37

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

GABRIELLE

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His eyes were like sharp daggers stabbing straight at us. My body shuddered involuntarily, I was more afraid of the murderous look in his eyes than the fact that there was a gun pressed against my throat.

"Let her go. And get off the van." He ordered calmly.

I could see Fred and several other of his men behind him and dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. Whichever way this was going, I knew it wouldn't end well for me. It was either I got killed by Anya, or Lucian would do it himself. The dark glint in his eyes as he stared at us surely told me that dying by his hands would be a million times painful.

"I'm not that stupid," Anya spoke, shoving the gun further into my skin, her finger tightened even more as she met Lucian's frosty stare.

"Open the gates! And order them to leave, or I'm going to kill her!"

My eyes unblinkingly stared into Lucian's piercing ones. They portrayed only one emotion. Unfathomable rage. He looked like a dangerous animal about to snap out of its cage. I didn't dare to assume that his reaction was because he cared about my life, it probably had to do with his authority being challenged.

"Do it! Now! Or these bullets will go into her brains!" Anya snarled more aggressively, the gun on my neck shook as though she was nervous, but I didn't doubt the intention in her eyes.

She would really kill me if the need be. Who exactly was she? I couldn't believe I was such a fool to have trusted her so easily.

"Let her go." Lucian ordered coldly.

"But boss..." Fred started to speak when Lucian cuts in.

"I said to fucking let them go!" His every word was dripped in venom, I met his terrifying pair of grey eyes. He looked so enraged, I wondered how the environment, didn't shake from it.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from his and was barely conscious of the fact that the van had started moving. The distance between us grew further and further apart until we passed through the gates and out of the mansion.

"Faster! Faster! To the airport. They are going to come after us!" Anya yelled at the driver and nudged me forward with the edge of her gun.

She produced a rope to tie both my hands behind me and I realized that she must have prepared for this for a very long time.

"You are with your cellphone, why don't you do me a favor by giving a call to your husband?" She smiled tightly at my glare.

"What do you want!"

" Without you how could Lucian have allowed us out of the mansion so easily? We want the same thing, we both want to free Derek." She replied easily but never eased the pressure on her gun which was now resting on my sides as she continued to tighten the rope. I was confused. If she wanted us to save Derek, then why was she doing this to me?

"I also don't want to do this, but without you Lucian will kill us before we can even get to the airport, talk about achieving our aim, we won't even get to keep our lives... You can call this....securing our lifeline." She finished tying the ropes, her eyes were filled with mockery.

"Who exactly are you? Who do you work for? What do you mean by this? Are you planning to kill me?"

My questions were met by her remorseless look.

"You have so many questions, I think we can take them one after the other." She paused to stare at me for long moments as though she was contemplating on whether or not to tell me, she suddenly shrugged with an expression that showed that she had nothing to lose.

"My real name is Kayla. Kayla Konstantin."

I didn't realize the way my breath stilled. The surname blared in my head like a bell. The file about Derek had borne the same name as his last name.

Konstantin.

I stared at Anya....or rather Kayla continuously... I didn't dare to believe where my thoughts were going, it would only make things further mixed up.

"You seem as though you know something? " She stated, staring at me unblinkingly.

I decided that there was no point in running away from the truth. Since it was in front of me, the best thing would be to find out everything that I could.

"Derek's last name is Konstantine, he also had a sister that died in a fire."

Her eyes were wide as though she was shocked, from her expression, my best guess was that perhaps the information in the file was wrong, maybe Derek's sister hadn't died in that fire, And Anya...

"How did you know that? Did he tell you? " the shock in her eyes was gone and was quickly replaced by an indecipherable look.

"You are his sister, is it not? You didn't die in the fire as it was supposed, this is why you want to save him. Am I right?" I spoke, a little confident, if she was Derek's sister, maybe she wouldn't want to kill me.

"You have a most ridiculous imagination, don't you? His sister died, but it was a very long time ago. I'm merely surprised because despite our relationship, he never for once told me about her." I could read the emotion in her eyes now, and it wasn't good.

It was anger...hate?...Jealousy? A combination of the three clouded her eyes.

Things weren't looking good by the way her mouth lifted in a sneer and the way her fingers tighten around the trigger as though she would pull it.

"I...if you are not his sister, t..then who are y...you to him? you told me you are his long-time friend."

"I'm not his friend!" She snapped, seeming to be even more agitated than before.

"Then who are you!"

Her eyes held mine and my heart hammered in anticipation, I couldn't explain the sudden fear that clammed up inside my stomach even before she uttered those words that stilled my entire world.

"I'm his wife!"

My heart slammed hard against my chest, I stared at her speechlessly for the next ten seconds. I told myself that I heard wrong, but she repeated it.

"I'm Derek's wife! I am Mrs. Derek Konstantin!" She yelled louder, grabbing my shoulders painfully tight.

No!

My blood roared furiously in my head in refusal. There was no way in hell that her words could be true!

"You are lying! I don't believe any of your words! You are lying to me!" I spoke, trying to sound confident but my voice wavered in the end. Derek would not do this to me, we made so many plans for our future, we had so many dreams, so how could he be married?

No!

"I don't care if you believe it or not, we've been married secretly for almost six years now!" She raised her left hand to my face, showing me the silver band around her finger. It had always been there, but I had never given two thoughts about it.

A chill swept through me, I suddenly felt as though all the blood in my veins were frozen. This wasn't happening. Derek loved me, he tried to elope with me and was in this present state only because of me. I tried desperately to cling onto this last bit of hope, but it was soon ripped away from me. In the cruelest of ways.

"It's a pity that you're quite loyal to him, you're quite the naive one, aren't you? You probably think that he once tried to run away with you because he loves you, you hold yourself guilty for everything, and would risk everything to save him even if it means going against your husband. If you knew that he never worked for your father and would have delivered you straight to Vladimir Petrov, would you have remained so devoted to him?"

Derek was only a spy who worked for father's rivals? That day I thought he was running away with me to freedom, he was going to give me to Vladimir instead?

Was that the only reason he had gotten close to me in the first place?

My eyes burned painfully and I realized it was tears, the uncomfortable pain in my chest grew more intense, my heart was crumbling into a million pieces.

I bit hard against my bottom lip to try to prevent the tears but it kept forthcoming, I stared at Anya through blurred vision.

She had on a satisfied look as though she had been waiting for a long time to voice this to me.

"I answered your question, as for whether I'll kill you or not, it very much depends on you!"

Her eyes caught and held on my cellphone which had fallen somewhere on the van floor.

"Call him, tell him that if he wants you back, then he has to bring Derek." She stated coldly and paused.

"If that doesn't work, there might still be something of value."

She produced her phone to show me some photos.

I recognized it instantly. It was the same I had taken from Lucian's office.

"I supposed you are too dumb to realize what this is or how important it is, these are his schemes for his next project, you don't know it's worth I've already sent a clean copy to Vladimir." She paused.

"I suppose we might not need this, after all, Call him and tell him to meet us at the airport with Derek."

I didn't think I had ever known what pain and heartbreak felt like until today. I waited. I hoped. And prayed, Only for everything to be completely snatched away from me without any hope of regaining it again. All those times with Lucian, I had only ever thought of Derek, I had only ever worried about how to save him, I had convinced myself that it didn't matter if he didn't want me, that it was enough for me to know that he was free. But it turned out that the love I thought we shared was all a joke from the beginning.

He was married for god's sake!

We were long-time friends before we became lovers, didn't he feel the slightest guilt for deceiving me all these years. And Anya, she was right. I was stupid. I shouldn't have trusted her so easily.

I grew hopelessly numb inside.

There was no doubt in my mind that Lucian would kill me if he ever got a hold of me.

"I won't call Lucian!" I was surprised by the firmness of my voice as I met Anya's stare, at this moment, I didn't care if she wanted to pull the trigger or not. Lucian would do the same if I was exchanged to him for Derek.

"Maybe you won't, there are still better and more effective ways to convince him, and I'm afraid it's gonna hurt a lot."

Next, I felt was the collision of something hard against the side of my head.

I shouted at the pain.

She had used the gun! And was currently filming with her cellphone.

She struck hard again.

I saw black dots, the pain was blinding but not nearly enough to make me pass out. I could feel something warm trickling down my forehead and guessed it to be blood.

"Call him now!"

"No!"

The vibration of her cellphone paused our animosity.

One look at her face, I already knew who it was before she clicked on the answer button.

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