A STOLEN NAME

CHAPTER 63

*CLAN, NATALIA'S SUITE*

Paval is still in.

After the long hug, he stayed and watched her drink the tea while staring around the room.

"Don't you feel uncomfortable with the candles every time?" he suddenly asked, and she gently dropped her mug.

"No. They protected me from the Masked Monster," she said, and his brows crumpled.

He remembered hearing her talk about it with Dimitri at the cathedral too.

"Masked Monster?" he repeated.

"Yeah," she replied, taking her hands away from the table.

She hid it under the table because they're already shaking.

"The Masked Monster, she...she...

She began stuttering, so Paval went to sit beside her, holding her two hands in his palms.

"I'm with you," he assured, making sure to hold eyes.

"The last day she visited me, I fought back with the knife, and she was shocked. She staggered and fell on one of these candles, and her right upper arm got burnt. Since then, she never visited anymore," she explained.

"So, whoever is the Masked Monster will have a burn scar on her right arm?" she asked, and she nodded.

"What does she always come to do to you exactly?" he asked attentively.

"Inject me with madness serum. She did the same to Dimitri in the basement too. After she injected us for one year, we built...

"Natashenka," a deep male voice, boomed at the door, and Natalia sprang up.

"Dimitri!" She gasped, pulling Paval up.

"It's not a big deal," Paval said.

"Yeah, it's not, but his head is not normal. He'd kill you if he meets you here in my room," she replied, dragging him to the closet.

"Stay here, and don't move," she said, covering him with the door.

She took a deep breath before opening the main door, and Dimitri's cold face came into view.

"It's been a while since you called the endearment form of my name... Natashenka" she said.

"Engrave it in your memory," he replied freely, stepping in.

His white dress shirt is still on with the slacks, and his sleeves are rolled up, his biceps and veiny arms looking damn attractive.

"Your sexiness is unfair," Natalia suddenly blurted, and he turned back to her, his eyes darkening.

"You're not telling me how much you hate me? You're not telling me to get out? You're not with your silly knife?" he said suspiciously.

Natalia inched up her face...

"Then get out now. Why are you even here?" she said, and he smirked.

"Your voice is unusually low, too," he said and began walking towards the bedroom.

"Dimitri, you're intruding on my privacy! I have various panties and bras on the bed, and it's not right to see them!" She shouted, rushing after him.

"You know I'm damn obsessed with panties and bras...I'm f*****g crazy about them," he replied, entering the bathroom.

He searched everywhere but found nothing, then he started going towards the bathroom, but Natalia blocked him.

"Move, Natashenka," he glared.

"You're not entering my closet," she replied, and he grabbed her arms, pushing her to the bed before dashing for the walk-in closet.

"Dimitri!" She sprang up, rushing after him again.

His nose caught a different scent by the door, and he pulled it forward, revealing Paval behind it.

"Oh, you're dead," he muttered, dragging him out.

Before Natalia could intervene, he already punched him in the face.

Paval staggered back, his lip bleeding.

"Dimitri stop!" Natalia quickly covered him.

"Roman's cat in your bedroom? How silly can you be?" Dimitri said angrily.

"He's a friend, ok? A friend! I don't like him, and he doesn't even like me! Who'd like mentally deranged people like us anyway? We're both destined to be alone forever, so let him be! Don't touch him again," Natalia said protectively, and Dimitri smirked.

"I'll destroy him with a flip of my fingers, and you know it,"

"I said leave him alone! He's not what you think!" Natalia defended again.

"You were at the cathedral yesterday, right? You heard our conversation," Dimitri said.

"I don't mean any harm; I was just curious," Paval replied gently.

"Curious? Your master set you to it?" Dimitri said, his voice frosted.

"I'm genuinely curious about Natalia, and...

"The next time you come one step close to her, I'll kill you and deliver your body to Roman's doorstep," Dimitri interrupted, and Paval bowed slightly.

He left the room, and Natalia exhaled softly, glaring daggers at Dimitri.

Without another word, he left the bedroom, heading towards the main door.

"When last did you contact her?" Natalia asked, coming out of the room too.

"Don't talk about her," he replied curtly, opening the door.

"I know you did it for mother's sake, but at the same time, your blood is with her and...

"And I am under no obligation to give a f**k. Wrap it up, Natalia," he cut her off before exiting the room.

He strode out of the suite, and immediately he stepped outside, he received a text from Sergey.

Sergey: Alina Hayes is an adopted child of the Hayes family like you suspected.

Dimitri hardened his jaws after reading.

He actually told him to do research about the family, and now it's getting clearer to him.

Does that mean Adrian didn't carry out their assassination? Did Alina kill the couple and send Sophia to jail just to inherit their investments?

Suddenly, he received another text, from Sergey again.

Sergey: By the way, Roman is here. Obviously, to convince me to join The Pakhan's side.

Dimitri rolled his eyes disgustingly after reading it. Roman is too predictable.

He came to a slow halt when he got to the park and saw his Cherokee driving in.

All his cars...the limousine, the mustang, the Audi, and his favorite Cherokee are connected to his phone, so he's aware she took it out because he got a signal. He only decided to let it go and make her receive the right punishment when she arrives.

Though, he sent guards to follow her secretly, but they're not back yet.

All his punishment plans went down the drain the moment Sophia came down from the car, her face and eyes sorrowfully red.

He frowned, gritting his jaws harder as she started walking towards him, sniffling in succession till she arrived in front of him.

"Where the f**k did you go, Sophy?" he asked, and instead of answering, she raised her hand to his cross necklace, holding it tight.

"Can you borrow me this, please?" She muttered, her eyes brimming with unsaid sadness.

Dimitri squinted hard.

*BASEMENT*

The spiders and the hot water did a huge number on Alina, and right now, she's a shadow of her own self already.

It's like the fire beneath the water iron never goes out because the water heat never went down, so the steam keeps coming, hitting her endlessly in the face and aggravating her facial destructive process.

She lost her voice from screaming already, so the spiders are moving freely on every part of her body right now, even her private part.

They left uncountable marks on her body already, and they sting like hell since they're a poisonous species.

Her hair is starting to fall out because of their venom, and her eyes are losing their light.

She's at the verge of dying as she's still tied upside down, and she was already gasping for breath when the door opened, and Sophia came in with a cup in her hand.

Alina couldn't even open her eyes clearly to look at her, so she didn't see.

She only heard footsteps till Sophia got to her and pulled the rope she's tied with.

Alina fell loose from the ceiling, landing on the ground heavily.

"Arhhh!!!" She gritted her teeth, struggling to look up as her wretched hair made a mess of her blue-black messy face.

Immediately she saw Sophia holding a cup of water, she stood on her knees and snatched it, gulping it all down her burning itchy throat.

The water was pouring out from all the corners of her mouth as she drank impatiently till she was done, then she threw the plastic cup on the ground, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I knew you'd come for me. You're not heartless like your bastard Master" she said, looking up at her.

She still hasn't built enough strength to stand up.

Sophia's lips were shaking as she talked... "Why did you kill them?"

"What are you saying?" Alina replied innocently.

"Because of the investment money? The properties? No wonder the house was empty when I went there after I left jail. Did you sell everything?" Sophia asked again, her face free of tears.

"What are you saying!" Alina snapped.

"Stop pretending it's your last day!!! Why did you kill my parents!!! They were kind enough to adopt you even before they had you, but you killed them and framed me for it? I spent five years in jail b***h!!" Sophia yelled.

"Even if I didn't kill them, Adrian would have done it!" Alina shamelessly spat, and Sophia kicked her brutally in the face.

Alina fell back, her jaw cracking as she looked up at her unbelievably.

She tried to stand and go for her, but she fell back on her knees, and blood fell out of her nose.

Her eyes widened, and she began coughing.

"What did you add in the water?" She asked, holding her neck tightly.

"This one is even more potent than the one you killed my parents with. It won't grind your intestines immediately. You'll rot from the inside. All your organs will be covered by maggots within twenty-four hours, and you'll smell your own rotten scent, but you won't die. After twenty-four hours, then it'll start grinding your rotten organs, including your heart. You'll vomit them afterward, and then your death will happen," Sophia said, her jaws gritted as she pronounced each word with burning eyes.

"Sofya... You can't do this!" Alina tried to touch her, but Sophia angrily got a cutlass lying in the corner.

She brought it down on that hand, cutting it off totally.

"Noooo!!!!!!!!!!!!" Alina yelled sonorously, her blood splashing on Sophia's face.

"You'll die exactly how you killed my parents, and I'll happily watch you decay till maggots infest your whole body," Sophia muttered.

Alina's blood was gushing out of her nose and mouth as a result of the poison, and then the cut hand was bleeding too, so the ground is full of it right now.

One could swim in the redness.

Sophia stepped on the blood as she started going out, her eyes merciless.

"Sophia!!!!! Sophia, please!!!! Sophia!!!!! Sophia!!!! Arggghh Sophia!!!!!! Sophia!!!"

Alina's screams filled the night, and the spiders rushed into her mouth as she screamed.

Sophia was deaf to her cries till she stepped out, then she gasped, holding the wall to avoid falling.

She had been acting hard to avoid crying in front of Alina, but the moment the night air hit her skin, she couldn't fight it anymore.

She gasped again when she saw Dimitri waiting below the stairs.

"Dimitri," she whispered, her voice seemingly lost.

She let out the hit tears as she rushed down the stairs, crashing into his chest in a tearful hug.

Her tears wet his shirt immediately, and Dimitri looked down at her head on his chest, his eyes flickering between emotionless and something else.

He's aware that she always kept her tears at bay in front of him. She never cried in front of him, but the fact that she's doing that right now is pretty turning his head around.

He'd have loved to kill Alina himself, but he just had to give her the space to avenge by herself.

As she continued crying on his chest, he felt something unlock inside him, but he didn't know what.

No f*****g idea, but it better be a good one.

Else, he'd kill it and drown it in his bloodstream.

Slowly, like an anomaly, he wrapped his arms on Sophia, possessively keeping her in his embrace.

He's hugging more than usual these days, and it's not his thing.

Hope he's not starting to get addicted to it.

"Keep it down, Sophy. No tears, unless you want me to drink it," he whispered, and she hiccupped, her tears staining his shirt more.

"Can you sleep in bed with me tonight? I need it. I think I'm cold," she whispered.

"I need it more," he replied.