Chapter 62

CZAR

I heard his rumble of irritation.

"I didn't know you were this talkative."

I shrugged. "Isn't that how brothers who haven't seen each other for a long time are? Catching up and all that?"

"You piss me off, but as your brother, I guess I won't spoil your temporary fun. Make the most of it. This is just the calm before the storm."

"Storm, tsunami, or a damn hurricane—whatever."

"Paano kung sabihin kong this is just the calm before you step foot in Monteval territory?"

My mouth was set tight in a grim line—not out of fear, but contempt. I knew we were going there. And while a huge part of me was pleased that I was right, another part couldn't help but feel hatred towards the Monteval name.

"I'm taking you to your roots. Born a Monteval, die a Monteval. I'll put your grave next to our father’s. I'll host parties every death anniversary in front of your grave."

I don't give a single fuck about anything he said. My mind flew somewhere else, and that was proof enough of his insignificance.

Ti amo, mi diablo

I waited for feelings of indifference to surface. Instead, four mere words made me feel everything all at once. My pulse pounded in my ears as if someone landed a punch to my stomach and shot me in the chest. That—and a weight over me that rendered me immobilized.

All of me wanted to reject her confession; wanted to tell her that she was mistaking comfort for love. She got used to my presence; I'm the only man she ever got intimate with during the months she spent in Saint Petersburg.

But I cannot because a part of me that I've kept most hidden was aware of her love even before now. No one in their right mind would allow someone to boss them around or speak rudely or kidnap them and still hold them gently—yet she did because she loves me.

I have denied her many things: she wanted me to show up at her prom night and I didn't; she wanted to be friends with me, to be in my life, and I alienated her; she wanted to love me freely but I rejected her advances; she wanted us but I demanded a divorce. This time I'm hell-bent on giving her what she wanted: for me to return to her.

AVALINE

I cannot stop shaking on our way home. Eiran shouldn't be the one driving the car. He shouldn't be the one I see the moment I look to my left from the passenger seat. The one in the driver's seat should have a smirk on his face, or concealed amusement, or banter with me, not greet me with utter coldness.

He gave himself up. After almost a year of searching for Pascal Monteval, Czar threw it all away and subjected himself to whatever they decided was his fate.

The door from the mansion opened the instant the car passed through the gates. I tried to make out the woman running towards us. Adonis was behind, trying to slow her down. I heard a low growl beside me. It was the first time I heard anything from Eiran since we left Czar.

"Ava?!" Her face was radiant. The very opposite of the tense atmosphere that Eiran, Adonis, and I exuded. Her voice screamed familiarity. I don't see my cousin a lot. My only contact with her was through calls. Her voice is my strongest memory of her.

"Freya!" I got out of the car even before it stopped. My cousin is here in Saint Petersburg. Eiran brought her and she's safe with us. Pascal failed to get his hands on her.

When I got in my cousin's embrace, a thought broke my temporary relief.

But Pascal has my husband. And having Czar mattered more to him than having my cousin.

Freya waved at Eiran when we parted.

"Mr. Levesque! I'm behaving just like you told me earlier. You can ask Adonis."

"You didn't wait inside," Adonis countered her.

Freya glared behind her. "Of course, Ava is my cousin so I'd be excited to come out. But earlier, I was really behaving! Don't discredit that just because you didn't like that I came out now."

I wish I could be as happy as my cousin. But it's probably better that she doesn't know too much about what's happening. I've been hiding the nastiest parts of mob business from her her whole life. What's the use of breaking away from that norm now?

"Good." Eiran gave a sharp nod. "Did you eat like I told you?"

"Ah!" Freya's expression lit up and she even bounced a little, grabbing onto my arm. "I cooked! Remember I promised you before, Ava, that when we meet I would cook for you?"

"Did you eat, Ms. Espinas?" Eiran asked again. And based on his tone, he didn’t want to repeat the question.

Freya blinked, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Not yet, Mr. Levesque. I just finished cooking when you and Ava arrived. But perfect timing; at least we can eat together!"

I just watched my cousin. She talked Eiran's ear off. She's like that with me during phone calls too. Somehow, listening to her lifted my spirits a bit.

Adonis, Eiran, and Freya walked ahead of me into the house. But when Adonis glanced back at me, he deliberately slowed his strides until I caught up with him.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Levesque?"

I sniffed and laughed a little. "Just Ava, Adonis."

We stood in silence in the middle of the common living room. Freya went to the kitchen and Eiran followed her. It's not like there is danger inside the mansion, but it's better that someone is watching over my cousin.

There are sofas but all I could do was mindlessly stare at the wall.

"He'll survive, Ava. The man's too prideful to let this be the cause of his death."

I nodded. Tears threatened to spill once more. My chest and chin quivered painfully as I tried to suppress it.

I've lived in this house for months and it still doesn't feel like mine.

"I don't even know what I'm doing in this house," I continued venting, using Adonis as a soundboard. "I feel like an outsider without Czar in this house."

This house feels cold without Czar—just a house that's pleasing to look at but void of everything that matters.

"I just want my husband. I want him here."

"Husband? Mr. Czar Levesque?" Freya's voice echoed back to me as if they were done with whatever she did in the kitchen. "Where is he anyway? Weren't you together? That's what Mr. Eiran Levesque told me."

Adonis's lip turned up into a smirk at how my cousin addressed the Levesque.

"He had... encountered some problems," said Eiran. "We'll help him."

"Czar doesn't want us to, Eiran," Adonis intervened.

"And when have I ever been afraid to defy him?"

Adonis sighed and shook his head. But I knew he was on board with Eiran.

Eiran called Rio and the other guards.

"Don't we need Rio?" Adonis asked.

"Czar won't trust his wife's safety with anyone except me, you, Alaric, and Rio. And we need Alaric in this. Someone has to stay here."

Speaking of guards...

"What happened to Sibley and Devika?" I asked weakly, but loud enough for Eiran to hear.

"The soldiers brought them to La Archante's medic."

Freya wrapped her arm around me, stroked my arm, and rested my head on her shoulder.

"We can handle ourselves. I'm sure Rio is competent. I'll take care of my cousin."

Eiran frowned. Probably judging my cousin in his head. That's just how he is with women.

"Your wife will come home too, Ava," Freya assured me in a soft voice.

My cousin's words may have downplayed the stakes of the situation, but I needed her optimism.

I felt like I had been staring at the door for a decade since Eiran left.

"Tell me about your fictional boyfriends again," I rasped. I needed a distraction. Staring at the door all night like a dog waiting for its owner wouldn't cut it.

By the time she got to her sixth boyfriend, I dozed off. The last thing I heard was that Jasmine and Jafar had more chemistry in their minimal screentime than she did with Aladdin.

It was two in the morning when I woke up. Freya was lying in the reading nook while I was in bed with Czar. Instinctively, I patted the space beside me, but it was cold. My mind started intruding on the peace of the dark.

Czar will never forgive me. Why didn't I trust him more? Now that my mind was clearer, I thought that maybe Czar really did have a plan. And I just got in the way of it. When he dropped me off at the mansion, he left immediately, didn't he? What if he was about to start whatever plan he had if he didn't have to come back because I put myself in danger?