Chapter 57

AVALINE

"That was the original plan," he said coldly.

But a lot of things came after that! I trusted him to take my firsts. We haven't had sex, but I entrusted my body to him. I bared myself to him. Told him and showed him how much I wanted him. He's not blind. If he wanted to annul me, he shouldn't have reciprocated my actions and led me on.

"I'm done running away from my feelings, Czar. Do you have ears? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I want you!" I expected tears, but I'm just angry.

"You want me because you were stuck with me, then and now."

"Idiot!" I shouted. "I'm not a damn pushover, Czar. If I hadn't wanted to be with you back then, I wouldn't have accepted a single cent you gave me. I wouldn't even offer you my services. I'd walk out. I can make decisions for myself."

If I could reach him, I'd slap him.

"I won't do that to myself. I won't stay here and pretend that all I want is to be with you. I'm no martyr."

His demeanor looked controlled, like he was trying to get a hold of himself.

"Avaline, you're giving yourself an illusion. I'm not the man you think I—"

"I want you despite your ruthlessness and cruelty, Czar. I know that you're beyond redemption and yet I still want you. I'm not thinking of you as a prince charming; I'm not stupid."

I leaned my hands on the table and closed my eyes while taking a deep breath.

"Fine," I said more calmly. "File our annulment. After I sign, I'm gone, and I'll start anew. That was your promise when I turned my back on De Greco."

Not giving him another chance to hurt me, I went outside.

While making my way to the parking lot, I felt a heavy air somewhere—particularly in my southeast direction—an unwelcome presence.

I immediately dodged the attack. I grabbed the arm of whoever my attacker was and twisted it over my head to disarm him further before turning around to face him and elbowing his arm as hard as possible. Before he could kick me to disarm me, I preemptively kicked his leg then his groin and pushed him down to the ground.

"A Levesque after all," a familiar voice said.

"Pascal," I murmured.

Pascal Monteval was right in front of me, with a syringe in his hand.

"You never made things easy for me, Avaline," he gave me a displeased look. "I was going to marry you and you ran away. Now I plan to take you with me without you struggling, but you just dodged it. A naughty girl."

"I won't let you use me, Pascal. I know your motives and it's not happening."

I started to run away from him as fast as I could. But eight men came out of nowhere, pointing all their guns at me. One of them was Desmond, Monteval's second in command. The one I met at the engagement party before I left Yekaterinburg.

"I know everything, Avaline," Pascal spoke from the back.

I turned in his direction. He was all smiles, relishing his victory at whatever he was about to say.

"Turns out your father isn't the only living relative you have, yes?" he taunted.

My blood went cold.

"A fine lady. Hopeless romantic. Exactly the tool I need. I'd simply embody the fictional man she loves so much, and she'll be right under my finger."

I didn't show that I was affected. Even though inside me, I was exploding. This war is between Czar and Pascal. But I'd like nothing more than to end Pascal by my hands.

"Come with us quietly. No harm will be done to both you and Ms. Espinas."

Fuck! They really know about my Freya. No matter how hard we tried to keep my cousin safe.

I tried to subtly search the area for somewhere I could escape.

"You can't escape us, Avaline. Leave with us and this won't get worse."

"You won't escape us! Tell your men to put the guns down, Desmond!" Alaric announced his presence with two pistols in hand. Adonis and Eiran followed closely behind.

I glanced back toward where Pascal had been standing, curious why Alaric was talking to Desmond and not their leader. And I found Pascal's spot vacated.

Czar was right. Pascal doesn't deserve La Archante if he leaves all his soldiers to take risks for him.

Pascal's soldiers just had a stare-off with Alaric, Adonis, and Eiran. If Pascal's soldiers weren't pointing their guns at me, I'm sure they would have been taken down by now.

I felt another presence behind me. But this time, it wasn't discomfort that I felt but safety. Czar.

"Down!" He shouted and I immediately went down, rolling over to my left and hiding behind a tree trunk. Czar managed to shoot one of Pascal's men. Alaric, Adonis, and Eiran sprang into action as well.

A shadow was approaching close to my spot. I held my breath.

Then came a gunshot. I bit my tongue to stifle a scream as I saw a body fall dead beside me. I grabbed the gun lying next to his lifeless body.

I peered out slightly from my hiding place. I saw an enemy behind Czar who was about to shoot him. I knew Czar would notice it, but I didn't want to wait and risk it.

I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the man in the side.

My pulse raced with adrenaline. I was useful. I did something.

A hand gripped me by the arm. On instinct, I turned and pointed the gun at his chest. I froze when I saw my gun aimed at Czar's chest. Czar held onto the gun but didn’t push it away.

My hand trembled. What if I startled him and accidentally shot him? What if in my nervousness, I accidentally shot him?

He scanned my entire body with his eyes. With how focused he was, it felt like he could see under my clothes too.

He nodded to himself and let go of the gun. My shaking hands couldn't hold onto it properly anymore, so it fell to the ground completely.

"Are you okay? Any injuries that I can't see right now?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. Good thing Atlas arrived right away. Any minute later than that, they would have successfully captured me."

"It's safe now. Let's go home." He unconsciously opened and held up his palm. His eye twitched when he looked down at his hand. And he immediately retracted it.

He cleared his throat.

"Follow me."

Czar shouted commands into his phone during our drive home. Something about finding Pascal's men.

"We were able to kill five. The three escaped, including his second in command. One injured, two uninjured. I suspect they're still in Pangasinan. Search for them."

A memory surfaced in my mind: the day we almost got assassinated.

"The underboss..." I murmured.

Czar moved his phone away from his ear. "What is it?"

"Sibley told you there was an underboss. A traitor in your territory. One who is loyal to the Montevals. Wherever he is living in Saint Petersburg, Pascal and the rest might be there."

"You heard my wife," Czar said to the phone.

They talked for a few more minutes. I didn’t interrupt after my input about the traitor. After their call ended, I immediately spoke up.

"I still have one question."

Czar's brows furrowed.

"I shot three targets. I only asked you two questions. There's one more left."

A flicker of irritation crossed his face.

"We're in the middle of a war, Avaline, and you're thinking about questions?"

"This is urgent, Czar! It will cost a life!" My cousin's life in particular.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Instead of a question, I would like to replace it with one request."

He nodded. He seemed more occupied with Pascal, so maybe that’s why he didn’t refuse what I was saying.

"I have a cousin. Freya Espinas. She's in Moscow. I want you to get her and bring her here."

“A cousin?” He asked me while his phone rang through the car's Bluetooth. He was calling Eiran.

“Yes, from my mom's side. She's a civilian. And we tried to keep her out of the crime business. But Pascal knows about her.” I didn’t elaborate. Just the fact that Pascal knows she exists already says a lot about the danger she's in.

He nodded coolly, but my shoulders were tense. I don’t trust Czar not to use Freya against me.

When Eiran answered, Czar didn’t waste a second telling him to get my cousin.

“Address?” Eiran asked, bored.

I shook my head. “I don’t have the specific address. I just know she’s residing in Manila. We thought it was safer the less we knew about each other.”

“Give me her full name. I’ll track her down,” Eiran said.

After I did that, Czar took over. They went back and forth about instructions and precautions.

“I’m missing a cards night for this, Czar. I could’ve chosen to be richer tonight, but I’m on this rescue mission. You better give me a raise.”