Chapter 7
-V. K.
"What are you doing here?" I face my parents, forcing to sound the least bit hostile as possible. The director left us to talk in private but I wish he took my parents with him.
"I think we should be the ones asking you that." My mother's words are cold, as they always have been since the day the world turned to hell.
"I came to get away from the both of you. Why'd you come here? Are you trying to drag me away from here?" I wont go. I refuse.
"And what if we are?" My father turns towards me, his voice is calm but I know he's trying to keep his anger under control.
"I wont go back. I'm not going anywhere with either of you." I cross my arms over my chest and stand my ground.
"Do you think you actually have a choice? You will do as I say, I am the king and I am your father!" He's officially lost his temper now.
"Tu sei il re, o mio padre. Non puoi essere entrambi." You're either the king, or my father. You can't be both. Its the truth. He's always either one or the other.
"Не разговаривай с отцом!" Do not speak to your father that way!
Great. She's yelling in Russian. This should be good.
"You can't control me! I'm not a toy, I'm not some princess, I'm an actual person! I'm your daughter! And until you start treating me like it, I will keep running! I will always run until you finally realize that I'm not just somebody you can use for your benefit!"
"Oh here we go again! He was a great guy, your engaged and technically you still are! Yes, he may be used for his benefits and resources that we need but he likes you Val. You ran away from the only person who would want to have a life with you. I know you the marriage was an arrangement bu us but thats the world we live in now. That man can take care of you. If you had stayed, you would have realized that." Of course my mother would bring Michael into this. I didn't just run away from them, I ran away from him. He's short tempered and a horrible man. But he has very valuable resources that would benefit my parents and the rest of us and so my parents arranged a marriage. Binding me and him together, so he'd have to share the resources. Of course he was all for it, I on the other hand was not.
"He is not a good man! He was horrible! I'm not going to marry a man I hate! I didn't run away from just him, I ran away from the both of you!" I'm tired of the same fight with them everytime. It all just never ends. So I leave again, like I always do.
"Get back here, we are not done talking!" My mother screams after me but I slam the door behind.
Sighing, I turn but stop in my place. Carter crosses his arms over his chest. "You're engaged??"
"You were listening to my conversation?" I mock his stance, crossing my arms over my chest defensively.
"Kind of hard not to when you're all screaming so loudly. So you're engaged?"
"No.. Yes.. kind of. I don't know. Not really, I left him and them behind. Pretty sure that means the marriage is off."
His eyes are cold when he looks at me. "You lied to me, Valentina. Katrina. Whatever your name is."
"Its both.. Valentina Katrina DelliBovi. I didn't want to have to lie but I didn't want anyone knowing who I was and telling my parents. I didn't want them to find me.. You have to understand," I take a step toward him but he backs away. "Please.."
"Just leave me alone." He leaves and I'm left with nothing and no one now.
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When I came back to my room, my parents weren't here. I pack my bags once again, ready to run.
When I finish, I hear the sound of the front door opening and closing. I feel a spark of hope that it might be Carter and I run to see who it is. Dropping my bags, I freeze. Michael.
"How.. what?"
His eyes are cold as he approaches me. "You seem surprised to see me. Hoping for someone else?" He stops right in front of me and stares down at my face, looking for any sense of happiness to see him.
"Anyone else would be nice."
"Why would you leave me? We could have gone away together."
"I will never go anywhere with you! The engagement is off, I will never marry you!" I didn't even see it coming. I should have, I had grown so used to his abuse. The back of his hand collides with my face and the force sends me falling to the floor and a cry to escape my lips. I clutch my face, which I'm sure is a bright red color and soon will bruise right under and around my eye and cheek.
"Its over when I say its over!" He yanks me up so that I'm eye level. "Do you understand me?!"
"No! I'm done with you!" I swing my leg and kick him right between his legs. He drops me and falls, clutching himself.
"You bitch!" He spats out and I grab my bags and run out the door. I practically run into it, my vision blurring from the force of his slap. I turn the door knob and send the door flying open when I'm yanked away from it.
"No!" I scream as I struggle in his grasp. "Help! Someone he--" My screams are silenced by his hand over my mouth. His grip on me is so tight, bruising my body even more. I bite down on his hand and he grunts, pulling it away. I slam my head back, smashing it into his face, causing him to drop me and stumble back. My head spins but I have no time to react as I grab everything and run out the door.
I was almost gone when I ran into something hard. I fall back to the ground and my vision continues to fade in and out.
"Katrina?" Carter kneels above me and picks me up.
"Carter.." I lean into his arms, pulling him closer to me by his shirt. Tears roll down my face but I finally feel safe with him.
He cups my face and tilts it up to look at him. "What happened??"
"I-I was trying to leave.. I had nothing left anymore.. So I-I was going to go.. and he-he came back.." I sob and tremors wrack my body.
"Who did??" Carter looks around the hall.
And Michael runs out of my room, after regaining the ability to. Blood flows from his now broken nose as he approaches. His eyes land on me in Carter's arms and fires scorch within them. "You bitch! You'll pay for that!" He approaches and Carter's actions are quicker than my eyes could even register.
He removed his gun from its hollster and aims it right on Michael. "You better stay the hell away."
"You wont shoot me, boy." Michael keeps walking when the gun cocks and Carter rests his finger on the trigger.
"Don't doubt me."
Michael huffs and his nostrils flare. His eyes move back to me and he points at me. "This isn't over. And you will be my bride. You just wait. I'll be back. And your precious little boy-toy wont be there to help you." He turns on his heels and leaves.
My head rolls to the side, unable to hold it up anymore. My vision fades in and out as Carter adjusts me in his arms.
"Hey, stay with me, okay? We're gonna get you to the infirmary." He kisses my head before picking me up and carrying me to the elevators.
"Déjà vu," I smile a little and the corners of his lips twitch up. His smile is the last thing I see before passing out.
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-Carter
She lied! Punch. All this time she could have at least told me the truth and instead she lied! Punch. Punch.
I beat the bag and it swings violently from the chain. She didn't even take in the consideration of my feelings for her! And I never have those! Punch. Punch. Kick. The chains rattling and my fists colliding with the bag is the only sound heard in the empty training room.
"Help! Someone he--" Screams echo down the hall and I turn. Katrina..
No no no.. please be okay! A million thoughts run through my mind, none of which are good.
I grab my gun and run down the hall when a small figure collides with my chest.
I was seething when I saw what he did to her. And the way he spoke to her, promising that she'd be his. It took all I had not to pull the trigger.
But she needed help.
"What happened?" Jared and Jack run up when they see her. Jack's finally back on his feet now after the incident with the vampires.
"Her ex-fiancé beat her." My blood runs cold at the memory again as I carry her to the infirmary.
"Holy shit is she okay?" They boys follow me and look her over.
"About to find out." They open the doors for me and I look around the infirmary. "Can I get some help here?!" Everyone turns towards the shouting as I hold up Katrina. A nurse rushes a gurney over and I lay her down on it.
"What happened?" The small girl looks at Katrina, lifting her eyelids and shining a light in each.
"Her ex-fiancé beat her."
"Can I get some help here?!" The familiar voice makes my blood boil and I swing around to see Michael, clutching his bloody, broken nose.
"You son of a bitch!" I start running at him when Jack and Jared grab me, holding me back and trying to block him from my view. I yank for freedom and all I see is red. "Your dead! You hear me?! Dead!" The boys struggle to contain me and all that's on my mind is driving my fists into the fucker's face.
"Guessing thats the ex-fiancé," Jack looks past me, to Jared.
"Stop it before you get yourself locked up!" Jared shoves me back and I clench my fists tightly to the point it hurts.
I turn back to Katrina as the nurse rolls her down the hall. "Wait!" I run after her when another nurse steps in front of me.
"Carter you have to stay here. Their taking her up for a CT skan, right now you need to let the doctors do their jobs."
I turn and bang my fist into the wall out of anger. I take my place in a chair and wait for the doctor.
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"She has a mild concussion and should take it easy for the next few days. We want to keep her over night to monitor the swelling in her brain with the concussion, and also make sure there's no bleeding or anything. But other than that, Nothing is broken, just lots of bruising but she's going to be okay." The doctor stands in front of me and the boys while we sit in our chairs. "She should be waking up any minute now."
"Can we see her??" All I want to do is see if she's okay for myself.
"If you'd like then ye--" Before she could finish her sentence, I'm springing out of the chair and running to her room.
I stand outside the room and brace myself before entering. My heart clenches seeing her like this, in the infirmary gown, oxygen tube in each nostril, IV's and wires. Its not the strong girl I'm so used to seeing.
But it doesn't make her any less strong, she will never be weak. In fact, I'm sure once she wakes up she'll try to be up and moving on her feet in an instant.
I pull down the arm of the hospital bed and seat on the edge of it. Reaching down, I take her small hand in mine. Her skin's soft and warm, and her hand's almost delicate and fragile as if I could break her if I weren't careful.
"Carter?" My head snaps up to look at her. Her beautiful blue eyes stare back at me as releif spreads across my body.
"Welcome back to the land of the partial living." She smiles at me and my heart nearly stops at the sight. Her face is bruised now and it looks painful. I reach over and turn her face to look at it more closely. My blood boils and my hands start to clench.
"Ow, Carter if your going to clench your hands into fists, at least let go of mine first." She giggles and I quickly release her hand.
"Shit, sorry I forgot.."
She giggles. "Its okay."
"But its not.." Just look at what he did to her..
"Hey.." She reaches for me but ends up pulling on her IV. "Ow! What the-" She looks at the IV and all the wires she's connected to. She starts yanking the wires off and tries to pull the IV out.
"Stop!" I grab her hands before she can do anything else.
"But I can't do anything! I can't move, I can't touch you, I can't even adjust the bed so I can--" I roll my eyes and push the button for the bed before she can finish talking. The bed sits up and now her face is only inches from mine.
"Better?"
She pouts, turning into a grump. "I don't need help, I can do things myself."
Smiling, I lean my forehead on hers. "I know you can you defiant bastard." She giggles at me and pulls me closer. I adjust my seating so I can sit beside her on the bed. I wrap my arms around her and she rests her head on my chest. This is what perfection feels like. This single moment with her. Just us, together.
"Katrina.. I thought something really bad happened to you."
"You know you should start calling me by my name. Valentina. Or Val. Whichever." She smiles and turns but once her eyes meet mine she turns serious. "Look.. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't get there. And I don't care. All that matters is that you did." She leans up and kisses my cheek. "You saved me." She looks up at me as her lips linger in front of mine. I start to lean in, finally getting my chance.
But its all ruined when her parents walk in. Her mother shoots daggers with her eyes when they land on us. "What the hell have you done?"
This should be good..