Chapter 8 - Gela
I keep telling myself that I’m in a bad dream because in no real scenario could I find Valentin in a dodgy room, holding a pair of pliers dripping with a man’s blood. The memory is so clear and fresh in my mind, so damn jarring, that I don’t even realize I’ve let out a whimper until I hear the sound in my ears.
Valentin and Leonid just tortured a man in their brother’s house, while the rest of us admired the fucking flowers. The depravity of it scares the hell out of me, and I press myself closer to the window, curled up on myself.
My entire body is shaking uncontrollably. My stomach cramps until I think I might vomit in his car. I press my forehead against the cold glass and fight the urge to throw up.
“Gela,” Valentin tries talking to me again. His voice is gentle and coaxing, but it fills me with fear. “Please, let me explain.”
I can’t bring myself to give him one word, even. I was in so much shock that I allowed myself to be led away from Trifon’s house of horrors, straight into Valentin’s car. I had no other way to leave, but now, I’m starting to wish I had someplace else to go.
I wish I’d never left Minnesota. Everything was safe back home, smaller, less confusing. But I wanted to chase my dreams, and look where they've taken me.
Twenty minutes ago, I was laughing with his sisters and thinking that maybe I'd been too harsh on him.God, I had thought to myself,a man with such a lovely family can’t be all that bad.I’d even started feeling guilty for ever doubting where Valentin came from, what he did for a living, and for questioning his intentions.
I had even made up my mind to apologize when the time felt right and to thank him for all he was doing to keep me safe. But that was until I went looking for the bathroom and ended up in the wrong room.
I didn’t really see the guy’s face, but the way his body was slouched over and the splatter of blood on the floor told me he’d been tortured bad. Even now, I can’t get that look of rage on Valentin’s face out of my mind, the look that turned real guilty when he caught me watching from the door.
I feel like such a fool for thinking I was wrong about Valentin, when he’s proven a darkness in him I never imagined he had, not even in my wildest dreams.
“Gela, please.” He tries again, reaching across to touch my arm.
I flinch away so violently that I slam against the car door. “Don't. Touch. Me.”
He sighs and focuses back on the road. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to talk to me again. The rest of the drive passes in suffocating silence. My mind races with memories of the evening, trying to reconcile the loving family dinner with the horror I witnessed.
Were all his siblings involved? Did they know what was happening downstairs while they served coffee? Were they all monsters, too?
When we finally pull up to his mansion, I don't wait for him to open my door. I bolt out the second the car stops, desperate for air that doesn't smell like him.
He follows me inside, and the moment the front door closes behind us, I whirl around, the rage unleashing like wildfire.
“You're a monster,” I cry out in rage, and my entire body trembles. “I knew you were dangerous, but what kind of person tortures someone like that?
“Gela.” He tries to approach me to speak, but I cut him off.
“No!” I back up. “I saw what you did to that poor man! For what? What could he possibly have done to deserve that?”
“That 'poor man' was one of the guys from your office,” Valentin says flatly. “The one I shot in the knee before putting a bullet in his head. Apparently, he survived.”
I freeze. “What?”
“You heard me right. He's one of the men who came to threaten you, Gela. He would have killed you if I hadn't shown up, remember?”
“What are you playing at?” My voice wavers, refusing to believe what I was hearing. This is just one of his tricks, I think to myself. I don’t know why, but for some reason, this dangerous man wants to keep me around, and he’ll stoop to any level to get me to stay.
“Why the hell would I lie about this, Gela?” He looks exasperated. “After what happened in your office, I had Leonid go back there to check out the scene and make sure there were no signs we were ever there. You know? If the cops get involved? He learned this guy survived, and we were interrogating him about why they were after you.”
I don’t know what my plan is. My mind is such a jumbled mess. Every instinct is telling me to flee Valentin, but after what happened at the office, those same instincts are telling me there’s danger if I leave.
Suddenly, my beautiful world and life are full of unspeakable evils. If I run, I have no option but to go home. If I head back to Minnesota, I lead those men chasing me straight to my parents' sheltered, safe world.
I don’t want to do that.
Valentin confuses my silence for curiosity, I think. He continues speaking, and I filter out the blood gushing in my ears to focus on what he’s saying.
“Guess what he told us? He said that your company’s mysterious benefactor is Bratva. He’s Bratva.”
