Chapter 38: Natalia

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a beautiful white rose.

I lift my head and study it. The little note on plain white paper says, “Later.”

I pick up the rose to inhale the scent.

It brings a smile to my face, and I think of the last few nights I spent with Mikhail.

I smile wider when I think of the idea of going to college and pursuing my dreams.

Could I really have it all?

Could this really work out for me?

Could I have the man and the dreams and finally live a life where I’m free?

I allow myself some reprieve to dream and savor the feeling of being in love.

That smile on my face is there for about five minutes, maybe less, before it recedes as I once again think of the lie I am.

I pull my head out of the clouds and climb back down to reality.

How can I have the man and the dream and live my life in freedom when I have this big lie hanging over me?

How can I do that?

The plan was to escape at the first opportunity, but I can’t do that now, and it should be my number one goal.

I already knew I couldn’t live the lie, so escaping was the only option. It was always the only option.

Of course, the path would have to open for me to have the choice. Right now, I have nothing.

When I first came here, I was worried about death. I was worried Mikhail would find out I wasn’t who he thought me to be and kill me, and José, too.

I’m still worried about that.

But now I’m worried about love lost.

I never factored this in. I never even thought about it because there was no way I thought I’d fall for him.

Now, I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do.

Should I tell him?

I shake my head at myself and the craziness of the thought. Telling him would be a terrible idea.

And it’s too late. The time to tell him was long ago, and I’d be in the same danger now as I was then.

I’m stuck in a lie that’s going to become more entrenched with every day that passes. And I can’t go back to where things went wrong. Things went wrong for me long before I met Mikhail.

I can see in his eyes that he must feel something for me. I’m not sure he loves me, and I doubt he’d still love me if he knew the truth. I think the cartel would be more important to him than anything else.

That was my purpose.

My only purpose.

I always knew he could do whatever he wanted with me after we got married.

I glance at the clock on the wall and realize I’ve missed breakfast entirely and it’s lunchtime.

The last few days wiped me out, but it’s not like I have anything to do here.

I get dressed quickly. When I sit in front of the dresser to do my hair, a knock sounds at the door.

Thinking it’s Aleksander coming to haul me downstairs for food, I stand and gear up to tell him I’ll be down in a minute.

But when I open the door, it’s not Aleksander standing there.

It’s Sebastian.

I don’t really talk to him. Mostly because he’s scary. Not as scary as Mikhail, but scary enough for me to be wary. He’s also never said much to me or showed any desire to speak to me other than relay some order from Mikhail.

He looks me in the eye with his dark green ones and straightens.

“Mrs. Dmitriyev, I need you to come with me. Your husband wishes to see you.”

“He’s here?” At this time? Mikhail hasn’t been home at this time in weeks. At least not when he’s left for work for the day.

“Yes, come with me, please.”

“Of course.” I walk out of the room and follow him as he marches ahead of me.

This is odd.

Sebastian has never come up to the room to get me before. Both he and José have been on the grounds of the house for weeks now, and they’ve barely come inside, much less upstairs.

When we get downstairs and I don’t see the staff or smell the food that’s normally ready at this hour, my nerves spike.

Where is everyone?

I look around for them as I follow Sebastian, but no one’s here.

Suddenly, I wish I could see Aleksander’s scowling face or the rude maids, because something isn’t right.

And… I think I might know what it is.

I believe something’s not right even more when Sebastian reaches the door leading down to the basement and opens it.

This is the second place I was told not to enter when I first got here. It looks like I have permission now.

But why?

“After you.” He waves a hand motioning for me to walk through the door.

I walk in, but truthfully, I want to run away.

He’s behind me now, and any hope to run is gone. He must have preempted I’d want to flee.

The stairs are made of stone and are wider than the steps in the house.

It feels more like a dungeon than a basement. I’m used to dungeons, so I would know.

Another one of Mikhail’s guards stands at the bottom of the stairs. His name is Levka. He’s another from his senior security team. A sure sign something is definitely wrong.

Why would I need two of his best guards to usher me to him if it wasn’t?

He knows.

Mikhail knows the truth.

I can feel it in my bones.

I can feel it all over me, so I don’t bother to ask questions about what’s happening. I just move like I’m walking to the gallows. I know there’s no hope left. This time, no one will save me.

I’m taken to a metal door, and the guard in front of us opens it.

“Go inside,” Sebastian orders.

I do, and that’s where I see Mikhail standing at the far corner of the room which looks more like a prison cell—so yeah, I’m in a dungeon.

His back is turned to me, so I can’t read his face. He has one hand behind his back, and the other is holding something.

When the door closes behind me, he turns, and I see his face.

That’s when I know I’m right.

He knows.

He knows the truth.

The truth about me.

God. I’m sure of it.

His face resembles the way he looked when he first came to get me from the dungeon in Mexico. Back then, however, there was a mocking edge to him, like the conquering villain.

That edge isn’t there now. There’s something sinister lurking in his expression, and the eyes he’s looking at me with now make me find it hard to believe this is the same man from the last few nights.

It can’t be the same man who painted me and told me I was his dream.

It can’t be the same man who called me his and told me I belonged to him.

It can’t be the same man who stood before me and became my husband.

But it is.

This is what he looks like when he’s been lied to.

I need to say something. Anything.

I need to say something… even if it sounds foolish. It will be worse if he speaks first. I’ll look much worse than I already do.

“What’s happening?” I mutter. My words are barely audible. “Why are we down here, Mikhail?”

“This is where I bring people to interrogate them. No one can hear them scream or suffer down here. Down here, they don’t see the light of day. Often, they never see it again.”

“Is that what you want to do to me?”

“We’ll see, wife.”

I fight back tears and will myself to be strong.

“It turns out a lot was happening right under my nose and the joke was on me the whole fucking time.” His eyes blaze with fury, and his nostrils flare. “I have a penchant for telling when someone is lying, but the trick is, it only works if I ask a specific question. Now, I asked you everything under the sun that I could, except the one thing that could have screwed with me. I never asked you your name.”

The air expels from my body, and the blood freezes in my veins.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“What was that?” He rushes up to me and grabs my arm, then he holds up the piece of paper so I can see it.

The paper shows a picture of me with all the details of everything he was never supposed to know. My name and my listing for sale in the virgin auction.

He knows the truth. The confirmation makes the gravity of the situation strike me a hundredfold.

This is the moment I feared.

“You’re sorry!” He rips the blouse I’m wearing off me and tears off my skirt. “You’re fucking sorry?”

“Stop it!”

“Fuck you. Fuck you for doing this to me.”

“I’m so sorry, Mikhail. I’m so sorry. I thought you were going to kill me.”

“You were right to think so.” He tears off my bra and panties next and shoves me against the wall that hold chains running through a loop.

“Please, forgive me. Please… I’m so sorry.”

“No.”

I scream when he catches my face and holds me down while he grabs my wrists and binds my hands to the chains above my head.

I’m crying so hard I can barely see. He steps back and looks at me with vengeance in his eyes, and I know I’m dead.

“I’m the one who’s sorry,” he says. “You truly had me fooled. Had I only asked you your name, I would have known straightaway that you were lying about who you were, Natalia de Leon.”

The tears still flow from my eyes like a river, and my soul weeps, but hearing my name spoken from his lips awakens something inside me.

How I longed to know what it would sound like to hear him say my name and not hers. Not Adriana’s, but mine.

Now it doesn’t matter because I was right.

Nothing was enough to save me. He doesn’t want me.

He wanted her.

He fell for her. Not me.

I stand here loving him so hard, but he was obsessed with the illusion of the Cartel Princess. Not the pauper.

“I am going to kill you, but José gets to go first.”

“No, please! Don’t kill him!” I scream.

“He’s just as much of a liar as you are, Malyshka. Neither of you knew who you were messing with when you concocted this little game of yours. You’re about to find out.”

The sobs pour from my naked body. I feel like I’m about to turn inside out from the gamut of emotions that assails me, but he’s done talking.

Done with me for now.

His heavy boots carry him away, and as the metal door slams shut, locking me in the dungeon, all I hear is myself screaming and crying.

He’s going to kill José.

Then me next.

My mind is fractured, but my heart hurts even more as it breaks and splinters into a million pieces.