Mafia Men: Nikolai's Inferno - Chapter 82: Chapter 82

.Evangeline.
I lay in my bed, too sore, too tired to move. I replayed Nikolai's words again and again but I still couldn't make sense of them.
"It was fun while it lasted..."
It's like he stabbed me straight in the heart and as if it wasn't enough, he viciously twisted it.
A marriage can't end just because he said so. What is wrong with him? I could feel it in his body language last night, he was off, and something about him was closed off. There is something that he isn't telling me. I can feel it.
It's not something I said, no, it's way too small of a matter for him to act this way.
There must be something else... something big.
My alarm went off and I got startled out of my thoughts, I frowned as I looked at the time. I didn't sleep a wink the whole night. After Nikolai left, I kept thinking about him, where I went wrong, where we went wrong, and what could have possibly happened for him to act this way.
I lazily got out of bed to get ready for college. I was naked already, I didn't bother to wear clothes again last night. I smelled like him, he was all over me, and every part of my body smelled like his expensive cologne.
I set the shower setting too hot and I stepped under it. Running my fingers through my hair, washing myself off, washing him off. After I was done, I dried myself off and put on a simple full sleeves shirt and jeans. I sat before the vanity mirror and pulled out a concealer.
I had to search on the internet for how to cover up love bites. I put on the concealer that matched my skin tone and covered up Nikolai's marks.
I grabbed my bag and went downstairs. Nikolai was standing right outside the front door, I stopped when I saw him.
Something unwanted unfurled in my chest, I almost wanted to march up to him and slap him across his face.
He glanced at me, but no expressions crossed his face. He seemed so impassive and cold. I let out a breath and then looked for Marco.
"Did you eat something? The maids said that you didn't eat breakfast yesterday as well. You barely ate last night at dinner."
"I thought our marriage was over?" I asked, glancing at him.
"I didn't say that our marriage was over, I said-"
"Same thing, Nikolai. I have no idea why you are doing all this. It doesn't even make any sense," I snapped at him.
I saw Marco's Maybach and immediately walked to it. I settled in the back and Marco gave me a smile. We drove to college, making occasional small talk. He wasn't a big talker but at least he had warmed up to me enough to make a conversation with me.
"You have the weirdest taste in music," I said to him as some heavy metal song played through the speakers.
"This is the real music, the shit you listen to is trash," he replied, in his monotone voice.
"Taylor Swift is not trash!"
"Her songs make my ears bleed."
"You make my ears bleed."
"You make my eyes bleed."
"Jackass."
"Pea-brained!"
"Marco,"
"What?"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
We bickered all the way to the Columbia university building. When I got out of the car, I saw a hint of a smile on Marco's face. He slipped me the bird and I did the same, catching him off guard. Shaking my head, I went straight to the classroom. I spotted Layla at the back and went to sit beside her.
The professor entered the class and all the chatter died down. She set up the projector and sometime in the middle of the lecture I truly lost my attention.
My hand went to my neck as I remembered the way Nikolai held me down last night. The animalistic look on his face, the way his eyes turned darker, almost feral in the dimly lit room.
For a second, I thought that he wouldn't let me go, I felt like he hated me like he truly wanted o murder me, and then as he reached his high, his grip loosened, and blood rushed back to my head as the air in my lungs returned. I was terrified of him but still found in myself to not doubt him.
I was willing to set my ego aside for the sake of my marriage but he isn't willing to do the same for me.
The rest of the day went on with Layla and I attending our classes together. I would have gone completely crazy if she wasn't here. She was funny and made me laugh, I needed that.
I told her that I was married and her brain went through the roof. She didn't believe me at first but then she accepted it after I convinced her hard that I was. I would have shown her a picture of us but then I realized, Nikolai and I had no pictures together.
When the day was over, Layla walked me to Marco's Maybach but I stilled when instead of Marco I saw Nikolai leaning against the car door.
Layla whistled lowly, "That's the driver?"
I inhaled a deep breath, "Nope, that's my husband"
"Oh, are you going to introduce me?"
I nodded, "Sure..."
We went over to him, and he looked up from his cell phone and stared directly at me.
I smiled at Layla, "Nikolai, this is Layla, my friend, and Layla this is Nikolai, my..." I stopped, looking at him.
Our marriage was over so I have no idea what he was to me.
"Her husband," Nikolai answered for me.
"Hello, I didn't know that Evangeline was married."
God, she's such a liar.
Nikolai put on a fake faint smile, "Of course, you didn't," and then his glare directed at me.
I turned to Layla, "I'll see you tomorrow."
She nodded and hugged me before she went the other way.
The second Layla was out of our sight, I heard his cold voice behind me, "I came here to meet the dean of this university, he owes me. Marco had an errand to run so, I thought I'd pick you up instead." Not knowing how answer that, I just nodded, "Okay..."
"I asked them for Evangeline Costello and they told me there is no Mrs. Costello who studies here."
I parted my lips, still not knowing what to say, "I-um..."
"Then I asked for Evangeline Bolton and guess what happened..." his tone was overly sarcastic like I committed a crime by going to college with my father's last name.
"It is my name..." I said as a matter of factly.
"The last I remember, you were enrolled in the college as Evangeline Costello. Why did you change it?"
I let out a frustrated breath, "Because..."
"Because what, Evangeline?"
"Because I don't want to use your last name publically. People treat me differently when they hear your name attached to mine. They fear me. I don't want anyone to fear me, it must work for you but I don't want to be described by my husband's last name. I don't want people to see me as just your wife. And after last night, I don't even know if I'm still your wife or not!"
"Fucking change your last name because if you don't, I'll change it for you..." he threatened.
I frowned, "Why?"
"Because Evangeline Bolton fucking disgusts me!" he snapped, taking a threatening step in my direction.
My lips parted with the shock of his words, I felt like something was drowning in my chest.
He squeezed his eyes shut and gave his head a subtle shake, "I meant the name, the name Bolton disgusts me."
I tried my hardest to not let my emotions overpower me. We were standing in the middle of the university parking lot. I didn't want to cause a scene.
"I'm not changing my last name, Nikolai. I am a Bolton and I will always be Evangeline Bolton. I don't care what you think of my parents."
"Evangeline..." there was a warning in his voice.
I looked him straight in the eyes, "What happened between you and my dad and why are you taking it out on me?"
He let out a sarcastic laugh and nodded his head, "Get in the fucking car."
"I need answers..."
"Get in the fucking car before I make you."
I walked around him and I opened the car door, settling into the backseat. He sat in the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt. He dialed a number and put the phone on speaker as he drove the car out of the university.
"D'Angelo?" Nikolai called.
D'Angelo was the dean of our university. I didn't know that he worked for Nikolai.
"I wanted to change my wife's last name. I want it to be permanently changed to Evangeline Costello."
I could still hear the dean's voice coming from the other side when Nikolai hung up. I glared at him from the back, I gritted my teeth as aggravation gnawed at my skin.
"You don't want anything to do with me and then you go on and control my life, control me. What do you want from me, Nikolai?!" I raised my voice, my neck muscles strained.
"I want nothing from you, Evangeline. Don't flatter yourself."
The way he said it right after the stunt he pulled made me want to pull all of my hair out or his, "Then let me go!"
The car came to an abrupt halt, making my upper body swing forward and then slam back into the seat again. "What the fuck did you just say?"
"Let me go! If you don't want anything from me. Give me a divorce and let me go. Let me live my life because I'm sick and I'm tired of men trying to control me and my mind. I give up, I give up on this marriage, I give up on everything. I'm not strong enough to endure any more of this torture. Let me go!" I slammed both of my hands on either side of me on the seat, Nikolai's glare didn't waver, not even for a second.
"The only way out of this... is death, Evangeline. Do you understand me? Your father tried to leave, didn't he?" he laughed in a weird malicious, devilish manner, "And he landed six feet under the ground. This is what happens when someone tries to leave my world, you should know that. You experienced all of it firsthand."
Tears ran down my cheeks as I looked at him, how low of him to bring up my parents' murder, "What had gotten into you, Nikolai? What's wrong, tell me, please... Talk to me, please, just talk to me!"
The cold mask broke a little as his eyes followed my tears. He clenched his jaw and diverted his attention elsewhere.
"Just know, as long as you're with me, you're safe, Evangeline..." he said, staring blankly at the empty road ahead.
I smiled, wiping my tears, "This is exactly what my dad used to say every night when they locked me up in that room. He also made me believe that it was for my own good. I thought you were different, I thought we were different."
"Maybe, he was right," he deadpanned.
I sniffled, "I want you back. I want Nikolai back," I pointed at him. "This... this is Niko, Don Niko, this is the monster. I don't want him... I want Nikolai, please."
"And I want Evangeline back, can you bring her back?" he asked me with a deep frown as he glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
"I'm right here..." my voice just above a whisper.
"No, you are Evangeline Bolton. I don't want her because every time I look at her, all I see is her father-the traitor."
I slid forward in my seat, so I could touch him. I grabbed his arm from behind and rested my chin on his shoulder, trying one last time to win him over, "I will change my name, the dean doesn't have to do that. I will go to the office and have them change it myself. Will you be alright after that?"
He let out a breath and hung his head, "Fuck..." he mumbled under his breath.
"I'm sorry for whatever I did!"
He raised his hand and wiped my tears, "Stop apologizing. It's not your fucking apology to hand out."
"Then why are you acting like this?"
"Maybe, it's not about you, maybe it's about me, ever thought about that?"
"Stop talking in puzzles and tell me what's wrong..."
The buzzing of his phone made him instantly pull away from me. He grabbed it and Scott's name flashed across the scene.
"What is it?" Nikolai asked.
"It's all true, Niko," his voice was loud enough that I could hear it, "Everything he said was true. He didn't lie about anything. I checked everything in that room myself. There's more stuff, he left out some details. Niko, he fucked us over. He fucking handed us to the FBI. That's how all the drug busts happened. The raid at our casino in Las Vegas was him too. They invited her to their home for dinner, his bitch of a wife wore a ring with a needle on it, that's how they injected her. She hugged her and stabbed the fucking needle in her back."
Nikolai ran his teeth over his lower lip, clutching the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Where are you?"
"At the warehouse"
"Give me an hour" was all Nikolai said, before he hung up.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, what was Scott talking about, who injected who? The FBI? What?
Is that why he was so tense? Because of the FBI?
He started to drive again. He didn't look at me, instead, he looked more pissed off than before. He drove the car as fast as he could.
"Nikolai, is everything alright? What's wrong?" I asked once more.
He gave his head a shake, "Just perfect..."