Chapter 24 Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dimitri's POV
I knelt there in the sand, holding her lifeless body against my chest.
The waves crashed behind me. The wind howled. But I heard nothing except the silence of her heart.
She was not breathing.
Irina was gone.
"Irina," I whispered. "Please. Please wake up. Please do not leave me. I came for you. I am here now. I am here."
But she did not respond. Her body was cold and stiff. Her lips were blue.
"Dimitri," Mikhail said softly. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "We need to go. We need to…"
"No," I said. My voice was barely audible. "I am not leaving her."
"She is gone," Mikhail said gently. "There is nothing we can do for her now. But we can still find Alexei. We can make him explain what went wrong."
"He killed her," I whispered. "My brother killed her."
"I know," Mikhail said. "And he will answer for it. But first we need to…"
"Leave me alone!" I roared. "All of you! Just leave me alone with her!"
Mikhail hesitated. Then he nodded to the guards and they all backed away.
I held Irina tighter, and rocked her gently like she was sleeping. Like she would wake up any moment.
"I am sorry," I whispered into her hair. "I am so sorry I was not faster. I am sorry I let them keep me locked up. I am sorry I failed you."
The tears came, hot and endless. They streamed down my face and oaked into her hair.
"I love you," I choked out. "I have always loved you. From the moment you walked into my life, you were everything to me. Everything."
My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking.
"Come back," I begged. "Please, Irina. Come back to me. I cannot do this without you. I cannot live in a world where you do not exist."
But she remained still and silent.
She was really gone. My Irina was dead.
Hours passed. The sun began to set. My guards were still standing a little away from me, but they were watching and waiting.
They had never seen me like this.
No one had ever seen me like this.
Mikhail tried to approach several times. But each time I snarled at him and told him to stay back.
"Dimitri, please," he finally said. "The body... it is starting to... we need to move her. We need to prepare her properly."
"Do not touch her!" I screamed. "Do not you dare touch her!"
"The smell, Dimitri," Mikhail said gently. "A dead body has a smell. And it is getting stronger. We need to…"
"I SAID NO!" I thundered, holding her tighter.
I buried my face in her neck, ignoring the smell he was talking about, inoring everything except the weight of her in my arms.
Night fell. Then dawn came again.
I had been knelling here for twenty-four hours. I did not eat. I did not drink. I did not move from where I was.
My guards stood in a circle around me, protecting me, still waiting for my command. Their heads were bowed.
As if the coldness in my heart wasn't enough, rain started falling.
Cold and heavy, soaking through my clothes within seconds.
But I still didn't move. I couldn't. I just held her as the rain poured down on both of us.
"Dmitri," mikhail said. "We need to get you inside. You will get sick."
I ignored him.
The rain fell harder, thunder rolled across the sky, lightning flashed.
My guards did not leave. They stood there with me also getting soaked.
I raised my head slowly.
My guards saw my face and staggered backwards. Even Mikhail's eyes widened with shock.
I could feel it. I could feel what I had become. I could feel the rage, the hatred and the absolute emptiness inside me that had been filled with nothing but the need for vengeance.
I looked like a monster. I felt like one.
"He killed her," I said. My voice didn't sound like my own. "Alexei killed her."
"Yes," my guards said in unison. "Yes, he did."
"I am going to find him," I said. "I am going to hunt him down. And I am going to make him suffer for this. I am going to make him beg for death."
I laid Irina's body gently on the sand and stood up slowly. My legs were numb. My body was stiff.
But I was standing.
I looked at my guards. "Search the villa. Every room, every corner. Find me something. Anything that tells me where he went."
They scattered immediately.
I walked up the cliff path, towards the white villa that had been her prison.
The doors were open and everything inside was clean and organized, like no one had ever lived there.
My men were already searching.
Opening drawers, checking closets, looking for clues.
I walked through the hallways and checked rooms one by one.
And I found nothing.
Then I entered a bedroom. It was larger than the others.
This must have been where Alexei kept her.
I looked around. The bed was made perfectly. There were no clothes in the closet, no personal items anywhere.
They had cleaned it out and removed all evidence.
I was about to leave when something caught my eye.
A very small note. On the bed.
My heart stopped.
I walked over slowly, and picked it up with shaking hands.
I opened it slowly.
Things were written on it, small and neat.
The hand writing was familiar. It was Irina's.
"Dimitri, please find me. Please come save me. I am so scared."
I flipped to the next page.
"I tried to escape today. They caught me. A guard died because of me. I feel so guilty. Please hurry."
Another page.
"I interrupted Alexei's meeting today. I thought it would make him angry enough to send me back. Instead, he humiliated me. I hate him. I hate this place. Please, Dimitri. Please."
Page after page, her thoughts were written in small letters. She had been writing to me.
The dates went on. Ten days, fifteen, twenty and then they stopped.
The last entry was dated two days ago.
"I heard guards talking. They said someone infiltrated the villa. Is it you? Are you finally here? Please let it be you. Please be coming for me. I love you, Dimitri. I have always loved you. Please save me."
That was the last one. Two days ago.
Had Alexei killed her because of this? Because she had been writing to me?
Because she still loved me?
The note crumpled in my fist. Rage exploded through me like fire.
"ALEXEI!" I roared. The sound echoed through the empty villa.
I stormed out of the room, and went down the stairs into the rain.
My men followed immediately, forming a circle
.
Mikhail stood at the front. His face was grim.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"Tire tracks," Mikhail said. "That faded after a few steps. The rain must have cleaned it."
My fists tightened. My nails dug into my blood until blood dripped.
I looked at all my men. I looked at their loyal, and frightened faces.
"Bring Alexei to me," I said. My voice was cold, empty and dead. "Dead or alive."