Chapter 4 - SECRETS IN THE SAFEThe car ride back to the estate was wrapped in a suffocating, suffocating silence.
The moment the armored Maybach pulled into the private garage, Victoria turned to Alexei, her eyes blazing with fury and fear. "What did he mean? What is hidden in my father's safe?"
Alexei didn't answer immediately. He stared straight ahead through the windshield, his jaw clenched so tight muscles ticked in his cheek. He climbed out of the car, slammed the door, and strode toward the private elevator without looking back.
"Alexei Volkov, answer me!" Victoria shouted, running after him across the cobblestone floor. She grabbed his arm, spinning him around. "Who was my father? Why did Dmitri mention him? If this is another one of your games—"
Alexei caught her wrists. His grip wasn't cruel, but it was inescapable. He pulled her flush against his chest, looking down into her defiant eyes with a storm of complex emotions raging in his winter-blue gaze.
"Your father wasn't a humble carpenter who died in a car crash, Victoria," Alexei said, his voice rough. "Arthur Chen was the chief financial officer for the Bratva's American operations. When he tried to walk away with twenty million dollars in bearer bonds, your parents' car didn't crash by accident. It was sabotaged."
The world tilted on its axis.
Victoria stumbled back, shaking her head violently. "You're lying. My parents... my dad worked at a hardware store! We lived in a cramped apartment! We had nothing!"
"Because he hid the bonds before they killed him," Alexei said, stepping forward as she retreated. "And for twenty years, every rival syndicate in New York has been searching for them. Including Carol. Including Dmitri. And the moment they realized the key to opening Arthur Chen’s safe wasn't a digital code, but a physical fingerprint belonging to his only surviving daughter... your entire life became a target."
Victoria’s legs gave out. She slid down the marble pillar into a heap on the floor, the emerald dress pooling around her like shattered glass.
Everything was a lie. Her aunt wasn't just a gambling addict; she was a desperate scavenger trying to dig up her dead brother-in-law's stolen fortune. And Victoria hadn't been kidnapped by a random mafia boss—she had been snatched off the street because her very existence was the skeleton key to a twenty-million-dollar war.
"You didn't just buy my aunt's debts," Victoria whispered, tears finally breaking free, hot and bitter down her cheeks. "You kidnapped me to protect the bonds... or to steal them yourself."
Alexei knelt down in front of her. For the first time since she met him, the armor of the Bratva boss cracked entirely. He reached out, his thumb gently wiping a tear from her cheek.
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"I bought your debts, Victoria, because my father gave his life to protect yours," Alexei said softly. "Arthur Chen was my godfather. And I swore an oath over his grave that as long as I breathe, no one will ever touch his daughter."
Victoria stared at him, her chest heaving, trapped between the terrifying truth of her past and the dangerous warmth of the man holding her hand.
