A Beauty So Cruel Manuscript (2)

by Alone Eagle

  You sold me.

  Her voice was so low and accusing as she had said those words. Without even him wanting to, his world had broken her. She wasn’t meant for a place like this. It was too cruel. It ruined good things.

  Just then Salvi landed a punch on Vlad’s face, hitting his jawline, and kicked at his leg. Then, he punched harder, right on his mouth.

  A sudden gush of pain jolted through Vlad’s body. His mouth was filled with the taste of his blood. His stomach ached, his body lost tension, and his legs began to weaken. He was bruised, winded, and his leg was in agony.

  Salvi will not win.

  While he was on the hard ground, he grabbed Salvi’s foot and pulled him down. His head was pounding, but he still managed to land a punch across Salvi’s defined jawline. He threw his whole body weight into that punch. The impact was like a thousand blades piercing his fist. He heard Salvi grunt, and Vlad’s face twisted into a smile as he relished in sight of Salvi’s blood. It hit Salvi’s jaw with such force, blood pooled around his already bloody mouth. He assumed Dahlia had done that. A faint smile played at his lips, proud that his girl had stood up for herself.

  My girl.

  Salvi reached up and wiped his mouth before gauging the blood loss. His eyes turned narrow right before he charged at Vlad.

  They became a blurred mess of punches and kicks. Vlad could no longer tell which of them had shed the most blood on the ground. He knew he was covered in bruises, and he thought the same of Salvi. They stumbled apart briefly to catch their breath, before diving at each other again, determined to win.

  Stars burst in Vlad’s vision, but he shook it off, continuing to hit Salvi. The blood in his veins hummed with adrenaline.

  Not once did he consider surrendering, but nor did Salvi.

  The fight seemed to go on forever until they were both bloody.

  There was no clear winner yet.

  Just then, a round of gunfire coming from behind Vlad rang through the night air.

  Salvi then shoved Vlad off, and he landed on his stomach, keeping his head down and he took in his surroundings.

  Some of his men went down with noises. Bodies fell onto the floor beside him. He glanced at the last spot Salvi had been in, but he was no longer there.

  Just then a jeep stopped a few feet away, Vlad’s eyes caught it from the distance. He removed his gun from its place at his back and aimed it.

  Then, Salvi appeared and opened the door.

  Vlad hesitated. A realization hit him.

  He’d been ambushed.

  As Salvi was climbing in, he glanced at Vlad who was still holding the gun but hadn’t shot yet. Salvi raised his eyebrows at him and waved two fingers in farewell.

  That’s when Vlad fired.

  But Salvi was already seated by then, protected by the car.

  Vlad continued to fire until the car had disappeared.

  Some of Vlad’s men helped him stand and get into his own car before his driver took off at speed.

  Many of them stayed behind to defeat Salvi’s men.

  The fist fight was just a ploy, a distraction to buy Salvi more time until the rest of his men, his army, reached the scene, and Vlad had fallen right into his hands.

  Betrayed yet again.

  30

  Chapter 30

  It had been hours and Vlad still hadn’t returned. I was freshly showered and wore a cotton white robe. I still hadn’t changed into my clothes yet. Gabriele was outside guarding my door, and he had men surrounding the mansion to prevent any intruders.

  Just then, there was a knock on the door before it opened.

  I jumped, already on edge.

  I was on high alert now.

  My heart smiled though when I realized it was Vlad.

  He’s alive.

  Then, I lost my smile when I took in his disheveled appearance. I whined out loud as I took in the sight of him. He was covered in blood from head to toe. His once fine, satin clothes were drenched with blood. If he looked like this, I wanted to know what the other men looked like.

  He limped as he walked toward me.

  My eyes dropped to his legs. How hurt was he?

  I was just about to ask him, but he beat me to it, “You okay?”

  I blinked back tears. He was still asking about me even though he looked ten shades of fucked up. A hysterical laugh erupted from me before I silenced it.

  Vlad looked at me as if I was losing my mind.

  Maybe I was.

  “Is he dead?” I dared to ask.

  He knew who I was talking about.

  Vlad reached up and raked a hand through his messy and blood-filled hair. Then, he turned apologetic eyes to me. It was the second time I’d seen Vlad like this. The first was when he found me in the devil’s car.

  “He escaped,” Vlad said after a few moments.

  I slumped against the wall, unsure of what to say.

  I remembered Salvi’s last words to me.

  I’ll see you again, sweetheart.

  “Will he come back for me?” I asked Vlad.

  “If he does, he can’t get away.”

  I only nodded at him, wanting to challenge his words and point out that Salvi already done it once.

  I didn’t know what had happened at the scene after I left. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, possibly for the next month, and wake up with a clean slate.

  I glanced at Vlad, meeting his tired eyes. “You look awful.”

  His tired eyes twinkled at me. “I’ll live.”

  Then, he exhaled slowly and moved toward me. I held in a breath as he did. Even though he’d been away from me for a couple of hours, it felt like an eternity had passed with the distance. I didn’t want to be away from him anymore.

  Vlad seemed like he wanted to ask me questions.

  “You said Moretti stopped. What made him stop?”

  I wondered how much I should tell him.

  “He covered my mouth with his hand.”

  Vlad waited for me to continue.

  “It triggered something… A flashback,” I said in a low voice. “A dissociation. I get those sometimes when someone touches me in a certain way.” I exhaled slowly, tears filling my eyes. I looked away from Vlad now. “It began when I was five years old. The abuse in foster homes. I had a nice lady as a foster parent once, but she died, and I was transferred again. It never really stopped.”

  Vlad was quiet but I could feel rage radiating from his body.

  “What are you triggers?” he asked me, gently.

  The way he was speaking to me made my eyes water more.

  I looked away from him.

  I shouldn’t tell him. People use others’ weaknesses against them, so I chose to answer the question in a different way, “If someone touches me in a certain way, I dissociate… I guess it’s my body’s way of dealing with it. A coping mechanism. My body is still physically there, but my mind wanders elsewhere, in a different world, a memory.”

  “It might help to tell me your triggers,” Vlad persisted softly.

  My head jerked toward him and I shook my head, furiously.

  “I would rather die than tell you that.”

  Vlad furrowed his eyebrows at me. “I would like to know in case I slip and trigger something the next time we’re close.”

  Oh, that’s why he wanted to know.

  Then he looked at me with disbelief. “You think I would use them against you?”

  I kept quiet. After a moment I spoke. “Maybe.”

  I reached up and tucked my hair behind my ears, pulling at the ends now so they would hurt me. I needed pain. Pain would stop me from becoming numb. From becoming a cold, empty shell.

  “Salvi stopped… he stopped because he said I wasn’t fighting back.” I still don’t know if he was being a sick shithead or cheeky. “I can’t tell you my weaknesses,” I finished saying.

  “You don’t trust me?” Vlad asked me, his voice gruff.

  I jerked my head at him. “Should I,
Vlad? You’re holding me here, maybe forever. I’m caged. You took me as a hostage but I’m so much worse off than that. I’m a captive now. At least hostages are let go after it ends or they die. I’m still stuck here with nowhere to go but to you.”

  He looked at me with hurt filled eyes.

  I hadn’t known I could hurt the Don until just then.

  Then he asked in a low whisper, “Is that so bad? To be with me?”

  My heated eyes met his. What century was this man living in?

  “You wouldn’t understand because you’re free.”

  He chuckled at my words, and I frowned at him.

  “You think I’m free?”

  I scoffed at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Aren’t you though? You live lavishly alone, can come and go as you please with no one to answer to. You’re wealthy. No one can dare defy you, and if they try, you punish them. You’re feared among people. The law can’t touch you. You have more freedom than most people. You have choices.”

  He gazed at me tiredly. “I didn’t choose to be Don.”

  I was surprised. “You didn’t want to lead?”

  “Lead an army of men to death?” He shook his head. “I was born into this life. I didn’t choose it. My grandfather, my father, they were all Don’s. Then, when it was time for my father to step down, it was passed onto me. Duty.”

  My breath hitched at his words.

  “I always have security with me. I have targets on my back. I travel in bullet-proof cars. My place is heavily secured and gated. I was fourteen when I was made. Which fourteen-year-old has a choice?” he asked me.

  I didn’t have a reply. I wasn’t aware.

  “I made my first kill when I was fourteen. To be initiated you have to kill. When I killed, I swore an oath. My flesh must burn.”

  I jumped at those words. That’s what his tattoo had meant.

  “My first kill was...” He exhaled slowly before finishing, “Salvi’s father.”

  I glanced up at him, shocked. I could feel the tension and intensity behind his voice. It held so much emotion.

  He only nodded. “Perhaps, that’s why he hates me so much. Salvi’s father and mine used to work together. They were Don’s but they had formed an allegiance, a gesture of peace and friendship. But then, Salvi’s father betrayed mine and tried to steal hundreds of millions from him. My father told me to kill him to become a made man.”

  My mouth opened but nothing came out.

  “This caused a war between our families. My uncle, Gabriele’s father died in it. Only recently, five years ago, other families stepped in and created an alliance between us. Our families aren’t friends, but we stayed away from each other.” Then he paused before speaking, “At least, we did.”

  I stared up at him, I knew what had changed.

  Me.

  Their families were at war now because of me.

  “I’m feared because my first kill was a Don of another ruling family. He was killed by a kid,” Vlad continued.

  His voice seemed aloof, yet it was tense. Tension filled the room, and my skin heated under his gaze. Maybe I had judged him too harshly.

  “I’m feared because I’m Vlad Vitalli. I’m both Italian and Russian. Both La Costa Nostra and Bratva. I don’t run the Bratva, but they acknowledge me. I don’t have any relationship with them, but they leave me alone because I’m their blood, and I don’t touch them either. I’m Vladimir.”

  My eyes shot up to his, that rang bells now.

  Vlad pinched the skin between his fingers before he spoke again, “My mother was Bratva. Their princess.”

  I stared at him open-mouthed.

  “Roza Ivanov… My mother was known for her beauty. People said she looked like a rose. There are no pictures of her. I tried googling her when I was a kid.” He gave me a weak smile. “But I couldn’t find anything. I don’t remember what she looks like.”

  His expression seemed full of awe. My heart went out for him, for the little boy who had never known his mother.

  “My father kidnapped her because of the rivalry… I didn’t choose this life. Those who are born into it never choose. Perhaps, outsiders who come and join do.”

  Kidnapped? My eyebrows furrowed at his words.

  That was another thing we had in common now.

  His father kidnapped his mother.

  And Vlad had kidnapped me.

  “Why didn’t you force me the first night I was here?” I asked him.

  Vlad looked at me with a dimmed expression. “That was expected of me, huh? My father forced my mother. Then she had me.” I stared up at his eyes that were icy again. “He made her marry him after she was pregnant. Because she was carrying his heir. I don’t wish to be like my father.”

  My heart was caught in my throat as I stared at him, dumbfounded, and repulsed at what his father had done. He was telling me everything about himself, yet I still hadn’t shared much.

  “Maybe that’s why I never tried to possess you.” His voice was shaking now. “I’m a child born out of rape. A bastard. The world doesn’t expect anything good to come out of cruelty and sin. I don’t want to be associated with that. I would rather die than rape someone…” his voice trailed off and he focused on looking at the ground, resembling a lost boy.

  I wanted to reach out and hug him, hold him close to me. He was just misunderstood. He didn’t choose crime. He wasn’t like the rest. He wanted to be better than that.

  “Enzo acted out without asking me,” Vlad said, exhaling slowly, and looking me in the eyes.

  He said Enzo, not his father.

  “I never would have let him take you from me. I always fought for you and I always will.”

  Always. That word tugged at my pounding heart.

  I glanced up at him as a tear rolled down my face now.

  Vlad sucked in a breath as he held my chin gently in his hand. I sniffled and let him caress my cheek. I didn’t care that he was going to get his blood on me. He’d risked his life for me. No one had made him do that. He’d come looking for me.

  I leaned into his touch, and he moved closer to me.

  “I thought I almost lost you… again,” his voice cracked on the word, again, before he cleared his throat. I didn’t know what to say and I simply closed my eyes, but this time more tears left my eyes.

  “The first time was in the snow when you had hypothermia. I thought you were going to die,” he whispered at me. I met his eyes now. “Today, I didn’t recognize you. Your personality, your soul, your essence of what makes you who you are, it seemed gone.”

  I opened my eyes. It was getting hard to swallow when he was looking at me like that.

  Like I was his everything.

  “I’ve never been afraid before,” he finished saying.

  My lips parted and my eyes widened at his admission, at him now wearing his heart on his sleeve.

  He’d said so much without revealing any feelings at all.

  What he said was forbidden.

  My lips began to tremble, and I reached up to kiss him on his lips. He had a bruise there, but I was careful not to injure it. He was a mess, bloody, and I didn’t give a damn.

  Not at all.

  ❖

  Dahlia’s lips lingered on Vlad’s for five seconds.

  Yes, he’d counted.

  Then, she pulled away from him shyly.

  He liked it when she blushed. She smiled at him. It was a small smile, but it was enough to remind him she was still in there. That little fire had returned to her eyes. Her cheeks turned pink as she gazed at him.

  “What was that for?” he asked her, surprised. He hadn’t expected that.

  “I wanted my last kiss to be… you,” she said softly, not meeting his eyes.

  Closure. That’s what she had wanted.

  His eyes narrowed, and without a second thought, he dipped his head low and captured her lips, pressing his against hers. He wanted to give her a real kiss.

  Dahlia automatically
melted against him. Her kisses were sweet, gentle, and deliberate as if she were being careful not to hurt his injuries. Even though, it was paining his bruised mouth to kiss, he still wanted her.

  He pressed into her lips harder, needing more of her, from her. She let out a small gasp before wrapping her hands around him, holding his jaw. The kiss seemed to get tighter and deeper. He tasted blood on his lips. His wound was opened now, and it was bleeding. But that didn’t stop either of them.

  They continued kissing for a few seconds. He needed to stop though. He feared one more second into the kiss, he would be tearing her clothes off and taking her roughly against the wall. But he couldn’t do that to her right now.

  She’d been through a lot. To say, she’d had a rough night, would be an understatement. He took a step back and drank in the sight of her. Her amber eyes were hazy and dark as she stared back at him. They were heavily lidded, and her lips were parted and bloody with her cheeks flushed.

  She smiled at him, and his heart swelled.

  He gave her a lingering kiss on her forehead before turning to leave.

  “You’re not staying?” he heard her call out to him.

  Fuck. She wielded so much power over him with just a few words.

  He paused and turned to look at Dahlia still leaning against the wall. Her eyes beamed at him, full of hope. He hoped she stayed like this forever. Full of life and never broken.

  “I have to take care of something then I’ll come to you,” he said softly.

  Dahlia’s lip turned upward in a wider smile.

  “We’ll only…. cuddle tonight,” he said with a grimace.

  That word, cuddle didn’t sound right in his mouth.

  She giggled at him, covering her mouth that was now bloody because of the kiss.

  “You know how to cuddle?” she teased, her eyes sparkling at him.

  He moved forward, reaching out to touch her soft cheek, cradling it again.

  “I can try.”

  His gaze smoldered at her again and she stopped smiling at him. Dahlia gazed at him intently, maybe waiting for him to say something, but he’d already admitted so much. She was his weakness. Now everyone knew it.