Chapter 13

Laura

WHAT. THE.Fuck!

I try to breathe through the hands that are muffling my mouth, my heart pounding against my ribcage like a caged bird desperate for escape. The room is small, dark, and musty, the air thick with the scent of cleaning chemicals and stale air.

As my eyes adjust to the gloom, I make out shelves lined with supplies, a mop propped in the corner—a maintenance closet. But it’s the figure looming over me that sends a fresh wave of panic coursing through my veins.

David.

The name echoes in my mind, a taunting reminder of the man who shattered my heart and left me drowning in a sea of debt and betrayal.

“Mmm!! Mmm!!” I try to shout at him through his hand, my voice muffled and strangled.

“Shhh… Laur, it’s me,” he whispers urgently, his face so close I can count the pores. He reeks of stale cigarettes and the kind of alcohol you’d buy with loose change. In the dim light sneaking under the door, I catch the wild look in his eyes, the sweat beads gathering on his forehead like unwanted guests.

“I need to ask you something.”

Ask me something?

The words ricochet in my skull, disbelief and fury warring for dominance.

After what he did to me? After the lies, the cheating, the cowardice?

I writhe in his grip, trying to twist away, but he only tightens his hold, his fingers digging painfully into my skin. He’s wearing a black chef’s uniform, the starched fabric stretching across his broad shoulders.

“Please, baby, can you keep it down?” he hisses, his breath hot against my ear.

Don’t you fucking “baby” me!

I want to scream, but his hand is still clamped over my mouth.

I fix him with a glare that could melt steel, pouring every ounce of fury and betrayal into my eyes. If looks could kill, he’d be a smoldering pile of ash on the floor.

He looks different from the last time I saw him—harder, more haggard.

“Laur, please,” he begs, his voice cracking. “I’m in trouble. I need your help.”

A harsh, mirthless laugh bubbles up my throat, escaping my lips in a muffled snort.

He needs my help?

That’s rich, coming from the man who caused all this fucking mess from the beginning!

In a flash of desperate anger, I open my mouth and bite down on his palm, sinking my teeth into the fleshy mound as hard as I can.

“Fuck! Laur!” he yelps, jerking his hand away.

For a split second, his grip loosens, and I seize the opportunity.

I wrench myself sideways, slipping out of his grasp. He scrambles to grab me again, his fingers clawing at my arm. I reach out for the door, but in a heartbeat, his hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me back. He slams me against the wall and pins me with his body.

“How dare you,” I hiss, my voice trembling with barely contained rage.“How dare you come here, today of all days, and ask for my help? After everything you’ve done, everything you’ve put me through.”

He has the audacity to look shocked, hurt, even. As if he’s the victim here, as if he’s the one who had his life ruined by the person he trusted most.

“Laur, you don’t understand,” he pleads, reaching for me again. “I’m in deep shit. I’ve got people after me, dangerous people. I just need—”

“I don’t care what you need!” I snap, slapping his hand away. “I don’t care about your problems, your debts, your lies.”

“Shhh, keep it down!” he hisses, panic edging his voice. “Just listen.”

I freeze, my breath caught in my throat, trying not to breathe in his toxic presence.

How could he? Lie about everything, cheat me into nothing, push me to the edge? And after everything, show his face to me, the same man who handed me over to the Bratva like I was nothing?

I’m so mad that tears start to build up, ready to fall.

I’m breathing hard, my chest heaving with the force of my anger.

He stares at me for a long moment, something like regret flickering in his eyes. But it’s gone just as quickly, replaced by a cold, calculating look that sends a shiver down my spine.

“Look, Laur, I went back home.”

Home?

“Home?” I echo the word like acid on my tongue. How dare he call that home after everything he’s done, after the way he left me high and dry?

“I mean, your place, and I… I can’t find the red ledger. Did you hide it somewhere?”

My jaw drops, disbelief and betrayal hitting me like a sucker punch. This is why he’s here, risking his neck to see me? For some fucking ledger?

Tears sting my eyes, blurring my vision. Three years of marriage, and it turns out I don’t know this man at all.

“Laur,” he shakes me, his grip tightening on my arms, “tell me!”

“I will never tell you,” I spit out, anger rising in my throat like bile.

“They’ll kill me and find you and kill you… and your new husband. If I don’t give them the ledger…”

“Them? Who are they?”

I’m trembling now, fear and fury warring inside me. But I refuse to cower, refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break.

“David… No, Dave, tell me!” I demand, my voice cracking.

He looks away, guilt and something else—something darker—flickering across his face.

“Look at me!” I struggle to wrench my hands free from his iron grip, my skin crawling at his touch.

“The Vasilievs… they are dangerous, Laur.”

“Hah!” A harsh, humorless laugh rips from my throat. “Dangerous, you say?”

I lean in close, my lips curling into a sneer.“You know what’s dangerous, Dave? Trusting a spineless, selfish piece of shit like you. I loved you. I gave you everything, and this is how you repay me? By stealing from me, lying to me, putting my life—and the lives of the people I care about—in danger?”

Rage boils over, white-hot and all-consuming.

“You can go straight to hell,” I hiss, my chest heaving. “I won’t be a pawn in your fucked-up games anymore.”

With a burst of strength I didn’t know I possessed, I shove him backward, sending him crashing into the shelves. Cleaning supplies tumble to the floor with a deafening clatter.

I grab fistfuls of my dress, hiking up the hem as I make a break for the door. My heels catch on the trailing fabric, nearly sending me sprawling, but I don’t dare slow down.

I’m almost there, almost free, when a large shadow fills the doorway, blocking my path. I skid to a halt, my breath catching in my throat.

“Help,” I choke out, the word barely audible over the thundering of my own heartbeat.

And then I see who it is, and relief crashes over me like a tidal wave.

“Victor!”

I launch myself forward, throwing myself into his arms like he’s a fucking life raft in a stormy sea. He catches me easily, his strong hands gripping my waist, steadying me.

“Laura? What’s happening?” His voice is low and urgent, his eyes scanning the room for threats.

I’m shaking so hard my teeth are chattering, tears streaming down my face in hot, salty rivers. I try to speak, to explain, but the words get tangled on my tongue, coming out in broken gasps and hiccups.

“Da- Dave.”

Victor’s gaze lands on the mess of cleaning supplies scattered across the floor, the shelves hanging crookedly off the wall. His jaw clenches, understanding dawning in his eyes.

“Where is he?” he growls, his grip on me tightening protectively.

I twist in his arms, pointing a trembling finger at the spot where Dave had been standing just moments before.

But he’s gone.

The window hangs open, the curtains billowing in the night breeze. He must’ve bolted while I was distracted, the fucking coward.

Of course he ran.

Of course he left me to deal with the fallout, just like always.