Chapter 56 Warning
Cora's P.O.V.
My head is throbbing, and everything is dark. Where am I? I remember someone coming to my apartment and opening the door. What happened? I thought it was Trystan.
"Are you Cora Winstead?" Fear runs down my spine when I hear the man speak with a Russian accent. How do they know about me? Jordan wouldn't say anything because he loves me. It had to have been that bitch with him.
"Answer me now." The voice says harshly, making me jump.
"Yes, I'm Cora. What is the meaning of this? Who are you?" I ask angrily.
"You're lucky you're pregnant. Otherwise, I'd slap that arrogance off your ugly face." The man says, fisting my hair through the cloth bag over my head and making me lean back.
"Obviously, you didn't get a good look at me. I'm one of the most beautiful women in the world." I will not let him disrespect me like this. I don't care who he is.
"Are you sure we can't just kill this bitch and be done with it?" Another voice asks.
"No. We don't kill innocents. Don't worry. Once she has the baby, all bets are off. Let's get this over with. Ugly bitch, we understand you have been harassing Jordan Holt and his fiancée, Anushka. Is that right?" Fiancée? What the fuck? How are they engaged already? I was with Jordan for months, and he never asked me to marry him. They've only been together for a couple of weeks.
"I am pregnant with his child. He is supposed to be with me." The man pulls my head back even further, bringing tears to my eyes.
"That's a lie. We checked you out and know exactly who the father of your child is. How do you think he would react if we exposed your affair and ruined his career? We would be the least of your problems. You can consider this a warning. We won't be as nice if you come near Jordan, Anushka, or their daughter again. Also, we know you don't want the baby you're carrying, so if any harm comes to that child before or after they're born, you will pay the price. Do you understand?" My pulse races as he pulls on my hair so tight I'm afraid he's going to break my neck.
"Yes." Fuck. What the hell am I going to do now? Trystan, I can still tell him, and he will take care of everything.
"Before you think about telling anyone about this, remember we'll be watching you. Always assume that we know exactly what you're doing every minute of every day." He releases my hair, and tears sting my eyes. I'm screwed. I don't say anything, but I hear them moving around. When a door shuts, I don't hear anything else.
"Hello?" No one answers. I slowly raise my shaking hand and remove the cloth bag. I'm still in my apartment. I thought they had taken me somewhere else. I run to the bathroom and vomit. I pull my phone out of my pocket when it vibrates and see that it's Trystan calling me back. I set it down. There's no way I can tell him anything now. I can't bother Jordan, and I can't hurt the thing inside of me. This is just great. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
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Trystan's P.O.V.
The last person I want to hear from is that nightmare, Cora. She was a one-time mistake that I wish I had never made. I wasn't planning on calling her back, but when I heard she knew about a new member of the Kondrati family, I had to call her. This may be my way of moving up in the family. Right now, I'm just the son of Santino Buccheri's second cousin. Even though he's the head of the family, no one treats me with respect because I'm a nobody.
I run my hand through my dark brown hair in frustration. Cora had been blowing up my phone for hours, so why wasn't she answering now? I don't want to see her in person, but I may not have a choice.
"What's eating you?" Deonte asks. I glance over at where he's sitting at the bar. He's one of the lieutenants, and I'm just a soldier, so I have to answer him. We're in one of the restaurants owned by Santino. No one comes to this one unless invited because it's the front for some of our other operations.
"I got a call that an unknown member of the Kondrati family may have just surfaced," I answer, walking over to him. He turns to face me completely.
"Interesting. Any idea who this person is?" I swallow nervously. I don't like Cora, but Deonte is ruthless. He would kill her just for looking at him disrespectfully.
"I don't know anything other than the person is a woman." I'm uncomfortable with the attention I'm getting now as more men come over to hear what we're talking about. The Buccheri and Kondrati families have been at war for years.
"Franco, do you know anything about a woman being a secret member of the Kondrati family?" Deonte asks the man sitting at a desk in the corner. He's the go-to person for anything we need to know about.
"I haven't heard of anyone, but we all know Christov has been known not to keep it in his pants, so it's possible." I breathe a little easier with his answer. I can still get credit for finding this information.
"See what you can find. Dig as deep as you need to." Deonte slaps my back.
"I hope, for your sake, you're right. This might be just what we need to get to Christov. Hopefully, the woman is his daughter. If so, I can't wait to have all kinds of fun with her." Deonte pulls out a knife and twirls it around in his hand. I'm part of the family, but I haven't killed anyone. Some of them get off on it. Watching Deonte, I'm not sure what I hope for. I've seen him gut people like a fish and laugh while doing it. This is for the best, right?