LOGINKathe and I opened our mouths almost simultaneously in a way that seemed cartoonish. As soon as we saw the bottle of wine that Mia was taking out of her backpack, it immediately changed the mood of the night.
"No way!" I blurted out immediately. "We're not doing that today, Mia!"
"Of course we are," Mia said with a mischievous grin. "It's Friday!"
"I agree with the blonde," Kathe said, pointing at Mia.
Kathe a
For the next three hours, Olivia and I continued helping Ian get the place fully set up, and everything looked beautiful. It was a club in every sense of the word—comfortable, cool, and somewhat modern.Suddenly, a van pulled up outside, and Sebastian got out along with Damian. I saw Olivia tense up, and I frowned. I wasn't sure I wanted to see him there. In fact, I didn't want to see either of them, because as soon as I saw Sebastian's face, the image of us waking up together that morning was on my mind, and I had to look away.Olivia noticed, and I could see her accusing face looking at me with a wide smile. Somehow, even though we hadn't spoken much that morning, I knew she knew what had happened even better than I did, and that disturbed me.Ian greeted them with forced enthusiasm, his voice slightly trembling. "I'm glad you could come," he said, though the tension in the air made it clear that no one was truly happy to see Damian, or at least didn't fully trust him.Sebastian's g
I felt lost, I didn't know what to think about what I had just heard. And worse than that, I felt terribly bad, knowing everything Sebastian had been through, and yet my heart burned knowing that he was married and madly in love with that woman, so much so that he was willing to defy his mother and the world.The silence settled, and I was stunned. Sebastian's intense gaze only served to send shivers down my spine.As if we'd both forgotten all about civility, we continued drinking straight from the bottle, one sip after another, until it was too late and we were both too drunk to send Sebastian home.He lay down on the sofa, seemingly completely regretting everything he'd said. I felt incredibly conflicted about what was happening, especially considering my wedding was just a week away. Every day it was getting closer and closer.I went to sleep and had a dream I could barely remember.I woke up with a splitting headache and couldn't quite recall what had happened last night. I tried
I froze, with the bottle of wine in my hand and Sebastian in front of me, admitting that he was married, and that my cousin had kidnapped and sold his wife.My heart stopped, and I felt like my head was spinning. I looked at the wine bottle in my hand and took a swig straight from the bottle, hoping to make it all go faster, but it didn't. It only made me feel even more dizzy."Melissa and I got married very young," he began. "We were barely 24 when we married. We had a quiet life, for the most part, even though my mother didn't completely approve. Everything was pretty good... until it wasn't."Sebastian's POVI started talking, and once I began, I couldn't stop. Perhaps it was the wine that loosened my tongue, or perhaps it was the weight of the years that oppressed me.When Melissa and I were young, life seemed like paradise. We dreamed of growing old together, of building something that would last. But everything changed the day she met Lucas Clark at a networking event. At first,
A mixture of uncertainty filled my body, and while Sebastian and Ian headed toward Sebastian, I took two steps back, my hands still outstretched protectively toward Olivia.A thousand scenarios were playing out in my mind: how he might suddenly reveal what he knew about me, or that I was somehow involved with the Russian mafia, and all of that would go straight to Lucas and be very difficult to explain.But a fleeting thought crossed my mind: Olivia just spoke, and she just spoke in Russian... which means..."What a problem, I mistook her for someone, that's all," said Damian, with an arrogant attitude."You don't go, you point a gun at someone's face and speak to them in another language if you're not sure," retorted Ian."Where the hell do you speak Russian?" demanded Sebastian.Damian, however, said nothing more, no matter how many questions were asked of him, he simply remained as if it were something unimportant and minimized everything that had happened as a simple "mistake".Th
Ian didn't seem uncomfortable; rather, he wanted to find a way to apologize, but perhaps he didn't quite know how."She's mute due to an accident, but she's not deaf and will probably be able to speak again with enough care," I explained.My phone rang with an unknown number. "I'm going to take this," I thought.I walked away, knowing it was most likely Annatoli, while Ian and Olivia continued talking quietly."Hello?" I answered, but there was a long silence on the other end."Sofia," a voice finally said, sending shivers down my spine. "I received your email. Are you available this Saturday?""Y-yes," I said, my voice trembling with shock."I know what's happening doesn't directly involve us, so there's nothing wrong with seeing each other," Lucas said, his tone radiating distrust."Sure, after all, we're cousins," I replied.I hung up the fastest and most stressful call of my life and remained silent for a moment.I remember when we were kids, Lucas and I used to spend a lot of tim
When I arrived at the apartment, I felt a tension in my shoulders, something I couldn't quite describe at the time, but I tried not to dwell on it.As soon as I opened the door, I saw Olivia standing there. She was dressed casually in a sweater, jeans, and a hat, but her red hair still stood out.I almost felt like we were going to leave."Let me get some water, change, and then we'll go, okay?"She nodded with a smile that showed all her teeth.I got some water from the kitchen and went into the bedroom to change. As I dressed in denim shorts, a sports bra, and a crop top, I paused for a moment. Olivia had been held captive for who knows how long. How did she have almost all her teeth intact?I know there are many things she hasn't told me yet, but even so, she often makes me feel insecure.I sighed and shook off the thought; I knew I couldn't keep getting defensive about everything that was happening around me.We went outside together and I checked my phone. There were no messages
I walked to the office, clutching my backpack a little tighter than necessary. They let me keep the information folder, but somehow it felt more like incriminating evidence than a gesture of goodwill.The day flew by, to the point that I don't even remember how many things I had to do, at least not
I immediately brought my hand to my mouth, silencing what I was about to say. In theory, I was alone here, and although I wanted to trust Olivia completely, it wasn't the right time yet.I felt as if everything I'd been doing had been walking blindly and trusting the people who appeared in my life,
For a moment I doubted what was happening. I was holding the hand of a young man, of Eastern Russian descent, who seemed to possess great power: Anatoli.On the other side of the room stood a Russian man, about two meters tall, with killer skills, looking at us as if we were old friends: Ivan.And
I sneezed, which snapped me back to focusing on the problems in front of me instead of dwelling on what happened with Olivia now that I'd left her at my place, or on Roy being so "confused."Today we received a very important shipment of classic stationery, papers of different weights and brands fo







