I remembered all the times I'd confided to him my suspicions that someone close to me was cheating on me.
"How could you do this to me?" I understood instantly. He was the person who had hindered my projects from the very beginning.
Only then did I realize how much he had used me and how he had tried to compromise my plans.
Instinctively I looked for my Beretta hidden in the pocket of my skirt, but too late I realized I had left it in my room when Alexey had called me.
Ryan did the same and suddenly I found the barrel of his gun pointed at me.
"Kendra, don't take this personally, but here only one of us can get out alive".
"It doesn't have to end like this" I tried to convince him, starting down the stairs slowly, without turning my back on Ryan.
By now it was clear that he would soon betray me with Aleksej and at that point there would be no way out for me. I had to get out of that villa and quickly!
Also, the anger at the humiliation I suffered only made me want to take my cell phone in my pocket and call my contacts immediately to warn them not to trust Ryan.
"What the hell is going on?" Aleksej's voice thundered, attracting Ryan's attention.
I had too much experience not to understand that I was burned, so I did the only thing I could still do. I picked up my cell phone and quickly wrote a message, explaining what had happened.
"Put that phone away!" Ryan yelled at me out of his mind, as soon as he noticed it, blocking me just before sending the message.
I saw Aleksej stopping Ryan with a wave of his hand and come towards me.
His gaze seemed like a thin sheet of black ice that would soon break, exploding into a thousand shards ready to hit anyone near him.
After eight months in close contact, I knew him enough to know that he wouldn't hesitate to make me pay every single second alongside him, exploited only for my own purposes.
Forgiveness was the only thing he would never have granted me.
I had no doubts about this.
He would have done anything to destroy me. But only after making me confess how far I had come to do the same with him in those months.
"Give me your cell phone" he hissed in a low voice a step away from me, holding out his hand.
I took a quick glance at the display, regretting the old cell phones that used keys, easy to recognize by touch, instead of sight.
I just had to hit the Enter key with my thumb.
I was about to press it when I saw Aleksej's swift hand reach me.
I barely had time to move my arm to avoid it, but at the same time a gunshot echoed throughout the villa.
I didn't even notice the bullet directed at me, until a sharp pain in my chest cut my breath and pushed me backwards, making me lose my balance.
The heels of my shoes lost their support and, before I could cling to Aleksej's arm, which was stretched towards me, I fell into the void.
I barely felt the touch of Aleksej's fingers before starting the descent towards my end.
The last thing I remembered was his name which I weakly pronounced as a desperate and absurd request for help and then ... the pain.
Only the pain had the power to make me feel still alive, despite the bullet lodged a few centimeters from the breastbone and the repeated blows on the steps of the staircase, on which I rolled violently to the bottom.
And finally, there was only darkness.
CHAPTER 2
ALEKSEJ
Almost forty-eight hours had passed since that delirium that was unleashed in my house.
Hours that I had spent getting angry with myself for not having noticed the deceptions of Danielle Stenton, indeed no, of Kendra Palmer.
How could I have been so stupid?
How could I have failed to notice her true nature?
Yet I had some suspicions!
Was it possible that the beauty of that woman had managed to dazzle me to the point of completely losing my mind, so much so that I became stupid and blind?
Just me who had always boasted of having a sixth sense for scammers and liars.
My God, I could not believe that I had had such a person next to me for eight very long months without noticing anything.
The truth was that I had been too busy wanting to take her to bed and to subdue her rebellious and arrogant temper!
I had been so blinded by her desire and her elusive but provocative way of being close to me that I lost my mind.
I knew that closeness could be dangerous, but it had always been so exciting that it made me hold onto her.
I kept telling myself that I was an idiot, because I had always understood that there was something underhanded about Kendra.
Already from our first meeting, in which she threw herself on the street, getting hit by my car, while the driver was slowly leaving the parking lot, I understood that that accident had been combined.
I got out of the car with the desire to make the person pay for that joke and with the threat ready in case she started talking about complaints or anything else.
But then I saw her.
Her. On the ground. Aching in her knee that she had banged against the nose of the car, and with a skinned arm with which she had protected her face falling on the asphalt.
Despite the situation, I was immediately fascinated by that breathtaking body, wrapped in a skimpy black dress that left nothing to the imagination.
My driver had helped her to get up, while she had insulted him for hitting her.
Then I too went over and asked her if she was okay.
In an instant I found myself a prisoner of her beautiful gray eyes and menacing like a cloudy sky with a storm coming.
With that delicate-featured face of her and that long brown hair that covered her entire bare back, she had made me want to touch her and make her mine.
For this reason, when I proposed to take her to the hospital and she immediately stiffened and frightened, telling me that she was fine despite having a hard time walking, I took the leap and invited her to the hotel where I was staying.
She had accepted, but what I had believed to be just the prelude to an unforgettable night of sex, soon turned out to be the exact opposite.
With difficulty I had managed to get her name, Danielle Stenton, and when I had tried to step forward, she had immediately blocked me, telling me that she had not consented to follow me to be taken to bed, but only to be medicated, put ice on the knee and maybe have a warm bed to spend the night alone.
I had never been able to extort from her the reason why such a beautiful and charming woman could need a place to sleep, but I immediately understood that that incident was just an excuse to get my money. In fact, I wasn't surprised the next day when she asked me for a loan.
Of course I refused and she surprised me by saying that she would then work for me.
Hers hadn't been a request and I, for the first time, hadn't been able to say no.
A weakness that I now risked paying dearly for, since in those months Kendra had discovered many things about me and brought her to my house, had been yet another folly, because right there I kept all my most important assets and business.
Only then did I realize that, by being precious, Kendra had managed to get what she really wanted: to enter the villa and take advantage of the freedoms I had granted her to betray me and use everything I had against me.
And all for a fuck!
What an idiot!
I was still thinking about my mistakes when Kendra finally opened her eyes.
After the doctors had warned me of her awakening, I immediately ran to the private clinic to confront her and make her pay for every lie and deception suffered.
I also carried the gun with me, because at that point, after the heated discussion with Ryan about the true identity of that woman, I no longer trusted her and I would not hesitate to take revenge.
Calmly I sat on the edge of her bed, next to her, and waited for her to fully awaken, as the drugs numbed her.
Despite the purplish hematoma on her right cheekbone and the unnatural pallor of her face, she always remained beautiful, but with a beauty that by now left me completely indifferent, if not disgusted.
I waited for her eyes to rest on me.
Her silver gaze seemed watered down by the painkillers, but she opened wide when she landed on me.
I smiled at her satisfied and approached her face slowly, savoring that sparkle of fear and surprise that I read in her eyes.
"So, little liar, are you ready to pay the consequences of your deception?" I whispered to her in a low voice.
I saw her parting her full and perfectly drawn lips, but not a sound came out.
"I'll take your silence for a yes" I decided, grabbing the pistol tucked into her pants.
"Who are you?" Kendra asked me weakly, just as I was holding the weapon.
I burst out laughing. A low, guttural, almost threatening laugh.
I wanted to grab her by the neck and throw her out of bed, I was so furious.
"Seriously? Is this how you want to play it? Are you really sure?" I challenged her, determined not to let me fool myself again.
"I ... I don't know ... I ..." she mumbled uncomfortably, starting to look around in fear.
"Be careful what you say, Kendra, because this time I won't give you a second chance. Am I making myself clear?" I stopped her, but my threat seemed to trigger an adverse reaction.
"Who is Kendra?" she gasped, starting to shake and fidget.
She looked terrified.
"Where am I?" she stammered trying to pull herself up and sit up, but causing further pain, which made her moan. "It hurts!" she blew softly, bringing the hand to her chest, right where she had been hit by the bullet. "What happened to me?", she murmured dazed and in pain, looking at her bandaged arm and touching the bruises on her face and legs that she discovered from her blankets.
It was a moment and suddenly all that apparent calm vanished to make way for Kendra's fear that she was wriggling like a trapped animal.
Trembling and shaken, she removed the drip and tried to get up.
"There's no use running away " I slapped her, grabbing her arms as she tried to pull herself up.
Being able to stop her was more complicated than I had thought, as she was wriggling frantically and uncoordinated from her pain.
However as soon as she tried to get up, lifting herself up on her legs, I felt her give way.
She was pale as a sheet and I had to grab her around the waist to keep her from falling badly to the floor.
Kendra slumped against me.
"My head is spinning" she whispered to me, putting her arms around my neck.
I picked her up and she hugged me even more, as if she was afraid of falling into the void.
I put her back on the bed and slowly her hands came off my neck, sliding over my shoulders and down my arms.
If she hadn't been so upset and trembling, I would have thought she was provoking me to seduce me.
Her light and delicate touch had something intimate and tender, but I didn't get carried away.
I was about to retreat when her right hand grabbed mine.
Suddenly the tremor stopped.
I looked into her face.
She was staring at me. She had a confused expression, but her eyes were glued to mine as if she was looking for who knows what answer inside me.
"Do you remember me now?"
Faced with yet another silence from her, I broke away from her badly, but as soon as my hand left hers, Kendra gasped in fright, abruptly rising to take it back.
That gesture cost more pain in her chest.
She screamed out of the pain and this prevented her from leaning further forward to get to me.
***
KENDRA
My head throbbed violently and I didn't understand anything.
My mind was empty of all memories and crumbs of rationality, but full of pain and confusion.
That man in front of me scared me, but at the same time he created a sort of reassurance in me. Maybe it was because he seemed to know me, but his hard, stern, relentless gaze and tone were like a warning siren.
One part of me screamed to escape, while another begged me to stay and ask him for help.
I didn't know what to do and when I was again overwhelmed by fear and pain, only in his arms I felt something vaguely familiar.
Maybe it was the scent of his skin. A woody, fresh and aromatic essence. Intense and virile. He reminded me of something ... but what?
And that face ...
I had already seen it but it was all so hazy in my head, at least until my gaze was captivated by him.
There was something in those ebony eyes. Something wild but controlled. Powerful and magnetic, but also as elegant as the clothes he wore.
I immediately felt a certain awe at his gaze fixed on me, as if I were used to always taking a step back to avoid unleashing that aggressive side of his that seemed ready to escape and destroy anyone around.
Finally, that voice ... Yes, I knew that voice. I was sure. It was it who had sent me into crisis, because I was sure I had heard it before, but that low tone, rough and with a foreign accent that fascinated me, had actually put me in agitation.
Even his words had frightened me.
I had looked for their meaning, the reason why he was so angry with me, but I had not found it.
That thought had made me lose my temper and I found myself wanting to escape from that danger that I felt looming over me like a sword of Damocles.
I was terrified and weaker and weaker, so much so that my legs couldn't hold me, but in his arms I was able to catch my breath, numb and reassured by the scent of his skin.
But then he let me go and, as my hands ran along his arms to his fingertips, I suddenly felt panic flooding me and suffocating me.
When I saw his hand separating from mine I was assailed by an inexplicable fear.
I could almost see myself as an external spectator, while my body tended towards what seemed to be the only lifeline to avoid falling into the void.
I jumped forward and suddenly the pain in my chest, just below my left shoulder, pierced me as if someone had stabbed me.
It was a moment and suddenly the whole reality around me became dark.
I felt disconnected, as if I had been catapulted into another world.
I was on an elegant and very spacious staircase.
In front of me there was that man's hand again.
It was leaning towards me and I could feel my body tensing towards it, but the pain in my chest returned stronger than ever.
My breath broke in my throat, while my body fell backwards, into the void.
I tried to counter the invisible force that was pulling me towards the abyss, but I could not.
In front of me there was only that man leaning forward to grab me.