Everything was perfect for them…until hearts were broken and lives were shattered.
“They loved me…”
My arm tightened around Valerie at her words. “Not enough. Your parents didn’t love you enough.”
Valerie’s fierce gaze met mine. “You can’t say that. They did love me. I know that.”
I released a long sigh. She was right but… “Valerie, if they loved you…they would have never sacrificed you. Yes, they did love you, but not enough. Not the way you deserved to be loved. No parents should have sacrificed their own daughter for the other. Whether Malory was younger or not, you were still a child too. You were still innocent. Yet you became the unwilling collateral.”
Tears filled her eyes, and her voice was a mere whisper when she spoke. “My father was powerless against him. He was one of Valentin’s business associates, but he was powerless. He was Solonik’s dog. It wasn’t his fault. It was my choice to go with Valentin.”
Her voice cracked as if it hurt to say the words. My sweet innocent Valerie. Valentin took the heart of a blossoming girl and broke it. He made her grow up faster, forced her to survive through darkness, while she was meant to live through the light.
It was my choice to go with Valentin.
I shook my head and sputtered a heartless laugh. What a fucking joke.
“No, it wasn’t your choice. Don’t fucking say that. It was never your choice. You think you made a choice, Valerie, but whether you had said yes or no, Valentin was going to take you away. Your parents were going to sell you away. They came to beg you to go with Valentin—to save your sister’s life. They didn’t choose you just like it wasn’t your choice.”
Valerie choked back a sob and buried her face in my chest. “I don’t want to hate them, Viktor. They are my parents, and they have hurt me…but I don’t want to hate them.”
I held her to me as she cried her little heart out. The broken girl inside her crying for what was stolen from her. “I…always…wanted them to save me…but they never came…back for me. I waited…and waited…they never came back for…me. They…left me…with…him. They…didn’t come for me. They forgot…me.”
I closed my eyes, feeling sick in my stomach. My chest grew tight, and my heart squeezed. Valerie poured out all her hidden emotions. All the unsaid words, she finally said them.
“I am sorry, myshka.”
The world was a cruel place. I lived in it. I thrived in it. The darkness became me…I moved into the shadows until wherever I went, the darkness followed. I had wreaked havoc over innocent lives. Left bloodshed behind.
Yet…in the middle of this cruel world, hidden innocence lived. Valerie lived. If only I had found her sooner…only if…I would have stolen her away.
Because my darkness needed her light. And Valerie needed the chaos I brought with me.
I continued to hold her until eventually her tears dried. We both fell silent. Her sniffles filled the room until they slowly disappeared too.
When she spoke again, her voice was hollow and sad. She sounded so lost. “I was always so alone. Always locked in this room. If it wasn’t Igor watching me, then it was Valentin visiting me. Sometimes, I would be completely alone. Just with the memories of who I used to be. I lost myself, Viktor. I became a puppet…I didn’t know to feel anymore.”
Lifting her chin up, I made sure she was looking at me. Her eyes were swollen and glassy with unshed tears. “Nobody else was allowed in this room?” I asked.
She shook her head once and then looked thoughtful. “Well, no one really. But there was a girl. She was the only one allowed in my room. To bring me food and clean my room. Every morning, she would help me dress up.”
I stared into her gaze, waiting for her to continue. Valerie’s shoulders slumped down. “We became very close. Every day she would come and we would talk. Not a lot. The silence between us was comforting. At least we weren’t alone. At least we had each other.”
“Was she your friend?” I asked curiously.
Valerie nodded, and she gave me a tiny smile. “My only friend here. We were together for years. She was the sweetest, Viktor. Someone with a very kind heart. I saw it rarely, but she had the most beautiful smile. We bonded until I couldn’t imagine being separated from her. She became my sister,” Valerie whispered her last word.
Past tense. Valerie was using past tense…Fuck. She had a friend, yet this one was probably stolen away too. “Who is she? Where is she now?”
Her gaze shadowed over. “She is slave 2107.”
My heart clenched, and it felt like I had been punch in the fucking throat. “What?” I whispered.
“She has been hurt so much, Viktor,” Valerie answered tearfully. “I thought my life was hard…until I met her. At least I had the title of being Valentin’s wife. Powerless, yet I had a position. But she was a slave. Valentin’s slave. The other woman he would release all his depravity on. I got the better end of the rope—she got the never-ending nightmare of it.”