With This Secret

“I don’t care if I die for her.” Maxim’s voice when he translated Levan’s sentence was cold and without emotion.

My throat choked up with emotion.

His father suddenly roared out so loudly, I jumped.

“You fool! What do you think will happen to her after you’re dead?” Maxim said, his voice utterly calm.

“Then I will kill Bogdan myself.”

Maxim then gave his father’s reply. “Ah, I was coming to that. Why haven’t you done it? Were you waiting for me or your brother to do your dirty work for you?”

“No, I can take care of my own problems. I wanted to play fair.”

“Play fair? Play fair! What are you? A Good Samaritan? God, give me strength. If I didn’t know your mother was purer than the driven snow, I would not believe you are a seed from my own loins. Your idea of taking care of your problems is to drag this whole family into the gutter and end yourself in the slammer. Go and eat some food. I am taking over from here.”

Then I heard the sound of footsteps receding.

Maxim kept silent after that.

Levan finally followed out after his father. He looked determined as if the conversation was not over yet as far as he was concerned.

“Please don’t tell him I was here,” I said to Maxim.

“Of course,” he said smoothly and moved aside to make way for me.

I ran out of that beautiful garden floating in the sky. I found my way back to the downstairs and found Aldie seated before the most colorful platter of yoghurt, seeds, flowers, and fruits.

“This came after you left. Isn’t it great?” she mumbled through her food.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I said.

She stopped chewing as she noticed the distress in my eyes. “A walk? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just need to be out of here for a little bit.”

Reluctantly, she rose to her feet, snatching up a handful of strawberries in her hand before she joined me.

39

Levan

I stopped in my tracks at Maxim’s sudden presence in front of me. I scowled at him. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “Trip got cancelled. I thought I’d stop by to see what new troubles you were stirring up.”

I shook my head and started to walk away.

He gripped my hand, hard. “Dad is right,” he said.

“About what exactly?”

“This time? About a lot. You’re giving up everything for her, but is she ready to do the same? Is she ready to give up even a fraction of who she is for the future that you want with her?”

“One day, Maxim, you will know what it is to put the life of another before your own.”

“Think hard before you go diving down a sheer cliff. There are nothing but rocks down below.”

I smiled at him. “One day, Maxim. One day you too, will know that the rocks look like pillows when you feel the way I do.”

He walked away from me.

40

Bianca

We were stopped a few yards from the house by two guards. They were dressed in T-shirts and casual cargo pants, but their eyes gave them away. They were cold and hard. They clearly were trained killers. The wind blew against one of them and I could clearly see the outline of a gun in a holster.

They wanted to know where we were headed. I told them we wanted to go to the beach and they nodded and informed us that they would escort us. The sandy beach was completely deserted, so it wasn’t very difficult to find our little sunny corner to settle into. The guards moved about twenty yards away to keep watch.

The sun was setting and for a while, Aldie and I said little, and just stared out into the beautiful sky, lit with hues of pink and purple.

When Aldie held out her palm filled with ripe, red strawberries to me, I just stared at the beautiful fruit, my thoughts back to the conversation Levan had had with his father. It brought home with stone-cold clarity just how much he would have to give up to be with me. How big his sacrifice would be.

Aldie shook her hand to get my attention.

I lifted my gaze and looked at her face.

She stared at me with a concerned expression. “What’s wrong, Bianca?”

“What isn’t?” I answered. Part of me hoped that she wouldn’t ask for details, but another part of me longed for a discussion that would bring me peace and unravel the knots in my soul.

She put her hands in her lap. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or am I going to have to torture it out of you?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but was distracted by a call.

“Hola!”

We both turned and spotted five of Levan’s father’s staff heading towards us.

At the sight of the picnic baskets and supplies they had in hand, Aldie clapped her hands with delight and jumped up gratefully to accept them.