“Vitya, it means Victor,” I whisper since that’s all I can do without my stomach starting to burn and stinging. “Did I lose a kidney?”
“No. But I almost lost you. You can’t do that again,” Love says, tears in her eyes, making the blue clear and shiny, for all the wrong reasons.
“I will try my best. And remember, I always win. Unfortunately chaos seems to chase us, we must embrace it to win”
“Embrace the chaos,” Love replies and I smile.
“Embrace the chaos indeed. Did your father solve the Liot situation?” I question, Love smiles and holds my hand. Finally some contact. I close my eyes breathing her in. Even from a distance, I can smell the coco.
“He cooled down the waters. Not all Mitkus are conformed with it though”
“How did he manage to do that?” I ask Love how Vance managed to miraculously convert the rigid Liot, into amouldable person.
“Aiden agreed to marry Liot’s oldest daughter and link the Javol legacy with the Liodev,” seems like Javol is finally taking one for the team. And acting like he should, leaving my Love alone, moving the fuck on from his crush, because I’m going nowhere. As long as I breathe Love is mine, I live, fight, and breathe for her. While she exists, I exist, there’s no other agreement I’ll ever make with Satan, and it’s take it or be prepared to lose hell’s throne.
“How nice of him. What about the other Mitkus?” I ask and she clearly doesn’t know, she has no clue. “Forget I asked, I’ll talk to Josh later. How long have you been on that chair?” I ask noticing changes of clothes in a pile in a corner, Love’s clothes.
“Three days,” she says and Josh enters the room, Love doesn’t acknowledge his presence, and as long as she ignores him, I’ll ignore him.
“Go home, I’ll be fine, I promise not to let anyone shoot me,” I say but she’s not convinced. Now you’ll hear the shitty version of what I just said.
“As if you’re in condition to do that-”
“He isn’t but I am, go home, take a bath, wash your teeth, you stink,” Josh needs a reality check, he’s the one who stinks. And dare say it to her? In front of me?
Why the hell isn’t a gun handy in here?
I ask myself and the fucking universe. Where is a gun when I need one. “I promise not to kill him, god,” I whisper, Josh doesn’t hear it, mission accomplished. What is not accomplished is a gun falling from the sky into myhand. Or if another god hears me, be raised by tree roots from the ground to my hands.
“Love prayed,” Josh says and I look from my empty hands to the door seeing a small, perfectly crafted figure sneak out. “She doesn’t pray,” Josh says and puts pressure on my neck, so I can’t breathe. I really can’t catch a break, can I?
“Shewonthave-toeveragain,” I say strained what he wanted to hear but also what I needed to phrase. She won’t have her heart ripped again. I won’t allow myself or anyone else to do so.
“Nice to get that cleared up,” Josh says loosening the grip on my neck and adjusting my shirt. “Now on another note. You have a 3-week recuperation ahead, Karl will take care of Ricik’s business. But I’ll need that mischievous thinking brain of yours borrowed daily. You’ll be working from your computer. The recuperation should be 6 weeks, but we can’t afford that.-”
“No worries, I’ll be back in less than that-”
“Humanly impossible, but by all means do try. You had luck, Ricik. It only hit your kidney. However, I promise you next time you try a stunt like that it will hit your heart. And just like Love, I don’t miss,” he says patting my shoulder and leaving. I’m left alone in the room for about one hour before Love is back in her pyjamas. Loose velvet pants and a long-sleeved shirt, all blue, dark blue unlike her eyes. But it has a detail that really sticks out.
“There you are, little dove,” I say and Love sits on my bed. It’s way more comfortable than a hospital one, less than our previous one. “I missed you,” I say and meether lips. Pulling her arm down and bringing her to a lying down position next to me.
I hold her against me but she’s trying not to weigh on me. “You’re not going to hurt me,” I tell her, and she gets cosier, holding my arm and resting her head on it.
“I was scared,” she says looking up, my lungs filled with her sweet scent, my body being brought back to life.
“I know. I’m sorry. I freaked out with the thought of you getting hurt and I lost my judgment. I went blindly against an enemy I did not know, it’s unlike me. Despite that, your life will always mean more to me than reasoning, and thinking. I will not let it cloud my judgement in the future though-”
“You better not. I thought you wouldn’t wake up. You ever attempt something like that again and I will revive you just so I can kill you myself,” she says, her voice failing. I bring my other hand to her face.
I study it, trying to see through the thin walls that are stopping me from really reaching her. What else changed in these three days?
“Message understood. Is everyone ok? Josh, Damian, Sammy, Maya-”
“They’re all moving forward from what just happened.”
“What about you?” I question, her eyes dart away from mine, away from me in entirety. “Love?” I insist her eyes are fixated on nothingness. “Love?” I’ll insist and persist until I get an answer from her.
“I’m good now. The last three days were hell. Liot sent people here. My dad killed Liot’s men before they got to kill me. Yet they wanted me Dominik, not Josh, not myfather, they were after me,” she says and I suddenly remember a dark night 7 years ago. This isn’t about Dylan, or their empire, it’s about his daughter. That night I met Liot for the first time. I didn’t remember when I first saw Liot, now I remember. I remember how I slept with his daughter and rejected her many attempts to get together again. I was a fucking asshole to her. I called her off in words no one should hear. Some months after she killed herself. She left a note. It was my fault. It never hurt me. It never even bothered me, she was just a piece on my chessboard, a disposable, cheap, insignificant piece.
