Page 134 of The Ripper

“Why did you take me away from him?”

I wasn’t as strong as him, so when tears pricked my eyes, I allowed them to fall, just as I allowed my regret to show on my face. It was the only question I wanted an answer to, the only thing I cared about, because nothing hurt more than the empty hole his absence had punched in my chest.

“He’s not the right man for you, Reina.” He shook his head, still averting his eyes. “You have worked so hard to get out of this world, and for what? So that you could enter a more dangerous one with a fucking Russian gangster?”

“That fucking Russian man is the only one who made me feel an ounce of happiness since mom died. That fucking Russian has shown me more love than anyone in this fucked-up life. That man is all I’ve ever wanted and more, and you had no right to take me away from him!” I shouted so loud his eyes widened, then I stood up and walked to the cabinet.

I took a bottle of vodka and poured myself a glass, which I gulped down as if it was water, then poured a second one.

I was drowning in tears, in alcohol and in Grimm’s memory.

“What happens when you’re the one caught in the crossfire?” he slammed his fist on the desk, the thunder in his voice traveling through me like a shiver.

“I’ll die smiling, knowing how much he loves me,” I answered without a shred of doubt.

“If he loves you, where is he? If it weren’t me who took you, but one of his enemies, what would have happened? It’s been seven days, and he is not here. You would have been dead at the bottom of the ocean by now,por Dios[21]!”

“I don’t know where he is,” I answered bitterly. “But I’m sure he’s turning the earth upside down to find me, and when he does, I will pray for all of those who dare keep me away from him, because that ‘fucking Russian gangster’,father, is more ruthless than all the devils you ever confronted.”

I wasn’t even surprised by the certainty in tone, close to breaking the glass in my hand from how hard I was squeezing my fingers around it.

“You would choose him over your family?”

The question took me by surprise, and my breath caught in my throat when I knew the answer. It was so clear, so unquestionable, that it shook me down to my core.

I straightened my back and took a slow sip of vodka, then pulled the robe down one of my shoulders, showing him the Bratva star I still drew every day, because it made me feel closer to him.

“Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and for eternity…”

I would choose him over anyone, anytime. I would spend my life healing criminals if it meant I had him. I would sell my soul to the devil with a clear conscience. I would die for him and embraced the inferno with his name on my lips.

Every day.

Unapologetically.

“Reina, I…”

A loud explosion broke the silence of the night. The ground shook beneath our feet and my father grabbed the edge of the desk to steady himself.

A triumphant smile curved my lips upwards, and gunshots echoed from the courtyard.

“Looks like he found me.”

CHAPTER 27

BETWEEN BLOOD AND LOVE

ARELLA

My father ran to the window, pulling the curtains aside so hard that he almost ripped them off the metal bar they hung on, then he swore in Spanish. I couldn’t see much except the orange lights of flames, and he angrily turned, breathing heavily through his nose and walked towards the door, his steps making the glasses shake on the desk.

“Stay here!” He shouted at me when I walked behind him.

I didn’t move for a while, because just as I waited seven days, I could wait five more minutes, even if impatience burned as bright inside me as the flames outside.

I watched him pull out his gun as he walked out of the office, then probably waited half a minute before running after him, tightening the cord of the robe around me as my bare feet slapped against the cold marble in the corridor.

I stepped into the entryway exactly when my father went out the front door, slamming it shut behind him, and I stopped next to the window.

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