Chapter 4: I Refuse
973 Words
The flowers hit the floor with a sound.
The noise seemed to echo through the whole church. White roses were over the aisle.
They were supposed to be a sign of a wedding but now they were all over the place.
Nobody said a word making the silence really scary.
Valentina stood at the front of the altar with her hands hanging by her sides.She felt light for the first time in years.No one was telling her what to do or making her do something she did not want to do.
She was finally free.
Sebastian looked at the flowers on the floor then he looked at Valentina and back at the flowers again.
He seemed confused.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly. His voice was not loud but it was still scary.
Valentina looked at him calmly. "I am stopping a mistake " she said.
Immediately, people began whispering to one another.
"What did she say?"
"Did she just say no to him?"
"Is this part of the wedding?"
The priest looked really lost. "Miss Moreau " he said, "maybe we should take a break. "
Valentina stopped him. "No " she said clearly.
Her voice was firm. She was sure of what she was doing.
Sebastian's face got harder. He was not happy.
"Valentina " he said, taking a step closer to her. "You have made your point ".
Valentina almost laughed. If only he knew why she was doing this.
If only he knew about the times she had thought of him or about the nights she spent waiting for him.
If only he knew about the day she saw him happy while she was suffering.
This was not about making a point, this was about being fair.
"You should stop now " Sebastian said. Even though his voice was still calm, his eyes were not.
"Everyone is watching " he said.
Valentina tilted her head a little. "Exactly " she said.
The church was quiet again. Everyone was listening and every camera was recording. The perfect wedding was turning into a mess but Valentina did not care.
Sebastian's voice was lower now. "You are embarrassing yourself " he said.
His words did not hurt her. They only reminded her of something.
A long time ago, where she would have said sorry right away, so scared of making him upset but that person was gone.
She died in prison.
Valentina smiled but it was not a happy smile.
"No Sebastian " she said.
His name sounded weird on her tongue. Now, it sounded like a stranger's name.
"Only one of us should be embarrassed today " she said.
Sebastian's face turned white and Olivia stood up fast.
"Valentina!" she said.
She sounded worried but it sounded so fake.
Olivia walked quickly to the front of the church, ignoring the people whispering around her and ignoring the guests who were shocked.
She was playing the role of a friend.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked softly.
She reached for Valentina's hand but Valentina stepped back. It was a subtle move but Olivia noticed. Her smile fell for a second then it came back.
"Talk to me " Olivia said.
Valentina looked at her closely, the woman who had smiled next to Sebastian while she was in prison, the woman who had taken everything away from her.
Olivia seemed uncomfortable.
For some reason, Valentina's gaze made her nervous and scared.
"You look frightened " Valentina said quietly.
Olivia blinked. "What?" she said.
"You should be " Valentina said.
Olivia's smile disappeared for a moment but then it came back. She laughed nervously. "I think you're overwhelmed " she said.
Valentina's eyes did not leave Olivia's face as she replied "No, I think I'm fully awake. "
The atmosphere in the room turned weird because it was like nobody understood what the two women were talking about.
Olivia's heart started beating fast. She did not know why but she felt like she was standing in front of a stranger.
At the back of the church, Damien Volkov watched everything quietly.
Most people were looking at the drama at the front of the church.
Not Damien.He was looking at Valentina. He felt that something was not right but he could not explain it because from the moment she dropped the flowers, he felt like he had seen this before.
Like he knew this woman.
It was impossible.
He had barely talked to her in his life but the feeling would not go away.
At the front of the church, Sebastian finally lost his patience.
"Enough " he said loudly, the word echoed through the church.
Valentina turned to him and saw that his face was harder now. The nice groom was disappearing and the real man was coming out.
"You are coming home with me " he said.
It was a command, not a request.
The guests looked at each other uncomfortably but Valentina was not surprised because she knew this side of him.
The side that nobody else saw. The side that always expected her to do what he said.
Her eyes were cold now. "Try again " she said.
The words shocked him. Nobody had ever talked to Sebastian like that especially not Valentina. He looked like he could not believe it.
"What did you say?" he asked.
Valentina took a step back away from him, away from the front of the church, and away from the life she did not want.
Then she looked past him, past the guests and past the seats to the back of the church.
To the man who had been watching quietly from the beginning.
Damien Volkov.
Their eyes met.
At that moment, everything changed. The whole church seemed to be holding its breath because nobody knew it yet but Valentina's next choice would start a war.
- Writer
