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Chapter 35
Valerie
I didn’t realize that my words had the power to hurt this much. I used to dance. Until it was stolen from me. The truth tasted bitter on my tongue, and I hated that they were my reality. I hated that once I had everything—and then in a matter of minutes, I lost it all.
And I hated Viktor for reminding me of what I had lost.
My ballet flats were kept hidden. They were a reminder of what I could have had. A different beginning, a different present, and a different future.
I wanted to keep it locked away, but how long was I supposed to keep my past buried? One day soon, the truth would have had to come out. But I wasn’t ready for it now.
Viktor’s hand went from the back of my neck to my cheek, lifting my face up so he could look into my eyes. He was searching for something, his gaze never leaving mine. Then he sighed, his forehead dropping to mine again.
My heart thumped, just like always when he would touch me. So gently and so sweetly. He handled me as if I was someone precious to him. Looking into his eyes, riddled with so many unsaid emotions, I believed that. I believed in him.
Viktor cupped my cheek before speaking. “Talk to me. I want to know, Valerie. I want to know everything about you.”
“There is so much to say, Viktor. I don’t…know…where to start,” I replied. Instinctively, my hands gripped his waist, my body folding into his.
He walked us backward until the back of my legs hit the bed. I sat down, my hands on my lap, playing with the fabric of my dress nervously.
Instead of sitting beside me, Viktor knelt to his knees.
He lifted my long dress up until it was bunched on my thighs. Without waiting for my response, his body settled between my legs. In this position, we were closer. Him on his knees for me, our faces the same level, our eyes meeting and never wavering.
Viktor took my hands in his and gave me a small squeeze. His lips moved, and my eyes quickly went there to catch his words. “Start from the beginning, baby.”
So I did.
I told him how much I loved dancing.
I told him how I used to breathe ballet, morning till night. Until my feet were sore and my toes were bleeding. Until I was breathless and my legs couldn’t walk anymore.
To me, ballet and I—we weren’t two separate things. Without one, the other didn’t exist. We were one. My body would move to the music without thought, lost in its rhythm. I would feel its beat in my heart. Each step was deeply ingrained in my brain.
And then I told him about the good news. The same ones I never got a chance to tell my parents.
The room was filled with my choked cries. A tear slid down my cheek before I could stop myself. But instead of making a lonely wet trail, like before, in my room—this time, there was someone to swipe it away.
Viktor’s fingers touched my cheeks gently, and he thumbed away my tears. Another drop fell, and he caught it, this time with his lips.
His lips feathered over my skin so gently. And now, I was crying for a whole different reason. Why did he have to be so…sweet?
A man like him—who held so much darkness, yet could hold so much gentleness. He was both light and dark. He was both the angel of heaven and the devil of hell. He had the power to crush bones yet mend a broken heart, piece by piece.
“You are so brave; do you know that?” he muttered. My gaze went to our entwined fingers.
“I don’t feel so brave now. I feel weak. But as long as it’s me…not my sister. I would have never been able to live with myself if I had sacrificed Malory for my own happiness,” I replied, my eyes never leaving our hands. I found myself fascinated with his thumbs rubbing soothing circles over my knuckles.
Viktor nudged the tip of my nose with his gently, and I looked up at him. “I am going to get you out of here, Valerie. Just give me some more time. I need you to be strong for a little bit more.”
I shook my head at his words. There was no point. I was living in a fantasy before—with him, where I had let him sweep me off my feet and away from this cruel world.
But Viktor…couldn’t save me. I was beyond saving.
Only because saving me meant pulling my sister into this darkness.
“You can’t. I am the debt my parents owe. If Valentin doesn’t have me, then he will go for my sister.”
“When I take you out of here, I will make sure that Valentin can never hurt another innocent soul,” he said to me. Anger danced in those fiery eyes of his. Viktor evoked a brutal sense of danger.
