Page 126 of Beautiful Deception

Or someone killed him for the money.

He tends to hang around shady people. Granted, I’m not one to judge. I married a mob boss from the Russian Mafia.

A knock on the door makes me jerk up.

“Inessa?” a soft female voice comes through the door. “It’s Julia. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Julia! I need help!”

“What? I can’t make out what you said.” She tries rattling the doorknob. “It’s locked. Can you open the door?”

“I need help! Help!”

She goes quiet. Did she leave me? Does she think I’m just as evil as Viktor does?

And then I hear the lock unclick and the door swings open. The front clerk is standing next to Julia with a spare key.

“Inessa,” she gasps, running to my side. “Who did this to you?”

“My dad.”

She starts untying my wrists. “Your dad did this to you? That’s horrible. Why?”

“Because he stole my money.” I rub my wrists the moment they’re free. “He’s going to gamble it away. He’s probably already done it.”

“He stole from you? That’s terrible.”

“Do you need my help?” the clerk asks, sounding super lazy.

“We got this,” Julia says firmly. He grunts and walks away. “What happened with Viktor? I need to know.”

“I lied to him.”

“I know all of that. You didn’t tell him who you really are. But I don’t care about that. It sounds like you needed the money and you were afraid of my brother.”

“I was,” I admit. “I was so scared he’d kill me or my dad if he knew my real name. I never planned on falling in love with him. But I did.”

“You really love my brother?”

“I do, Julia. I do.” Tears seep down my face some more. “I married him for love. For safety. For comfort. I do love him. I never meant to hurt him. You have to believe that. It’s just… the longer I went without telling him who I really am, the harder it was to tell him. I got to be a new person with him. I got to be happy with him. I lied, yes, but it was never malicious. It was out of safety.”

Julia’s own eyes well up with tears. “I believe you. I can tell you mean it. When I first met you, I could just sense you’re a good person. We have to convince Viktor of this. I know my brother. He’s stubborn but… I know he loves you, Inessa. I felt it at the wedding and I still felt it when I spoke to him earlier. I know he loves you.”

“But he’ll never forgive me. He’ll never believe me.”

“Is there some way we can convince him?”

“How?” I shrug. “There’s no way. The only person who can vouch for me that I needed the money was my own father and he tried to kill Viktor.”

“There’s no one else?”

I pause, then… “Elena. My friend Elena Romanov. Elena Murphy now. She’s always known about my father’s money problems. She could vouch that I was telling the truth. That I just needed a job. That I never took the job with any intent on hurting Viktor.”

“Ok. So let’s go to her.”

“But it’s Elena. Viktor’s previous fiancée. He might not take kindly to her given that she left him at the alter to be with Aiden.”

Julia’s perfect features turn into a frown. Even then she still looks beautiful. “Good point. But it’s worth a shot. And then we can get your money back. Even if it’s all gone, I can pay you.”

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