Damned: Chapter 9) Burn

 I walked down the staircase nervously hoping not to tumble over the fabric of the pastel pink coloured gown. Thankfully it wasn’t anything scandalous looking I would have presumed Vitaly chose. I had to admit it was the most beautiful and elegant thing I ever wore and trust me I wore a lot of dresses before.

Vitaly locked his eyes onto mine at the bottom of the staircase and I swore I saw the hint of a subtle smile. Natalia, with her long form-fitting yet classy dress, frowned as he retrieved me. I honestly was a bit surprised Vitaly would even hold his hand out for me. Then again, he was a peculiar man and you had to expect anything from him. From a distance, I saw Blondie walking towards us from another room with a serious expression.

“What’s wrong, Sevastian?” Vitaly asked taking note of him.

“Something came up, go with the others to the function. I’ll take care of the issue here,” he replied.

“Call me if you need anything,” was all Vitaly stated in response.

 I awkwardly tried to even my breath as we walked out of the house and sat in the car. I thought Natalia would have come with us but she didn’t. Instead, she went her own way.

“Is Nik and Mikhail at the function already?” I asked taking in their absence.

Vitaly’s hand seemed to tighten around the wheel for a brief moment and he replied in a short icy breath, “Yes.”

“Oh.” I smiled.

It was beginning to become a little too tense inside the car as my dear driver dwelled in a hellish silence. What was he so concerned about?

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a gentle voice cautious he might snap at me.

His knitted eyebrows and hardened expression seemed to relax at my voice and he silently sighed with a soft smile.

“What makes you think something’s wrong, Angel?”

“You look like very…angry. Are you mad at me?”

He looked at me for a short second and his eyes seemed to caress into my soul.

“No.” he answered with a soft raspy laugh, “I’m not.”

“Oh, okay,” I said trying my best not to throw more questions at him.

After that, he seemed to be a lot less intense. I turned the music up trying to find a good song until I finally stopped at one of my favourite tracks.

“Oh my gosh! I love this song!” I beamed.

He seemed slightly startled at my reactions but ignored it.

“You know Mr. Rostov, you’re really uptight.” I laughed, “Don’t you know how to have any fun?”

He chuckled at that, “My type of fun isn’t your type of fun, Katrina.” 

“And what exactly is your type of fun then?”

Smirking, he ignored the question.

Well, whatever. Leave me to wonder.

It wasn’t long until we arrived at a massive hotel. Offering me his hand, I took it gratefully and we entered. Natalia, not too long after, arrived.

“So?” I asked arching an eyebrow at him.

“Stay here,” he stated and walked away, leaving me at a table.

Well, I wasn’t going to stay here and sulk so I decided to stay here and eat. Who was he to tell me what to do anyway? As I was about to take a drink of water someone suddenly placed their hand on my shoulder. Snapping my head to the person, I noted Nikolai who took a seat next to me.

“You scared me.” I laughed.

“Did I?” he teased.

“Yes.”

“You seem a bit down, Miss Donovan. I find it highly inappropriate to leave a pretty girl such as yourself at a table alone.”

“I don’t need a man, if that’s where you’re going at, Nik. I have food. I’ll live.”

He laughed, “You’re cute. You remind me of a sister I never had.”

Friendzoned.

Well, thank god he wasn’t hitting on me.

“Dance with me, Katherine.” He held his hand out for me.

“What?” I laughed.

“Can’t you dance? Don’t tell me you’re shy.” He teased, “Or maybe you’re afraid I’m better at it.”

“Is that a challenge?” I asked raising my eyebrows, “Listen here pretty-boy, I schooled you in croquet and I hardly played that but dancing is something my father forced me to do until I became perfect at it so don’t underestimate me.”

 “We’ll see then.” He smiled and I took up the challenge.

I had to admit, Nik was pretty formal and skilled at it.

“Round two- I win.” He winked as he spun me around and into his arms.

I laughed at the childishness and unspun myself out of his arms accidentally bumping into another person who held me from tumbling.

“What the hell were you doing?” Vitaly frowned locking me in his arms.

“I was dancing with, Nik.” I smiled.

“I can see that.”

“Vit, give her a break. It’s my fault, I encouraged her to dance.” Nikolai intervened.

 “Yeah Vit, give sweet little me a break.” I batted my eyelashes ever so sweetly at him.

Nikolai’s phone suddenly rang and he left to take the call. Vitaly’s hold on me seemed to suddenly tighten.

“Vitaly!” I gasped softly.

“I told you to stay put.”

“I’m not a dog.” I snapped back, “And it was just Nikolai so I don’t know what’s your problem, Rostov.”
He seemed to release me a bit and calmed down, “There are dangerous people in this place, Miss Donovan. I asked you to stay put so I can see that you’re alright.”

“Oh don’t act like you care, Vitaly.”

His frown seemed to deepen even more when I said that. Did that offend him?

“I don’t.” his voice was icy and brutal.

“Well, I don’t give a damn if you do or don’t!” I shot back. For some reason, his response felt stabbing. Did I give a damn? I wouldn’t feel like this if I didn’t, right? Right now, I felt frustrated and confused.

I shrugged out of his arms and went back at the table frowning. Why did he have to be such a bastard? I was too fuelled to even think straight at the moment so I ate. Food solves everything. I was so mad that I almost bit my finger off. As I stuffed a piece of a muffin into my mouth I almost choked as I saw an unbelievable image.

The person who walked past the exit of the hall had looked a lot like my brother. Standing to my feet I panicked, Vitaly was nowhere to be seen at the moment and my brother was in this building! I saw him after so many years! No, I wasn’t losing him. Not again. Rushing out of the room, I entered an empty hallway and ran searching for him. It couldn’t be my imagination. I knew he was here! I turned another corner where I suddenly saw him in a closing elevator pointing up to another man.

“Anthony!” I yelled but it was too late as the elevator shut.

No. No- no- no- no- no!

My heart was becoming so tight I thought I would actually drop dead right now. Rushing to the staircase, I ran up as fast as I can but again it was too late when I arrived as I saw the aged man in the elevator with him just step out. I steadied my breaths and noted another elevator at the side and quickly went inside it and pushed the button. Thank God as there was only one more floor up or else I wouldn’t even find Anthony.

The elevator stopped and opened only for me to take note of the back of my brother giving another man an envelope from afar. Walking out, I stopped nearly tripping only to discover that my dress had been stuck between the doors of the elevator. I tried to open it but it wasn’t responding.

“A-anthony!” I called but he couldn’t hear me through the glass walls that separated the part of the hotel which he was on that was under construction. Just like that, he began walking away.

Grabbing the end of my dress, I pulled it vigorously, ripping it, and tumbled to the ground. I staggered out of the room but he was gone. And so was the other man who was there.  I couldn’t walk anymore. My feet were killing me. I couldn’t even breathe as I felt like I lost my breath. Holding myself up on the wall, I tried to calm myself when suddenly I felt a hand snake around my waist.

Panic shot throw me as I faced a middle-aged man with a rough bruised face and another man who stood at the side.

“My my, what a lovely thing.” The man who held me chuckled and spoke with a thick accent.

What struck me was that it wasn’t Russian. It was…Italian?

“Stop it! Let go of me!” I tried fighting my way out of his hold.

“And you’re all alone. What a pity.” He grinned and he suddenly ripped the shoulder of my dress off.

“Anthony!” I cried in the hopes that my brother might still be close.

No one.

The man laughed as he choked me pinning me to the wall and grazing his hand roughly underneath my dress.

“Please don’t,” I begged as I felt him tugging at the fabric.

“Hmm Pedro, didn’t she arrive here with Rostov?” He asked the man at his side.

“I believe she did.” The man replied.

“Good, then I’ll make sure she gets the message to him good.” He laughed.

“Or,” a velvet voice spoke up, “You could give it to me yourself.”

Vitaly stood with his clenched jawline and his knuckles burning around the hold of a gun which was aimed towards them.

“No need to get a lady involved in this sort of matter. Let’s settle this like men.” He iced.

At that exact moment, Pedro ran up to him but only made it two feet until he was effortlessly shot in the head. My eyes widened at the blood that gushed out of the slumped man on the ground.

“Now if you would kindly get your hands off my lady.” Vitaly sighed almost tired of the crap.

“And what a precious thing she is.” The man growled as he dug his finger into my skin causing me to shriek at the sudden pain.

“This is getting ridiculous. What do you want with her? To knock her up? In front of me? Wouldn’t that be awkward?” Vitaly arched an eyebrow.

“You son-of-a-” the man pulled away and lunged at Vitaly who knocked him in the face and shot him in the chest.

He staggered and suddenly held onto me, pushing me to the ground. I could feel his blood soaking through my clothes and I tried pushing him off but he was too heavy. Vitaly abruptly pulled the man away and pushed me gently sitting up against the wall. There was so much blood on me, on my dress and my arms, and even splattered on my face. I tried rubbing it off but only made it worst. Words weren’t able to come out anymore, only inaudible sobs mixed with uneven breaths. I wasn’t crying, I felt more petrified at what had happened. How that man tried to… I couldn’t even think about it again. I was shaking.

“Katrina relax- try to relax,” Vitaly stated holding my hands tightly in his.   

 “V-vitaly- he- he-”

“He can’t hurt you.”

He stood up and gently pulled me up with him.

“Vit-”

“It’s alright,” he hushed me as I buried my face into his shirt and he wrapped an arm around me, “It’s okay, you’re alright.”

I couldn’t stop shaking.

“Katrina, you need to calm the fk down right now.”

I pulled away to feel my eyes dampening.

“No- no. Listen, baby, I’m sorry.” He stated cupping my face and pushing the damp hair behind my ears, “You need to get cleaned up.”

My feet still ached from all the running, “I- I can’t.”

Taking a deep breath, he suddenly scooped me into his arms, “Let’s hope no one sees us, Angel.” He gave a soft smile and walked towards the elevator. I hadn’t realized but I got his clothes bloody as well.

The elevator opened to a floor on which he entered. Walking up to a certain door, he knocked impatiently. Natalia, not too long, opened looking at us quite shocked.

“What the hell happened?”

“We need new clothes.” He stated as he entered and placed me on the leathered sofa.

Vitaly paced and ran his hands through his thick black hair as Natalia awaited an answer.

“Gianmarco Vincelli.” Vitaly scowled.

“What?”

“We had an encounter with his men.”

“Oh my God.” She replied.

“Get some clothes for us, Nat, I can’t go out like this.”

“Oh, okay,” was all she said and left the room, leaving us behind.

Vitaly looked towards me, almost in a studying manner. I didn’t understand what was going through his mind right now. Stooping to my level, he took the washcloth from the table and gently wiped my face.

“You can’t do anything, can you?” he sighed.

“That’s what I have you for.” I smiled teasingly yet my heart hurt, “You missed a spot.”

“Get rid of that dress and take a shower. Natalia will be back soon. And hurry up, I need to do the same after.”

“You need to get rid of your dress too?” I forced myself to giggled as I normally would yet I still felt somewhat sad.

“Don’t play with me right now, Katherine. I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh,” my smile wavered.

“Can you walk?”

“I-I think so,” I stated as I tried getting up and stretching my legs. They still ached but I could have survived, “It’s okay now.”

“Good, now walk to the bathroom and hurry up.”

With a sigh, I walked into the bathroom and tried to turn the water heater on but it was too high. What the hell was wrong with this shower anyway, why wasn’t it coming on? And this hotel claimed to be a five star.

Five stars of shit.

“I- I can’t,” I struggled trying to reach the switch whilst tiptoeing and accidentally knocking down some of the conditioners.

“Donovan, what are you doing?”

“Robbing a bank.”

“Good for you.” I heard him reply.

“I-can’t-reach the stupid heater!” I groaned.

“Do you need it?” he sounded annoyed.

“Yessss. Vitalyyyy.” I pouted like a child.

He opened the door and stepped into the shower where I was.

“It must suck being short.” He chuckled.

“I’m fun-sized, don’t push it.”

“Fun-sized?” he arched an eyebrow wickedly.

“Yes, I’m-” before I could even continue I accidentally pushed the shower, turning it on- on us.

My eyes widened at the mistake as I watched how the water began to highlight the sculpts of his body through his shirt even more than I could imagine.  The blood ran down our clothing like the Niagara Falls as we stood there.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”

“Forget it.”

“But-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Slowly, he loosened his tie but I grazed my hands over his and pulled the tie out. I felt his hand at the back of my dress teasingly undoing the zip. Bringing my hand back up to his shirt, I undid the buttons pushing the shirt off. Hesitantly, I took a step back and bit my lip.

My breaths were soft and easy yet my heart seemed to be pumping faster than it ever did in my entire life. Slowly, I pushed the dress off my shoulder and it dropped to the ground. Daring myself, I looked at him. His eyes flickered on me as he took a step closer and pushed me against the wall keeping a firm hand at the nape of my neck.

“You always seem to surprise me, Miss Donovan.” He chuckled as he kissed my neck, and his stubble seemed to intensify everything.

Pulling away, I wrapped my hands around his neck as he leaned in caging me in with his hands on either side of me.

“And you seem fond of running away.” He smiled.

“Not this time.” I breathed, anticipating the rare closeness.

He leaned in even closer to me and brought back his hand at the nape of my neck as he stared at my lips.

“Vitaly,” I lowered my eyes, “I- I saw him.”

“What?” his eyes seem to flicker back up to mine, but this time, it was serious, “Who did you see?”

What the hell did I do? I shouldn’t have told him this now. Well, now I’m going to die.

“Who did you see?” his voice rose a bit sterner.

I didn’t answer. My breath felt lost.

“Katrina!” he growled.

“Anthony,” I answered, suddenly startled.

“And you’re now fking telling me about this?” he raged hitting the glass wall with his hand, almost causing it to shatter.

He turned away from me and ran a hand through his hair, “I warned you not to play games with me, Donovan. If this was-”

“-It wasn’t!” I defended.

How could he think I would stoop so low to let a man get close to me to buy time? I had self-respect for myself. I wasn’t what he thought I was.

“And if you lie to me,” he stated sharply looking at me, “I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

I swallowed the uneasiness I was feeling right now.

“Now hurry up.” And with that, he walked out.

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