Elsa
“Nicholas…” I swallowed hard as I looked at him, feeling my heart rate going up once again.
“I… Uh…” My mind went completely blank when I tried to come up with some kind of excuse. But who was I kidding? I was completely in deep shit no matter what.
“Quiet.” He growled out and I clamped my mouth shut.
Nicholas looked at me with his darkened eyes. I had seen that look on his face before when he was extremely pissed. And now it was aimed at me.
He slowly walked up to me, his eyes scanning my body before he met my eyes. I had to tilt my head up a little to be able to see his face when he stopped in front of me. My breath hitched in my throat at how close we were. He still had that effect on my body, making it flutter and tingle without even touching me, and his face was so close to mine that it almost felt unreal.
It also took everything in me not to turn around and make a run for it, not ready for what I was about to face.
I didn’t notice when he reached for the gun I was hiding behind my back before he ripped it out of my hands. Nicholas looked at the gun, turning it over as he examined it.
“How did you get this?” His voice was laced with so much anger, making me gulp a little.
“I, uh, bought it?” I really didn’t want to say
it to me when he already was this angry. He placed the tip of the gun under my chin to make me look at him.
“Don’t lie to me. This belongs to me, so tell me who the fuck gave it to you?” I stayed quiet. He would only be even more furious.
“Fine. I will find out in a second. Go sit your ass down and take that shit off.” His eyes were cold as he looked at me. I swallowed hard. I was not in any position to be saying anything and followed his orders as a good obedient child would.
Nicholas ’s eyes followed me as I sat down on the couch. At the same time, the door opened and Antonio, Giovanni, Logan, and Josh walked in with Ava and Cecilia, who were still half-asleep and had to be carried by Logan and Josh. They all gave me disapproving looks and I looked away, taking off my wig and contacts to hide my nervousness.
“What happened to them?” Nicholas asked, looking at Ava’s and Cecilia’s drowsy state.
“We found them asleep.” Antonio reported.
“Didn’t I say to keep an eye on her at all times, and you fell asleep?” Nicholas snapped at them. Cecilia looked at him and blinked a couple of times as she tried to focus.
“It just happened. We suddenly got tired after she left… Must have been the wine.” She mumbled and leaned into Logan.
“Did you drug us?” Ava asked, making all of them look at me.
“You drugged my girlfriend?” Logan hissed at me. My eyes widen at his words. Cecilia was his girlfriend? That meant she was Nicholas’s cousin, doubling the amount of shit I was already in.
“I wouldn’t call it drugged… I just crushed some sleeping pills and put them in the wine…” I awkwardly trailed off and squirmed in my seat. If Logan wasn’t pissed at me before for staying in the safe-house, he was definitely now for, well, drugging his girlfriend with sleeping pills.
“Badass.” Ava half chuckled and rubbed her eyes.
“Take them away.” He ordered and Logan and Josh carried them out. Even Josh, who was usually playful and goofy, was quiet and looked at me with a pissed-off expression.
Nicholas held up the gun, making Antonio look at it.
“I gave her the gun.”
“And why the fuck would you do that?”
“In case she needed it for extra protection.” He said calmly while Nicholas glared at him with a murderous look.
“She barely knows how to use it, what if she hurt herself with it?”
“I’m not that stupid.” The words came out before I could stop them, making him whip his head to me so fast.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay quiet?” He growled out and I frowned.
“This is getting ridiculous.” I said quietly under my breath and crossed my arms, but he heard it.
“Do you think this is a joke? What the fuck were you doing at the LuxePalace?!” I got startled when he raised his voice at me. He stepped closer and stared me down.
“I’m not going to talk to you if you’re just going to yell at me.” I got up to get away from him but he grabbed my arm to face him again.
“You’re going to tell me before I really lose my fucking shit.” His expression had my heart drop.
“Please, let go, you’re scaring me.” My voice came out in a whisper. He let go of me as if I burned him and stepped away. I didn’t want to feel this way, and I knew he would never hurt me but the way he was talking to me, and looking at me, was not something he had ever done before.
Nicholas let out a string of curse words as he ran a hand through his hair before turning around.
“Fuck!” He yelled and punched the wall. His fist went through before he left the house, slamming the door in the process.
I bit down on my lip as I looked anywhere but at Antonio and Giovanni, hating they were witnessing this. I looked in the direction of the door, contemplating whether I should follow him or not.
“Let him cool off, he’ll be back.” Antonio said. I nodded, swallowing the lump that formed in my throat. I knew I fucked up and I really hated how angry he was with me.
I sat back down on the couch, took my heels off, and waited for Nicholas to come back. They didn’t say anything and just watched me while I was lost in my thoughts. There was no reason for me to try and hide anything from him. I had no intention of doing it either, and I wondered if he would be more pissed when I told him.
If that was even possible.
“Leave us.” He ordered them. Antonio looked at me and I gave a nod, letting him know I would be okay. It didn’t go unnoticed by Nicholas but he didn’t say anything.
We looked at each other, no one saying anything as his intense gaze was on me. I shifted around on my feet, feeling anxious. His emotions were masked, and I didn’t know what awaited me. Now I wished he would yell at me. That way I would at least know what went through his mind.
“Did I hurt you?” Nicholas’s deep voice broke the silence and looked at my arm where he had grabbed me.
“No.” I said softly.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” His brows furrowed a little.
“I know.”
“Elsa.…” A shiver rippled through my body when he said my name. I let out a breath and my heart beat faster.
“You’re getting on a plane first thing tomorrow. You’re leaving the states.” He said. I felt my heart drop and my chest rose and fell in shock.
“W-what?” I managed to get out but he just looked at me calmly with a straight face I hated so much right now.
“You heard me. It’s for the best.” He simply said as I looked at him with wide eyes. He turned around to leave and my thoughts went crazy.
Why did he want to send me away? Best for whom?
Me?
Him?
Was he sending me away because he couldn’t bear having me around because of…?
“Is it because I lost the baby?” My voice was shaking, laced with sadness and fear. Fear that it was because of it, and fear that he would leave me for good.
“What?” Nicholas faced me so fast.
“What did you say?” His eyes narrowed.
“I-I didn’t mean to. I know it was my fault but I didn’t… I didn’t mean to lose our baby.” My voice was cracking and my entire body was shaking. Tears were already streaming down my face before I could stop them. I bit down on my lip that so badly wanted to tremble.
“I didn’t mean to lose our baby I am not that racless I swear.” I broke down crying, unable to hold it in anymore as my choked-up sobs escaped my lips.
“Elsa, baby, no.” Nicholas closed the distance between us. He embraced me tightly into his body as I sobbed into his chest.
“Look at me.” He placed his hands on my cheeks, wiping away my tears as he looked at me firmly.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for what happened. It was not your fault, it isn’t your fault, you hear me?”
“Then why do you want to send me away?” There was no end to my tears as I looked at him with a defeated look. He looked around my face before letting go of me. The feeling of loss hit me when he did so.
“For your own sake. Do you have any idea what kind of danger you put yourself in by showing up at that place? Alone?” Nicholas went back to being angry and his eyes went cold.
“I know that! But I did it for a reason and you wouldn’t let me go there if I told you.”
“Damn right I wouldn’t let you!” He roared out, making me. look away from him.
“You have no idea what kind of people were in that place. They wouldn’t hesitate to fucking kill you! And because of that, I need to send you away so you don’t pull that kind of shit again. Don’t you get that I want you to be safe? I want you to live a safe and quiet life away from here. Away from me because I can’t give you that.” Nicholas looked pained by his own words. I frantically shook my head in panic.
“I don’t want that! I want to be with you!” I cried out to him. He let out a dark chuckle as he looked at me.
“You’re the one who wanted to get away from me, and I’m helping you to do so.”
“I didn’t mean it like that! I… I was scared you would blame me and despise me for losing the baby. I felt too much guilt.I didnt know how to face you. I didn’t know what else to do than to go away. Everything got too much for me and I just needed some time for myself. But never did I want to leave you.” I explained while I felt my heart was about to explode.
Nicholas didn’t say anything as he continued to look at me, his eyes softening a little.
“I started to feel better and I wanted to go back to you. I never wanted to stay here for this long but I was told it was better to stay away. So I did. Because I know I hurt you I was selfish with my feelings and I just fell apart once again. Where was I supposed to go ? I have nothing. For days I had been thinking I didn’t have a place I could call home anymore. And that was a load of bullshit. Because every time I thought that, I thought of you and it made me realize that home for me is with you.” I poured my feelings out to him as he continued to listen.
“There was nothing more I wanted than to be with you and start a family and I feiled you and myself… I know I shouldn’t have left. I should have been there for you like you have always been for me. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” I sobbed out to him, my heart aching as I finally let everything out to him but fearing this was the end of us.
“Fucking hell…” Nicholas took me in his arms. I held him. tightly, not wanting him to go. Nicholas sat on the couch with me on his lap and rubbed my back to calm me.
“Who told you to stay away?” He asked softly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew this would only make him even more pissed.
“Arianna visited me a week and a half ago…” I said quietly and looked down at my lap.
“Why?”
“Because Asher was here.” I looked at him, seeing he was already looking at me with a frown. His hold on me slowly tightened.
“Did the two of you…?” He hissed and his jaw clenched. I looked at him, confused for a split second before my eyes widened.
“No! Nothing like that happened!” I quickly reassured him.
“He just wanted to check up on me and eventually I agreed. But I… Uh, went back to the house with him to grab some of my mom’s stuff.” I held my breath as I nervously bit down on my lip.
“You fucking what?!” Nicholas furiously erupted.
“You’re only just going to get angrier from here…” I mumbled. I might as well just rip it off like a band-aid.
I could feel him trying to contain his anger as he formed his hands into a fist, and looked at me like he was ready to send me away for good.
“I found something.” I went to the room I had jumped in through. I grabbed my clutch, seeing Nicholas had followed me. I went to get the small treasure chest I had hidden before sitting back on the couch again.
I laid everything out on the coffee table. Nicholas picked up one of the letters, his frown only deepening as he looked it over. I handed him the picture, scooting closer to him as he observed it. He turned it around, reading what was written on
“Your mom.” He simply said and I nodded. I pointed at the man in the picture.
“That’s Alexei Vasiliev.” He raised a brow as he looked at the picture. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. I then handed him the note Nestor had sent to my mother.
“I went to the Luxe Palace, hoping I would find him to talk to him.” Nicholas glared at me but I tried to ignore it as I continued to speak.
“When we were at the auction, we had a small chat. He said I reminded him of an old girlfriend and I remembered him calling her Solnishko. That’s how I recognized him…” I started to tell him everything I had learned about my mother and her relationship with Alexei, and he listened carefully.
“You should have told me about this.” Nicholas said.
“I know, but you would have left me completely out of it -”
“Damn right I would!” He interrupted me, making me let out a sigh of frustration.
“Let’s be real for a second. You wouldn’t have gotten that information if you went to talk to him about my mom. And to be honest, you would probably have tried to kill each other because he said Russians and Italians don’t fuck with each other.” I pointed out to him and he knew damn well I was right about it.
“Can’t you hear how damn reckless you are? What if he decided to kill you after you were done talking?!” Nicholas got up and paced the floor in anger.
“He had no intention of killing me.” Until I revealed my identity to him, but I wasn’t going to tell him that part. Nicholas would start a war if he knew.
“Besides, he set me up by sending me up to the room you were staying in. He wanted you to expose me.” I said with a scowl on my face, still feeling bitter about it.
“You didn’t know that after he let you go! You had no idea what you were getting yourself into. You do whatever the hell you want without thinking of the possible danger you could have been in. And don’t get me started on that fucking gun. Are you asking to get fucking killed?” I stayed quiet, letting him get his anger and frustrations out while he looked at me with a dark look on his face.
He was right and I had nothing to say to it.
“No, you fucking don’t! I’m trying to keep you safe, Elsa. I’m doing everything I can to protect you because I don’t want to watch you die.” Nicholas’s breathing was heavy as he looked at me with a pained expression.
“I don’t want to watch you die like I watched Sienna die.”