Chapter Five
1113 Words
Chapter five
The package arrived at 9:17am. It was addressed to Mrs Russo.
The handwriting was elegant, deliberate and untraceable.
Alina was in the east sitting room, reviewing final wedding designs, and Dante was seated there too, working.
He happened to spend so much time around her, and although they both would die before admitting to enjoying each other's company, they did so even as they sat in silence.
Suddenly, Viktor, head of security, barged in without knocking– something he had never done before.
"There's a delivery", he said with urgency.
Dante looked up from his tablet and so did Alina.
"We weren't expecting one"
"Are you expecting any delivery?", Dante and Alina spoke in unison.
"Well, it passed preliminary screening but I don't like it", Viktor replied
Alina stood slowly and walked to him, arm outstretched to take the package.
"What's in it?", she asked
"We haven't opened it yet, Mrs Russo"
She rolled her eyes. She was gradually getting tired and bored with hearing 'Mrs Russo'.
"My name is Alina and I'm not yet married to your boss, Viktor. We're just engaged. Not husband and wife yet"
"We do whatever the boss says, Mrs Russo"
"So he asked you to call me that?"
"He asked us to call you a suitable and respectful name, ma'am"
With that, he placed the black box on a marble coffee table nearby. Everyone was being sceptical. Dante sat back and watched.
He would see how far Alina was willing to go in the eye of danger.
The box containing the package was small, matte and too carefully wrapped.
Dante's posture changed almost imperceptibly. He stood up immediately and stepped between Alina and the box.
"You don't touch it", he growled, his fingers brushed hers and she felt a tingle run down her spine.
Maybe it's the cold, she thought to herself, looking round the room. She convinced herself the night was chilly because the windows were open.
"I wasn't going to touch the box", she mumbled and stepped aside, away from his touch.
The part about touching the box wasn't entirely true. She was one hundred percent going to touch it or how else would she have opened it?
Dante handed the box over to Viktor who took it without hesitation. He opened it carefully.
Inside the box lay a single black rose, beautiful and fresh. And beneath the rose lay a photograph…
Alina's breath stilled. It was a picture of her taken two days ago on the balcony, from a distance.
Under the photo was written a single-lined sentence:
'EVEN QUEENS BLEED'
The room went silent, just silent.
Her heart was beating so loud she thought anyone standing across the room would be able to hear it.
Dante's jaw hardened as he clenched his fists. Viktor was already on the phone passing orders to his subordinates.
"Trace it", Dante ordered
Viktor was already moving. Alina stepped forward despite Dante's arm blocking her path.
"It's just intimidation", she tried to sound nonchalant and not scared but her insides were shaking like leaves on a windy day.
"It's surveillance", Dante replied impatiently
"But I was outside my own room"
"Exactly. You were visible"
"Well, that's not my fault", she flared
His eyes snapped to hers as he replied quietly, "No, it's mine"
That was the first honest thing he had said to her since they met.
—————
By noon, security had tripled. The cameras were recalibrated and patrol routes expanded. All schedules were tightened too and two huge men were placed outside her bedroom door.
Alina noticed all these changes immediately and she didn't approve. She felt more trapped in this world.
"I won't live like this!", she protested, storming into Dante's office without knocking.
"You already are", he replied without looking up from the papers in his hands.
"I won't be escorted from room to room like an artefact!"
"You are a strategic asset, my dear"
She stepped closer, her anger rising.
"Im not a cargo, Dante"
"But you're being hunted, Alina"
Gosh, the way he said her name made her head spin.
"And you think suffocating me fixes that?"
"No. It reduces exposure and I'm not suffocating you. If I were, I would seal your windows shut and you would never see the light of the sun"
"Is that what you have reduced me to? A living ghost?", she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Her heart began to race, her breath became shallow and she had this frantic urge to run but she couldn't move.
His eyes darkened as he noticed all the emotions playing on her face.
"You think this is about control?", he walked up to her and gripped her shoulders.
"Yes", she replied, turning her head away to stare at the blank wall.
She thought the house looked like a dungeon, she'd always thought so. Now he'd confirmed her fears and doubts.
As long as she was with him, he would never see her as his wife, his equal. She would always be an asset.
"Look at me, Alina", he put his finger on her chin and turned her face to look at him.
He was so tall that he had to touch her chin so she would tilt her head up.
"It's about survival, baby", he said, his lips mere inches away from her.
Did he just call her 'baby' or was she beginning to hear things?
"Survival? Yours or mine?"
The question hung in the air, sharp, between them. He didn't answer because the truth was layered.
He let go of her face and walked back to his desk.
Her safety, his leverage, his… something else… it was all survival of those things.
"You think I can't handle fear?" she continued
"I think you underestimate my enemies"
"And you underestimate me!"
"You will not leave this estate without approval"
Her breath stilled.
"Approval?"
"Yes", he replied sharply without adding extra words for explanation.
That sounded final. She held his hand for a few seconds.
"You want to marry me, in fact, we're already married in that contract. You married me, Dante, you did not acquire me"
Something dangerous flickered behind his composure, dangerously close to conflict.
"Until this threat is over, until the danger is neutralised, I decide what risks you take", he said in a very controlled and low voice.
"Then you married the wrong woman"
With that, she turned and walked out before he could respond or see the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes.
Dante exhaled sharply as he punched the wall in anger. Control was slipping away and he hated that much more than the threat.
- Writer
