Page 23 of Sworn to My Heart
“Hey there, I heard you were talking about me,” I say with fake flirtation, drawing their attention to me. They recognize me immediately, smiling triumphantly and moving toward me.
I take a few steps back, and in a second, they step into the maintenance room, closing the door behind them.
“Seems like you’re really looking for someone to screw you well, if you were stupid enough to give yourself away,” the first man says as if he knows I was eavesdropping. Good, the plan is working.
“No, but it seems you won’t get that chance either,” I reply with a smirk, raising my hand toward their ribs and clenching my fingers tightly as if crushing something.
In an instant, they fall to their knees, gasping and struggling for breath. I tighten my grip even more until both collapse to the floor, unconscious. I breathe a sigh of relief and give myself a mental pat on the back. It’s been a while since I used my powers.
I approach the door, pushing one of their bodies with my foot to get out, and his wallet falls from his pocket. I bend down carefully, open the wallet, and see the name on the ID, “VladimirIvanov.” I take a picture of his ID with my phone and run out, searching for Luca. He owes me some explanations.
I continue along a long corridor, calling Cora’s name while trying to dial her number, when I spot her dress in the distance. I shout louder in her direction; she sees me and runs over.
“Are you crazy? Where did you disappear to? Do you know how worried we were?” Cora scolds me, and all I hear from her questions is the part where she said “we were worried”— as in plural. Luca too. I grin and immediately shake off my thoughts. This is not the time, and definitely not the person I should be smiling for.
“Cora, where’s Luca? I need to talk to him,” I ask, ignoring her barrage of questions.
“Alin, you can’t just—” I stop her mid-sentence and ask again, “Cora, please, I need Luca. Urgently. As in now.”
I grab her hand insistently. It seems to work. She calls him, and within minutes, he arrives running, his face stern.
“Where did you go?” he asks in a low, almost threatening voice. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is you owe me some explanations!” I stand my ground, and now my blood starts to boil. His shit is now causing dangerous people to look for me.
Luca’s stony expression changes; he looks annoyed by my reaction.
“I don’t owe you anything,” he replies in a harsh tone.
“Luca, this is not the time for a head-to-head,” I say, pointing to my “new dress,” which almost exposes my private parts to the people around us.
When his eyes land on my torn outfit, it seems Luca’s red line has been crossed. “What the hell happened to your clothes?” he asks, and I swear, if steam could come out of his ears, it would right now.
“Ask your friends,” I snap at him, emphasizing the word “friends” with the appropriate sarcasm.
“What are you talking about, Alin?” he approaches me, tense.
“I ran to the bathroom, made a mistake, and ended up in a maintenance closet,” I start to lie. Well done, Alin, you’ve become the queen of lies with all your secrets; it’s already coming so naturally to you.
“Two thugs came in, called me Luca’s new bitch, and said it was their time for revenge. This was the result,” I say, pointing at my clothes. The lie swells, but I have no other choice. It’s not far from the truth, anyway.
Luca immediately grabs my hand in a tight grip. “What did they do to you?” he asks through gritted teeth, and any slight sign of humanity I ever saw in his eyes vanishes.
“They said they wanted to fuck me and tried to grab me. They wanted to get back at you through me. Luckily, one of them got a phone call, and they ran out quickly. Now, will you explain to me what’s going on here? Why did they say you took out five of their men?” I ask. He ignores my question and starts making calls. Not a minute passes, and Mariano and Graham show up.
“Could someone explain to me what’s going on here?” I ask, still not getting any answers. I turn to Cora and see the color draining from her face. Something smells fishy here, and I’m going to find out what it is. What does everyone know that I don’t?
“Find out who they were, I want names,” Luca roars into the phone.
“Luca, you need to—” I try to add, but he cuts me off with a terse, “Alin, not now!”
I try again, louder this time, “Luca!!!!”
Both Luca and Mariano turn to me.
“I am standing here without any underwear on, two men tried to attack me, and I’d really appreciate some answers from you. You will not silence me!” I burst out shouting, taking a deep breath, and continuing in a calmer tone, “But you also don’t need to search for who they were; I have their details.”
“What? How?” Luca is surprised and takes my phone as I open the picture I took. “This was his ID, he dropped his wallet when he ran out of the room,” and my snowball of lies continues to roll.
“Son of a bitch,” Luca curses to the air and turns to Mariano, “Vladimir.”
