Page 167 of Fortress of the Heart

I’m so relieved that my uncle listened to me about Vlad and what he did. He’s not a good man. Knowing I don’t have to marry that asshole is one massive weight off my shoulders.

Having evidence was crucial, not that he wouldn’t have believed me, but the fact I could show him what he is really like behind closed doors spoke a thousand words.

Needless to say, he will now want Vlad’s heart on a platter, and I’m sure this mystery phone call was something to do with him. Not that he would tell me, but I can read between the lines. I’ve gotten pretty good at that over the years.

I scroll through the TV channels while lying on my bed in my room.

I can’t stop thinking about Marco and how he came for me. I had no idea he had been at the gates all morning trying to get in. My heart soared when I heard it, and it hasn’t stopped soaring since.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about seeing him again, but maybe when things lull a little and time passes, who knows? Maybe my uncle will eventually see the kind of man Marco really is, and the fact he saved me from a horrible fate is indeed worth something.

My uncle hasn’t had a permanent lady in his life for a long time. Women have come and gone over the years, and he never seems to keep any of them for long. I often wonder if he’s lonely sometimes. He leads a hectic life, but it’s got to get a little old, having no one to share it with.

I know there are plenty of women out there who are equally thrilled, and afraid, of his status being who he is, and they don’t know what to expect. Sometimes it can be too much.

He was married a long time ago, long before I ever came along, but he never speaks about that time.

I’ve tried asking him over the years when I was younger, but he always replied with the same thing. “Nothing good ever comes of looking to the past, Katiya. All we have is this moment.”

He’s probably right.

I’m sure it’s difficult to make anything stick in the mafia. There will always be some enemy or some disgruntled associate wanting to take a swing at you or your loved ones.

Maybe that’s why nothing stuck for him. Maybe he just didn’t want to take the risk.

I know from what I found looking up some information on the Medicis that Angelo’s wife died years ago in a horrific car accident with his unborn child. I can only imagine the grief that he went through, and it reminds me all too close to home, that bad things can happen at any time.

It’s a scary prospect, thinking that something terrible could happen to any one of us, but in some respects, that is the way of life.

I sigh, bored with the TV, but I watch a movie anyway. After that, I decide I should really text Ana and Monique to come over and keep me company. I don’t see what else I’m supposed to do while I’m holed up in here for the rest of my life.

I know I can’t divulge much to Monique about this predicament with Marco, or rather how we met, but I need to explain my absence a little bit more from the party the other night and what I was up to.

It’s then that I hear a rustle outside the door and voices.

“Dimki?” I call out. “Is that you?”

I hear a knock moments later, and I roll off the bed to go and answer it, wondering why Dimitri isn’t answering me.

I grab the handle and pull the door back, and I’m surprised to see my uncle standing there.

He looks different somehow…. almost solemn.

“Are you all right? Where have you been?” I ask him.Please don’t say to maim Marco.

“I need to talk with you, Katiya.”

“Okay.” I shrug my shoulders, wondering why he’s gone all weird.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to say for a very long time. Something you need to hear.”

I’m confused, to say the least, because I’ve never seen him like this before. He almost looks … unglued. “Do you want to come in?”

He nods over his shoulder to Dimitri, still on guard outside like a dutiful soldier.

“Leave us,” he says in Russian, then walks into my room, running his hand through his graying hair, and closes the door. He turns to look at me. “Some things went down this afternoon, Katiya…”

I stare at him. “With Marco? …. Uncle, please don’t tell me…”

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