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“Yes. He threatened my contact’s family to earn compliance. And he tipped off whoever kidnapped you.”
“Meaning there are more just like him around here.”
“Exactly. When did Ron start working at the diner?”
“Not long after I began working there. He bought the place from the owner, a really old guy who needed to sell.” She tilted her head to the side. “What? What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that your father knows where you are, who you are, and planted someone to watch you because you are a liability. And when I came around asking questions, he was afraid you’d crack.”
“But why wouldn’t he just kill me if he knew where I was?”
“He just tried to. Twice.”
She groaned, scrubbing her hands over her face.
“You told me that you think you were targeted the day your cousin, Ana, died in the car accident. If that’s true, why did your father want you dead?”
“Because I had failed miserably at being a wife.”
“You’remarried?” My stomach plummeted.
“I was, before I faked my own death.”
“To whom?”
“His name is Viktor Lukin. Kusma was grooming him to take over Black Cell.”
The name burned like a tattoo on my brain.
“He was like my father ...”
Our eyes met in understanding. He’d raped her too.
For the next hour, Sophia told me all about her and Viktor’s arranged marriage, about how horrible he was to her, about how her sole purpose was to provide her husband a baby. And finally, about what her father had done to her when she asked for a divorce. By the end of her story, I was physically shaking.
“Where is Viktor now?” I clenched my teeth, seething.
“Who knows? Rotting away in a mansion surrounded by a harem of women and a dozen maids.” She shook her head. “He made me clean the house from top to bottom every day. He was obsessed with order and cleanliness.”
“Ah.”
She squinted, a smirk tugging at her lips. “Yes, that’s why I currently live in a pigsty. It’s my F-you to him. I don’t ever want to be a maid again.”
“Good for you. I don’t blame you.”
She snorted, then her face fell once again. “Anyway, he probably has four babies to his name by now.” She paused. “This is why I think I was the target that day with Ana.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My sole purpose was to give my husband a child. I couldn’t. I had multiple miscarriages, which rendered me useless to him. I think my father told him I wanted to divorce him, and I think Viktor paid someone to kill me to save his precious ego.” She took a deep inhale and shook her head. “He probably doesn’t even remember me anymore.”
“I doubt that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re impossible to forget.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please.”
