Chapter 54

I It must be a gift. I thought as I watched her approach through slatted eyes. Every time someone has me against my will. This bitch shows up!

“I’m starting to dislike your presence in my life Kateya.” I mumbled groggily.

“I do not feel the same way, Czarina.” Kateya smiled. “In fact, your presence has been a blessing to me.” I frowned at her and her grin widened. “I see you are confused as to why that is. You see through you, I will finally be able to make the Alexandrovich line pay for what they have done to my family!”

“Why use me at all? Punish Vlad all you want. I don’t have to be a part of it!”

“Sadly, I cannot punish him without you.” She mused. “He has no greater weakness.”

“I am not a weakness…”

“But you are!” She pointed out. “And I knew it from the moment he put the ring of his ancestors on your fingers. I knew it before he did. I watched as he fell deeper and deeper in love with you and I saw how he embraced his child. You are his weakness and Nora will join us with his daughter and I will kill you both while he watches.”

“What did I ever do to you?”

“Not you! Him! Him and his father! Ruined my life! Killed my husband and my son!”

“Boris?”

“Boris was not my son!” She screeched.

Everyone knew Boris was Kateya’s son why would she deny it now? I thought.

“My son was killed years ago!” She ranted. “That imposter was given to me in his place, damage in the head and frothing like a lunatic! That is not my son! My son was a beautiful boy and smart as a whip! Not like that stupid buffoon!”

I tested the ropes she used to tie me down as she ranted. And took an overt scan of my surroundings. Where the heck was I? I could only see the square of space in front of me where I was tied to a chair in a makeshift living room. There were boxes around the living room and somehow, we were getting air in this windowless room.

My question led to another as the floor beneath me shifted. Where was I going?

Kateya recognised my plight and took pity on me and answered my unasked questions “You are in a storage container.” She stated calmly taking a seat. “We are crossing over to America. Where your new owner awaits.”

“I thought you were going to kill me.”

“I’m not a murderer!”

Murderess, I corrected mentally.

“But I’m taking you to someone who will pay very well to see you dead.” She continued amiably.

“Yes, well how long do you intended to live to spend it?” I asked smiling knowing fully well that Vlad will hunt her down like a dog…well bitch, anyway.

Smiled back and responded sadly “I have no need for the money. I would do it for free. The money, Nora can have…this is what I live for. My revenge!”

“So, what did Vlad do to deserve your…revenge?”

“He was the reason my son was killed.”

“So…he didn’t actually kill anybody?”

“No but his father did!”

“But Mikhail is dead.”

“Mikhail has already paid by for his crimes and by the hand of his own heir no less!” She cackled.

“But Vlad didn’t kill his father, Boris did!” I countered.

Kateya chuckled and asked “What does he see in you? You really are…slow. Are you that good in bed?”

My jaw dropped, and not because of her insults but because a fuzzy memory about Vlad’s fight with Boris surface and I was now able to understand Boris’s words, he told Vlad he was his older brother.

“Vlad said his brother is dead.”

“He is now.” She cackled.

“He probably thought Boris was lying or…”

“Are you making excuses for him?” She interrupted.

“No… but…”

“The Prince thinks he killed a bastard of his father. Not the true Alexandrovich heir.” Kateya smirked. “Maybe I should let him know before we kill you.”

That would destroy Vlad. He grieved so much for his mother and brother and to find out he killed him…

“I thought getting rid of Irena would be enough, but I should have known Mikhail did care one wit for her! He didn’t even care for me! And he used to profess he loved me!”

“Get rid of Irena? Vlad’s mother? What did you do?” I whispered.

“I helped her escape him the only way I knew how.”

“Escape? I thought she was dead!”

“Listen to me you little simple headed, Barbie!” She sneered.

Barbie? I hardly had the colouring nor the dimensions to be labelled as a Barbie! But that wasn’t Kateya’s point of view.

“I killed her.” She informed me. “She was ill after another miscarriage and I just…gave her a little help. She even thanked me for it.”

“So, you killed his mother and let the son kill the father and one brother kill the other. Isn’t that enough?”

“It might have been…till I found out he set you free.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Even a simpleton such as yourself could see the significance of that…and what it would lead to.”

I was growing tired of her guessing games. “What the hell does that lead to?”

“Tell me Princess, why are you so sure he’ll come to your rescue?”

Where was she going with this? I wondered.

“Why do you expect your dashing Prince to leap to your rescue?” She mocked as she mimicked the actions. I remained silent and she hissed “Answer the bloody question! Why do you feel he’ll save you? What makes you so special? ANSWER ME!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” I shouted back but I knew I was lying but I had already caught on to what she was saying, and she confirmed it when she uttered.

“Nora said you greeted him eagerly back in your bed.”

I started to cry. I was the reason she was going to hurt him.

“He has no right to happiness after what he has done! He has no right to an heir! And you, foolish girl…have gone and given him your love! They are a curse that should’ve been wiped from the earth! You should help me after what he’s done to you but no…for a ride on his royal cock, you have forgiven him!”

“You’re right. Vlad did worse things to me than he ever did to you! That’s why I was living in Canada to…”

She laughed away my explanation. “Foolish girl!” She whispered. “He never let you go, not truly. He only lengthened the leash. And while you basked in your little “freedom” he was making plans for you to come home. One way or the other you were coming back. it was just a matter of time.”

“He did let me go…”

“With Royal guards tracking your every move! And Nora to report to him. You think she didn’t? No one is ever free of them! The only way to escape an Alexandrovich is through death, yours or theirs.”

Nora betrayed me. No wonder she laughed when I said she was free. It was a joke. I was joke. I couldn’t even sign the papers to my own freedom! The divorce papers! “He offered me a divorce!”

“And that means? What?” Kateya chuckled. “He’d still have his little plaything whenever he desired, it just would be without the benefit of his name that’s all. Mistresses are treated almost as good as wives. Trust me, I should know.”

“You were Mikhail’s mistress.” I stated.

“Finally, your brain works. Good for you!”

“You were married.”

“Marriage means nothing to them. Not mine and not his. My husband was a pest for daring to want to keep his wife to himself!”

“Mikhail killed your husband…”

“And filled my belly with his bastard. Then once he was married, he had no more use for me. I gave birth six months before his wife did and he doted on his new heir but Irena like the aristo she was, thought her distasteful duty done and dared to refuse him. That’s when the beatings started. She had two miscarriages before she gave birth to Vlad. And the boys grew up, Vlad was two when he came back to my bed.”

I didn’t wasn’t to ask why but I wanted her to continue her tale. Without my prompting she continued “Love, he told me was the reason he came back but I should have known it was a lie. He made me switch the boys around, I didn’t know why at the time…but the lie he told me. He said he wanted to name my son as heir but …no one must know. Both of the boys had his dark hair and eyes so…it was relatively easy. They were four and thought nothing of it.” Tears ran down her cheeks as the memories flowed out of her lips.

“It went on like that for three years. I was so happy he was training my son to be his heir! I thought he actually loves me! I didn’t think…no one would think that someone would do something like that! He had even gotten my baby to call Irena, mama!” She cried big heart-breaking tears that made me want to cry with her, but the feel of my bonds reminded me of my predicament.

“Then one day he came in a rush and informed me of Nicholai’s accident. Nicholai was his true son, but he was called Boris since he was four, he thought it was his name. Doctors attended him in private…that should have been my first clue. Why were the doctors attending to him in my room? And not upstairs? But one never questions them, one must only do. I should have questioned. My boy would have still been alive if I did.”