Chapter 74 Dignity
❦ Rosalind ❦
I awoke cradled in a warm cocoon. I almost didn’t want to open my eyes, to preserve the homely feel of the musky-scented pillow under my head.
Then the memories rushed in.
The restaurant.
My ignorant walk into danger.
Viktor.
Shooting up with a gasp, my head struck a hard edge, and a curse sputtered from above.
“Cazzo!” came a growl. I looked up to see Viktor rubbing his chin with a glare as I scrambled away from him. “What the hell?”
“Stay away!” I screamed, catching him in the side with a kick. I pulled away and pressed into the arm of the couch we were on. “Don’t even dare touch me!”
He drew a hand down his face. “Dio, aiutami.”
“Don’t even bother! God won’t bother with you. Traitor,” I snapped.
Viktor’s face darkened.
I gasped, my heart pounding as he grabbed my ankles before I could lower them to the floor.
“I am not going to hurt you. Get a hold of yourself.”
I blinked at his stern voice.
A tingle spread up my ankles where his hands gripped me like his life depended on it. Noticing my glance, he lightened his hold.
“Who was that girl? Why did you bring me here?”
A quick survey of my environment confirmed I was in the penthouse suite.
“I brought you here to explain the stakes of your little game. But you panicked, knocked your head on the floor, and accused me of what? Holding you against your will?”
“I-I was frightened…”
“Why?” His gray eyes burned into me, question and what looked like disappointment churning within.
Now I was more confused than afraid.
“You…”
“You don’t trust me.” He snapped bitterly. “What must I do to show you I have zero desire in causing you harm? How much longer will you have me be your textbook villain?”
The questions hung in the air, our gazes locked in something more than I could understand.
With a sigh, he released my ankles completely and turned away from me.
“Her name is unknown. She’s traumatized and won’t speak. I’ve been putting together a case on Giancarlo Conti. He’s involved in trafficking. But he’s just a cog in the bigger picture.”
From the information Dante had gathered for me on the Contis, I quickly put two and two together when I realized Giancarlo’s reach and wealth didn’t match his operations. Trafficking. Of course he was.
“Why was she here?” I asked, remembering the girl’s split lip and undressed state.
“She defended herself against a client she was brought here for. She killed him.”
Viktor rose to his feet and went to the window, peering out with a furrow in his brow as if there was something else he wasn’t telling me.
I raised a hand to massage the knot on the back of my skull, still tingling from where I’d hit the ground so hard.
“Where is she now?” I asked carefully.
“Somewhere safe. I brought you so you could see exactly why I need the hotel.”
My back stiffened immediately.
Viktor continued, facing me with his arms crossed.
“Every trafficking deal, every shipment, every whisper of filth that passes through New York’s elite, I can catch it, crush it, burn it to the ground. You want to make a difference? Let me use it. Sell it to me…”
“No.”
It was out of the question. My father died trying to preserve one thing from his life. I wouldn’t confirm his defeat.
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“Oh I did. And I’m supposed to believe you’re suddenly a superhero and not a don? You say that now but once you get what you want, you’ll show your true colors.”
“You could cause irreparable damage if you sell it to the wrong person. You have no idea what kinds of people are out there just biding their time to get hold of it.”
“And what about you, Viktor?” I stood up, my fist clenched. “What happens after you save the world?”
“What do you want?”
I sputtered at the change in direction. What did I want?
I wanted a damned period of rest. I didn’t know how I managed to get this far, but I was tired of it. I wanted security.
I wanted him. But he just wasn’t right. He would never see me above how we came to be. Through a history of blood and games and manipulation.
I stiffened, my chest twisting. “I can’t betray him.”
“Your father?” His jaw tightened. “He’s the reason half of this city bled for nothing. You think he was a saint? You think holding on to his secrets honors him?”
“Don’t,” I snapped, my throat thick. “Don’t stand there and spit on his grave when you won’t even tell me what you know. You say you want my trust? Then give me the truth.”
The air between us snapped taut, Viktor’s stare locking his expression into stone.
“I can’t,” he said finally.
“Then I can’t give you what you want,” I whispered. “I won’t hand over the last piece of my father’s dignity to the very family that destroyed him. I won’t betray my father’s memory.”
“I’m your family now, Rosa.”
“Then tell me the truth.” I hissed, tears blurring my vision.
I wiped them off in time to see Viktor’s scowl soften. But that wasn’t enough.
“How can I trust you when you keep me in the dark?!”
He flinched as though my words cut him. But I didn’t care. I was the one whose heart was breaking into a million pieces.
“I’ll never get to speak with him again. He’s gone, and yet you won’t give me this one thing!”
The tears ran down my cheeks in earnest, my hands wiping desperately at the stream that would not stop.
He approached me, his jaw clenched. “You don’t have to choose between your name and your survival. I can give you both.”
“I don’t want to be pitied and accommodated, Viktor. I want to be free. Of you.” I snapped.
He took a step back, anger clouding his features.
I stood my ground. My heart twisted with trepidation, and his next words cut me deeper than they should.
“Fine, run to your divorce lawyer. If you think I need this marriage more than you need me, go prove it.”