The light.
It was getting clearer.
The sound of silence hit my ears as I sorrowfully tried to clear my vision. The dark was still very much apparent but it was slowly emerging behind the bright and visible shining.
The fight to open my eyes was a hard one. The gloom of the eyelids kept blinding me, yet I felt a shimmer of hope once the light bestowed my vision. Hesitantly opening a portion of my eye was tricky enough so I blasted both of my eyelids open in a spring of a second.
Looking around, the memories came flashing back to me in small portions. The warehouse, Tatyana, Alister...
Cullen.
It was in that moment that I had jumped out of bed, completely disregarding my prior injuries. First thing was first, where the fuck was I?
My heart eased a little once I realized I was still in the same room where I had last left off. I scattered around the room in a hurry, trying to find anything that could explain my situation.
The last thing that I could remember was the sorrowful look that Alvie handed me right before letting me descend into my sleep.
I had no idea what to think. What to feel.
But I knew that before I could assess whatever was left of my feelings, I needed to find out what the fuck happened.
Just then, as if it was scripted, Alister walked in.
I almost cried out of relief when I saw his familiar face. Even though I knew I was not placed in a different location, the confirmation that I was still here was better than I could have imagined.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Alister's voice boomed throughput the room as he gradually placed a hand around my waist and lightly dropped me back on the bed.
"What happened?" I asked reluctantly, already fearing the answer I could potentially receive.
Alister's face scrunched up into one of anger.
"You were drugged." He replied, his arms tightening his hold on me while he sat on the bed, his hands still circled around me waist.
"Yeah. No shit. What happened after?"
By the furious expression on his face, I already knew I was not going to be happy with the answer but I couldn't help but notice a slight layer of amusement in his eyes on my clearly drugged form.
"They tried to take you. Apparently, they had a rat in here that wanted to send you to them as revenge against me."
"W-what are you talking about? Who's them?" My frightful tone managed to harden his grip around me in a protective stance.
Alister frowned, almost hesitantly as if he wasn't sure if it was a wise move to tell me or not.
"The Siberian mafia."
His words struck my heart without missing a beat.
"What?"
God, I said 'what' a lot. The fucking confusion.
"The Siberian Mafia. Those stupid idiots thought they could take you right from under my nose." His tone indicated rage but I was too caught up in my own thoughts to notice.
Did they actually try to kidnap me to get to him?
"Kamala, Im so sorry." Alister repeated as he softly took my injured hands into his big ones. "This was all my fault. I can't believe I left you alone even after everything that-"
"Alister. Stop. No, you are not making this moment about you. I was the one that got drugged. You are not stealing my spotlight." I joked. Of course I did. What else could I have said in the situation.
Alister offered me a small thankful smile but I could still see the heaps of fury written all over his face. He was angry. Probably angrier than I was.
He reached towards my hand and set his head at the crook of mine. "This will never happen again. You know that, right? I am not leaving your side."
My heart fluttered at his words and just as I was about to argue, another realization hit my head.
"Wait, if they were taking me to Siberia, how did I end up here?"
"One of my men saw the man taking you somewhere while unconscious. He said he was heading to the twelfth garden. That's where I found you." His grip on my hand hardened as he recounted the memory.
"Who's he?"
"Drakul's husband, Alvin." Alister stated with no remorse present on his face.
"A-Alvie saved me?" I asked hopefully. The thought that he wasn't actually the one to betray me filled my senses.
Alister stared at me, probably wondering how I knew Alvie's nickname.
"Fuck me, you're slow. No. He was the one who tried to kidnap you." Alister answered, irritation spread throughout his face that he had to spell it out for me.
My heart broke with his words. Any hope left within me diminished as I realized there were no more excuses that I could draw up for him. I pulled myself closer to Alister as if for confort and buried my head deeper.
"Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly after seeing my solemn look, but I could tell he was uncomfortable in the setting. He wasn't used to talking or showing his emotions and I knew he was trying his best for me.
I silently nodded even though it was the last thing that I was.
"Then who was the one the one who told you about Alvie?" I asked in between breaths.
"Lord Cullen."
——————
"Kamala, stop!" Alister shouted back at me as I leaped out of bed. Fucking Cullen. He was not going to get away with this.
"You can't get out of bed! The doctor said-"
"I don't care! There is no fucking way that I-" Before I could finish my rant about Cullen, Alister swiftly picked me up over his shoulder and threw me back on the bed.
"You don't understand! There is no way that it was Cullen who saved me!" I yelled back at him.
"Instead of yelling at me, why don't you just explain?" He demanded as he firmly held my body against the bed as I struggled to get up.
"Alister, Cullen he-"
"Am I interrupting?"
A more than familiar voice rose from next to the door.
He was here.
My eyes instantly set on his worried facade. I couldn't believe he was here. The same room where he sent Alvie to poison me in.
"Yes. Get out." Alister replied with no room left for discussion, but Cullen was persistent.
"Sorry, s-sir. I just wanted to drop of a little gift for Kamala. I felt awful knowing what happened to her. I've witnessed it first hand and I just couldn't help but get her these."
He took out the box in his hand and set it next to desk. He opened the lid. The box was filled with countless of expensive jewels orderly hanging on even more expensive necklaces.
Alister watched the box with caution. He kept his intimidating gaze upon Cullen, but still allowed him to come in. I couldn't blame him for that. From his perspective, it was just a savior bringing his friend a get well soon gift.
"Make it quick." He added and walked towards the corner, his eyes still set on the intruder.
Cullen approached the bed and I squirmed over towards the edge. All I wanted in that moment was to scream out to Alister on who Cullen actually was, but for some reason, my mouth was kept sealed shut.
Cullen's smirk haunted every part of my body as he key coming closer and closer.
Until he was right next to me.
I quickly glanced at Alister with a worried glare but he was too busy staring daggers at Cullen. He hated when people went inside his room and this was a clear example that there was no-one that he could trust.
Well, almost no-one...
Cullen handed the box to me, his deep breath sending shivers of disgust up my neck.
But then he did something I didn't expect.
He whispered something into my ear. It barely audible, for a second I wasn't sure if I was able to hear it, but his threat was more than obvious,
"You say a fucking word about me, your sister will pay the price."
For a second, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed. Did I just get threatened?
I stared back at him wide-eyed, trying to process what happened.
Since Cullen wasn't on the floor right now getting the shit beat out of him, I could safely assume Alister heard nothing from our 'conversation.'
After delivering his message, Cullen smiled brightly at me.
"I hope the present is to your liking. Get well soon." He offered me a forced sympathetic glare before heading out of the door.
It was then that Alister stood up and grabbed the necklace out of my grip, looking it over as if searching for any foreign device before slamming it into a nearby garbage disposal.
"I don't want any of that man's shit in my apartment."
——-
I could barely breath. The memory of what happened an hour ago was enough to make go on the verge of a panic attack.
I had no idea what to think. I still had so many questions.
Why did Cullen ruin his own plan and blame it on Alvie? It made no sense. It was his idea! I was sure of that. Based on his newly-found threat it was obvious he didn't save me because of any type of regret or sympathy he suddenly got. What would he get out of this?
And Theadara. What would he do to her? We have never been close growing up, but she was still my sister. I couldn't let her die for me. I had no idea if he even knew where she was but I wouldn't doubt it. He was a lord, for god's sake! He could probably find out in a matter of seconds.
His words haunted my brain and since he left, I had been an anxious wreck. I was desperately trying to fight the panic, but it was harder than usual.
Alister must have noticed because he would come check on me every ten minutes, refusing to leave the room. He would order the cooks to keep bringing me more food and water, but I was in too much distress to even attempt to eat.
Right now, food in general looked absolutely disgusting and I was in no mood to drink.
Soon enough, Alister had enough of walking on eggshells around me and decided to confront the problem head-on.
"What's wrong?" He attempted to ask, but his voice came out in his usual deep and intimidating tone.
"Nothing." I didn't want to talk to Alister. I was afraid I would accidentally slip something about Cullen and that would be the end.
Instead, I chose to change the topic to the question I had been dying to ask.
"What happened to Alvie?" I asked carefully, trying my hardest to block out the images of what he must be going through right now.
"You know what happened to him."
Right. The warehouse.
"What about his husband? Drakul. Didn't he interject?" I needed to know what happened. At least, some of it.
"Let's not talk about this now. Not when you're like this." Alister replied, obviously referring to mu spasm.
"I want to see him." I decided without thinking.
"What?"
"Alvie. I want to see him."
———————-
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