Hello All,
3rd attempt, hope it's approved. This chapter should not be read without reading the previous 4 due to several references to the past....and I will apologize now, I didn't have an editor until chapter 3.
I have an amazing brilliant editor now ο!!! Endless gratitude!!! Having some issues with formatting so when you see these < > that's inner monologue/thoughts or a memory.
Sorry for the delay, life happens. I hope you enjoy TD5 and thank you for reading.
-Tatum
******
"Anton, it doesn't matter. I love him. Why can't you just accept it?" Helen tried to twist and jerk out of Anton's tightening grip on her shoulders. "Let me go! I do not love you and never will. You can't buy me or convince me that you have ever been genuine. Look how you treated all the girls at school, look at what you want to do to your friend." His fingers dug into her exposed shoulders constricting with her every breath...
fucking snake
.
"Those were just college hook-ups. Helen, I love you and I always have." Helen could hear his anger simmering just below the surface of his condescending tone. She knew he was lying. Anton was too obsessed with himself to care for anyone else. He had always been the perpetual smooth talker, slithering into their circle of friends and she never understood why Leo adored him, always buying into his false enthusiasm, never a cloudy day with Anton.
Things were changing, Helen had noticed immediately after graduation that Anton was turning into something toxic, his words poison and his venomous actions burned and scarred anyone in his tracks. What started as minor financial advising for Leo and his connections had now turned into an entry-level seat at the Bratva table. Anton's ego and power grew with rapid escalation and his bogus phony kindness and warmth shedding away exposing his deceitful narcissistic true nature. His negative attributes only enhanced as the years passed; now at 27 he was completely controlling and cruel.
Anton smiled as if he had a million secrets and Helen knew a potent violent strike was coming, "He's a professor and owns a farm. You can't be serious Helen? Little naΓ―ve Helen. I worry for you, honestly I do. What kind of life will you have with Drew? I will be able to give you anything you want." It was the same things he had been spewing to their group of friends for the past few years, trying to convince them that Drew was below their standards, as if his association would lower their status. It was a ploy to get Helen to leave him but it would never work. They all loved Drew. He was kind, compassionate, loyal and would do anything for his friends. He didn't desire the luxuries that were attached to Leo and Anton's lifestyle. Drew liked researching, teaching and solving problems, the investigative aspect of searching for solutions and his middle class upbringing kept him grounded and centered.
After Helen's parents were killed in a tragic car accident during her freshman year of college, Drew had held her while she shattered into a million pieces holding each shard, particle and fragment as if they were priceless. Day after day he helped put her back together until the cracks were sealed and impenetrable. The intensity of their devotion to each other was adored and embraced by their small group of friends...except for Anton. He wanted her the moment he saw her, not just for her beauty and spark but also because of the way she looked at Drew; a look of unconditional love and adoration, an endless gratitude.
"I only want him." Anton cringed at the honesty and sincerity in Helen's voice. He knew her words were true yet he still believed that she would eventually fall in love with him, worship the ground he walked on, and never think of Drew again.
"Now listen young lady." The deep harsh accented voice coming from behind her caused Helen to wince in realization, she wasn't going anywhere. "You will marry Anton Winters because he demands it and because if you don't Drew will be dead by morning." A gut-wrenching sob tore from Helen's chest as the truth of the crony's words hit home, chipping away and spreading new cracks within her. Her body tried to convulse forward but Anton still held her shoulders and watched as the pained expression on her face morphed into something between agony and despair.
"You could do that Anton? You could kill your friend? How could you even think about killing him?" Helen's words were spoken as if she was running out of breath, running out of time, running from him and running out of options.
"Anyone in my way is forfeit." That moment and those words confirmed what Helen suspected,
he knows
. Anton had found out about her and Drew's plans to elope in a private ceremony in a few weeks. That is why he dragged her to this hotel, for the use of the open courtyard, botanical gardens and subtle fountains. Anton opened a long white box with gold trim and pulled out her simple wedding dress, "I had this picked up from your apartment this morning. Go and put it on Helen."
She burst into sobs and dry heaves...
Drew, Drew, Drew
. She knew they would kill him; Anton and his new cohorts had come up quick and relentlessly. Helen hated herself for not pulling away years ago. The idea of Drew no longer existing in this world killed her and she could no longer hold back the vomit, throwing up into the hotel ice bucket.
They were married moments later with only Anton's family and a few of their friends in attendance. The only sympathy coming from Leo, "I'm sorry Helen. I tried to talk him out of this but he refuses to listen and doesn't care about what any of us say. He's growing more powerful every day and get what he wants and he has always wanted you." It was the truth and Helen knew it. She had always tried to keep a distance from Anton, always turning away his advances.
A young boy raised his arms to Leo pleading to be picked up and Helen's eyes pooled with new tears at the thought of the family she would never have with Drew. Dmitry was Leo's world and had been the center of his universe for the last 6 years. Another sharp bite of anguish intertwined with Helen's already broken state...
Drew would have made an amazing father
.
"I promise you, I will make sure Drew is safe. I won't let anything happen to him and I will tell him of the choice you had to make. He will understand. I'm sorry Helen, this is all my fault." Leo would always blame himself for introducing Anton to their friends but he would regret allowing him to meet his connections even more.
"I will never love him Leo."
"I know Helen."
"I will never survive him."
"Don't say that. Just don't make things hard on yourself little Helz on Wheels." Leo tried for a smirk hoping she might smile at the use of her nickname but Helen just stood arms wrapped around her stomach...defeated.
"Please explain to Drew that I did not have a choice." The sobs began again.
"I will."
Traitor's Daughter Chapter 5
Alex stared at the ceiling as her mind steadily pushed through the haze and fog of her current situation...again; pain medication wearing off and reality creeping back in. She had painted a thousand different murals for the bare, white, clinical and cold ceiling but they would never come to fruition. Every morning she stared at this same blank canvas attempting to understand how her mind allowed her to believe the Russian god from the coffee shop was not Dmitry.
Alex couldn't comprehend why her thoughts decided to warp Dmitry's need to find her into something storybook or something that could save her from the constant barrage of loneliness.
Yeah, a real Nicholas Sparks novel in the making
.
It's not like she truly believed in happily ever after, her parent's marriage was a prime example of how it most likely never happens. Alex knew now that anything she ever fantasized about regarding Dmitry's plans were false and her mind's way of coping with the inevitable. The instant his fist connected with her mouth Alex knew she had romanticized his intentions and what her future would really be like. As if an artificial intelligence formed in her brain, planting ideas until they rooted so deep that she could not weed them out. But this was not Inception, no Italian singer and no "kick" to pull her out of this nightmare.
Her thought process had been her best defense but the years of hiding and constant looking over her shoulder had taken a toll on her psyche. Alex's mind wanted a rest, just wanted to be calm and not over think each step, move and decision. Her life had been a relentless game of chess, her Pons gone, queen dead and no knight to rescue her.
As soon as she turned 18 she bailed form the states and moved to Scotland, escaping her father's name, leaving behind the families that never wanted her and the distant relatives that could never claim her. Alex just wanted a normal life, no longer in hiding but still a little guarded.
Brilliant idea. Hiding out in the open
.
Alex's afternoon naps were becoming a constant occurrence due to the high dose Vascak had prescribed her and every time she woke she found herself back in pajamas or just in a t-shirt and panties. The idea of Dmitry undressing her caused new forms of anxiety and embarrassment to the point she started begging him not to make her take the pills...never arguing just pleading. Alex didn't like waking up not knowing what happened while she was sedated especially on the afternoons when she woke with sweat dampened hair and sore muscles. Nothing was worse than when she woke and used the restroom only to discover her pubic hair had been removed and vomited into the sink because she was mid-wipe...a mild nervous breakdown followed. Strange that Dmitry was almost kind to her that day...
fucker!
.
Lying in bed replaying their every interaction only made her angry with herself for believing her situation would be anything other than what it truly was...abuse, slavery, and unending suffering. She wanted to destroy any romantic ideas she ever had, delete every Hannah Howell book she ever downloaded, erase all romantic comedies she had seen and rewrite all the bullshit fairytales.
