Mafia Men: Nikolai's Inferno - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

.Evangeline.
I had my headphones on as I continuously flipped the pages of the book that was before me. I hadn't read a word, the music blasted in my ears blocking out all the other sounds.
I slammed the book shut and got off my bed. Nikolai had called Bianca earlier, I knew that he did because Bianca and I hadn't talked after his whole engagement fiasco.
I pretended to be asleep while Bianca waited for me. I didn't wake up until she finally gave up and left the house.
I got to my feet, straightened out my dress, and headed downstairs. His house was crawling with his soldiers, they all tried to avoid making eye contact with me.
They were moving some stuff into the house, some furniture, suitcases, and whatnot. Was Nikolai redecorating?
I hopped onto the couch and put on the TV at full volume. Someone grabbed the remote out of my hand and turned the volume down.
I huffed and looked up to see Nikolai looking down at me. He placed both of his hands on the headrest of the couch and dipped his head. "Do I need to get your ears checked?"
I rolled my eyes. "Are you redecorating?"
GET IT
His eyebrow lifted. "What?"
"Why are your guys all over the place?"
He let out a dry breath and looked around. "Come on, let's go?"
I frowned. "Where?"
He held my hand and tugged me upwards making me stand on my feet. I put on my ballet flats, he stood there holding my hand from the other side of the couch. Once, he saw that I was done, he tugged me along with him out of the house. His car was parked out front, he opened the door and made me sit. He made his way around the car and settled into the driving seat.
"Where are we going?" I asked again but he didn't say anything.
He cast me a sideways glance, all dark and brooding. I ignored the way his heated gaze made me feel, it was something other than anger. Silence hung in the air, heavy and suffocating as he drove. His face was set in stone like this was the last place he wanted to be.
The car came to a halt, I looked out the window to see woods on either side of us. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. I suddenly remembered the dirty black van they threw me in, how I was hauled out of it by my hair and tossed on the floor like I didn't matter. How my voice and my strength were taken from me.
I didn't realize that I was glued to the car seat, my mind was lost somewhere far away until Nikolai opened the car door from my side. I was startled out of the horrible memory by Nikolai as he grabbed my hand again and pulled me out.
He dragged me along with him walking cautiously, his gaze darting all over the ground as if searching for traps.
An old warehouse came into our view and Nikolai walked straight to it but before he entered, he stopped and turned toward me.
"The shit I am about to do for you is fucking big, Evangeline. You better fucking stay true to your words and fucking listen to me after we're done with this."
I swallowed, I now had an idea where he had brought me, probably where he kept them. I nodded weakly and tucked my hair behind my ear. Nikolai blew out a breath and shook his head before he wrapped his arm around me and took me inside the dark and dingy warehouse.
I held his hand that rested on my side and looked down at my feet. I could feel different pairs of eyes darting in our direction, some whispers, and gasps but I didn't look up, I numbly went wherever Nikolai took
me.
We entered an empty room with a big glass window, no it wasn't a window. It was a two-way mirror. I instinctively took a step back as I saw the three faces that had haunted me since the day I had seen them. They were badly bruised and battered. They were bleeding from head to toe almost as if they were on the verge of death.
Tears spilled from my eyes and I turned my back on them. I couldn't see them, I just couldn't watch their faces. I couldn't look into their eyes, I thought I could, I thought I could hurt them the way they did to me
but I couldn't even stand to look at their faces.
"Evangeline..." Nikolai's deep voice resonated all around me.
I vigorously shook my head. "No, no, please, no," my voice came out broken and rough.
"You wanted this, remember?"
"And now I want to go back home, please."
"I'm giving you all the power right now, Evangeline. I will fucking have them executed right in front of your eyes if you want and if you want to go home... then I'll take you home."
I wiped my tears and sniffled courage, I needed courage. I slowly turned back towards the two-way mirror and watched their bodies suspended from the ceiling.
Involuntarily, my body moved closer to Nikolai to feel comfort and security. He didn't waste any time wrapping his arms all around me. I looked up at his face and then back at the men.
I pointed toward the one on the right. "That's Sergio."
"Yes..." he breathed out lowly.
"He..." I took a deep breath as the hair on the back of my neck twinged with fear. "He forced his hands all over my body again and again. I- I kept telling him, begging him to stop but he never did, Nikolai, he never did. He laughed at my face, spat on my face."
Nikolai's hand went into my hair as his fingers softly massaged my skull. "I will burn his fucking hands off, I will cut out his tongue."
"That's Diaz, he slapped my face, kicked me, punched me, and dragged me around in that cell by my hair. He hurt me the most, Nikolai..."
Nikolai's jaw clenched, and his eyes turned dark and feral as if he were ready to murder anyone who stood in his way right now.
"I'll make sure to do everything he did to you... but his torture will be a hundred times worse," he whispered softly.
His one hand was in my hair while the other was on my cheek caressing it with his knuckles. I leaned into his touch, feeling the security and comfort I used to feel when I first met him.
"They all took turns beating me up, they laughed whenever I screamed in pain," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped down to the ground.
His hand left my hair as he cupped my face with both of his hands. He tugged me closer. "I will make their death an object of ridicule."
I looked into his eyes. "Promise?"
He let out a deep breath with a hint of a smile. "Promise," he declared. "Do you want to see it happen?"
I considered it and then shook my head. I don't think I have the stomach for that much violence. "No..."
"Do you want to go home now?"
I looked up at him. It's hard to forget what Nikolai did to me too and the fact that he was engaged was the hardest pill I ever had to swallow. I don't know if I will ever be able to see him with another woman.
My stomach sank to my feet as I asked. "Home?"
"Our home."
I opened my mouth to say something but then closed it. I swallowed, my eyes focused on his black shirt. I blinked, not knowing what to say.
His thumb caressed my cheek and that snapped my attention back to him. "Don't think too much into it. You promised that if I take you to them you will listen to me, didn't you?"
"I did..."
"Then you have no choice but to listen to me. No more of that disrespectful-little-shit Evangeline. I want my angel-with-a-hint-of-a-devil Evangeline back."
"Okay..." I whispered
"Good," he whispered back.
Master of Puppets by Metallica played on a low volume in the car as Nikolai drove us home. I felt lighter than I did before, the grudge I was holding in, the pain I was reliving again and again started to chip away slowly. The fact that I saw the same men who tortured me, getting the worse treatment made me content.
I never thought of myself as a vengeful person but today I realized how much I wanted revenge on those men. For someone who had been hidden away from all the bad of the world, I was one messed-up
individual.
Nikolai's eyes were focused on the road but he did glance at me every two seconds. I exhaled loudly through my nose and put one leg over the other, my dress hitched up showing off an ample amount of skin, his eyes lowered to my legs for a second before they diverted back to the road.
He needs to stop this, my eyes went to the platinum engagement band on his finger.
The next second, the same big rough hand landed on my bare thigh. I looked down at his hand and then at his face, he didn't look at me while his thumb gently caressed my skin. His hand was so hot against my
cold skin.
A warmth spread through my body, a feeling only his touch provided me. Regardless of the heartache, he had caused me, I can't believe my body still reacted this way to his touch. 2 Then again my eyes fell on the platinum engagement band and all the warmth turned to ice. Involuntarily, my finger traced the engagement band that rested on my thigh.
I wanted to know what this was. He was getting married but the mixed signals he gave me messed with my mind. What relationship did we have? He didn't claim me in any way yet he couldn't let me go. Did he only consider me as his property? He was a raving egomaniac, I can only imagine how much it pissed him off when I was the one who leave him, must have bruised his ego.
He didn't love me, that's for sure because he made it clear to me from the very first day, he said that he won't love me. Now that I think about it, maybe, he said that because he loved her. He was already in love.
"Do you love her?" I asked.
He stiffened, and his knuckles on the steering wheel turned white from how hard he was clutching it. His long rough fingers curled around my thigh, his nails digging into my inner thigh but not enough to hurt
me. I could feel the tension that filled the car space, it was thick and suffocating as I waited for his answer.
"I told you I don't love," he answered dryly.
I bit the inside of my cheek, "Then why are you marrying her?"
"A marriage of convenience" he simply said. "It's common in our world."
I tilted my head to the side. "What's a marriage of convenience?"
"It's a contract marriage for political links and power and to ally with the British crime firm."
I furrowed my eyebrows. I have never heard anything like that before. This man already had so much power. How much power can a person possibly crave?
"My parent's marriage was also a marriage of convenience. My father married the princess of the Bratva to form an alliance with the Russians. My mother was an effortlessly lovable woman, he fell in love with
her even before they got married..."
With a heavy heart and a feeble smile, I said. "Maybe, you will fall in love with her too. What was her name again?"
"Grace from The Russell family of the United Kingdom. She is a British mafia princess."
I pushed his hand away from my thigh. "Her name sounds so regal."
The gates opened and Nikolai drove into the driveway, stopping before the front door. We were back home. I got out of the car and so did Nikolai. He waited until I walked around the car and ascended the stairs as
he followed behind.
Just as we entered the foyer, he gripped my waist and pulled my back into his chest, my breath whooshed out of my at the sudden action. He placed his lips next to my ear, and my heartbeat turned erratic. "I think I like the name Evangeline better" he whispered.
Before I could comprehend what he just said to me, he pulled away from me and walked straight toward his study. Leaving me shocked by his behavior, he was engaged, what is wrong with him?