“Two weeks doesn’t equal a lifetime, Care Blaire,” she replies, reiterating what she has said to me numerous times the past month. “But even if it did, you’ve got this. Just remember what Dr. Avery taught you: one step at a time.”
I try to issue her a genuine smile, but my heart isn’t into it. Not yet. It’s still struggling to piece itself back together after it was shattered into a million pieces last month. I thought I missed Rico the days following our Vegas quickie wedding, but it's nothing compared to my yearning for him the past month. My heart is barely functioning, it’s been so distraught. Like all people in mourning, my emotions have been put through the wringer. First, I couldn’t stop crying. Then, I got angry, not just at Rico, but also at myself for not being strong enough to pull him out of the darkness. Now, I’m carefully wading through the final stage of my grief: acceptance.
Being totally honest, I only
reached the acceptance stage half an hour ago. It’s been such a longwinded process as my heart is trapped between a rock and a hard place. Half of it's yearning for Rico, where the other half is stuck in debilitating confusion. My heart was certain it knew the real Rico—the man behind the veil he wore in front of others. But when news of Oskana’s death circulated every news channel in the country the days following my return to Ravenshoe, my heart began to wonder if it was duped by Rico’s charm just as badly as my astute brain. Did I misread him completely? Or is he more cunning than I ever predicted?
When I first arrived home, I vowed to keep myself occupied so I wouldn’t stew over every nanosecond of the two weeks prior to our disastrous dinner date, searching for clues on where it had all gone so terribly wrong. But with Mr. Rodchester refusing to let me return to my teaching job until after the stipulated time Rico’s men requested, I had no choice but to evaluate every second I spent with Rico. Even after weeks of deliberation, I'm genuinely at a loss as to what happened.
The Rico who risked his life to save me ten years ago wasn’t the same Rico I was torn away from last month. I know he can switch from night to day with a flick of his fingers, but I thought the days we spent together changed him. He felt responsible for my attack, but I truly thought we’d moved past that. I thought it made us stronger as a couple. Obviously, I was wrong.
Lacey slings her arm around my shoulders and draws me in close to her side. “Come on, Blaire, just one night with no tears,” she murmurs against my temple.
I nuzzle into her neck and inhale a large breath of her freshly washed hair. Lacey has been my savior the past month. Understandably, I arrived home a blubbering mess. Lacey said nothing. No reprimand, no lecture on my stupidity, she just held me while I cried until I had no more tears left to shed.
Most people don’t understand the unique bond Rico and I formed in the two weeks we were together. They don’t believe such a strong relationship could be achieved in a matter of days. I normally would have agreed with them. Until I met Rico. He has proven time and time again what I think I know isn’t always the case. He made me see the bigger picture. At times, it was beautiful. Other times, it was hideously ugly. That night in the restaurant was a combination of them both.
