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I couldn't stop thinking of what I witnessed last night, the betrayal of those closest to Xavier Moretti. "What was the motive Dominic had towards Xavier, what would he have done to Dominic that would make him want him dead", I whisper to myself.
Xavier had done things in the past that made him the enemy's target, he's hurt people, people like me, everything he did to my family.
The ping of a phone call immediately drifts me off from my thoughts, I stretch my hands towards the table to grab my phone.
"Who could be calling me right now, was it Xavier, did he want to apologize for what he said to me?"
The moment I see the number calling, my breath catches in my throat. It's… it's an unknown number, who could be calling me?
"Elena, you knew you were getting into danger the moment you stepped into Xavier's world", I tell myself,trying to give myself courage to take that call.
"It's Victor, Elena. I'm…. I'm Alive.
I didn't realize my hands were shaking until I almost dropped my phone. The weight of it is unbearable, heavier than any other truth I've faced before.
For so many years, I believed my brother was dead—that he was another casualty in a war of power and betrayal. But now, he's..breathing, existing in the shadows.
"We need to see Elena, I'm going to give you a location, meet me there." He spoke, immediately drifting me off from the unspoken shock I was in by hearing his voice.
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I barely even remember getting into my car, barely noticing the city lights flashing past me as I drive. My heart was pounding,sounds of war drums against my ribs, drowning out the voices in my head telling me to stop. To think.
But this was neither the time or the place to think. I wanted answers, answers from Victor about all the lies I had believed all these years.
The address he gave me led to a warehouse on the outskirts of town. It is silent,covered in the dull glow of streetlights. My fibbers tremble as I push open the rusted door, stepping inside.
Atmosphere inside smells of oil and wet metal,a familiar scent of secrets and hidden deals. Shadows reflecting along the walls, but my eyes were locked on only one figure.
Victor.
For a moment, my heart forgets to beat. He looked the same, but something was different about him. The boy I loved was buried under a hardened and cold life I don't recognize.
He turns to me slowly, as if sensing that I was here before I even made a sound. Our eyes meet, the weight of a million unspoken word's crashing between us.
"Elena."
He speaks, his voice rougher,older. No longer the voice of my brother but a ghost.
I take a step forward to look closely at him, "You're alive."
Something changes in his expression—guilt, maybe. But it's immediately gone, replaced by something colder.
"And you're Xavier Moretti's plaything now."
The words cut me deep, I moved back suddenly, refusing to look away from him. "you're misunderstanding the whole situation ."
"Misunderstand?" He lets out a low sinister laugh, shaking his head.
"Tell me, then, Sister. What is it? You're sleeping with the man who ruined our family, who put a bullet in our father's head like he was nobody and you want me to believe it's nothing?"
"Xavier might not have been the one who killed him. Victor's jaw tightens. "Why the hell are you defending him, Elena."
"Why did you save him that night when I wanted to kill him?"
My breath comes fast and uneven. "You…you mean you were the sniper? You were the one working with Lorenzo Santini?
Xavier—"
"Xavier deserves nothing but a painful death" Victor snaps. His hands clenched into fists, the veins in his arms coming out aggressively.
"You just couldn't bear to see your precious Xavier dead. you—" He walks closer to me, locking his dark eyes onto mine, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"You let him touch you. You let him own you."
"He does not own me." I shot back, my voice shaking, but I refused to back down."I had my reason for doing everything I did Victor, you would never understand."
"And you don't know what I have done to survive till this moment." Victor screams back at me. The silence stretches between us, thick and filled with nothing but anger.
I can see the war in his eyes—the love we once shared as brother and sister battling the hatred that is trying to take its place.
"I thought you were dead." My voice barely whispers, "I mourned you", I cried for you, you don't know the pain I felt knowing that you were gone just like mom and dad."
His expression shifts for just a second. "I didn't have a choice, Elena."
"And now?" I reply back to him, my breath shaking. "Do you have a choice now?"
He didn't give me any reply, but he didn't need to. The truth was written all over the lines on his face, the way his shoulders were raised like he was carrying the weight of a thousand regrets.
I shake my head, stepping closer to him,"You don't have to do this. We can find another way to take down Xavier, to make him pay for what he did."
Victor exhales sharply, his expression hardening again. "This is the only way, Elena. We need to get rid of him before he finds out that any of us are alive."
I don't know what scares me more—the sound of his tone, or the warning behind his quiet plea.
Before I can say another word, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I look down,my stomach dropping at the name flashing across the screen.
It's Xavier. I hesitated for a moment before answering the phone call.
"Xavier?"
"I need to see you in my office right now. His tone is cold as ice, before he cuts the call on me.
Victor steps closer to me, his lips pressing into a thin line. "You need to decide, Elena."
"Decide what?"I shot back at him, a lump forming in my throat.
He walks even closer, his dark piercing eyes locked onto mine.
"Whose side you're really on."