97

[REBECCA]
“NO!”
I shot up in bed, my body drenched in sweat. My ears rung with my screams. The light was instantly on, and Artemy was by my side in a matter of seconds, but I flinched away.
All I could see was him walking away from me, fading in the darkness and leaving me behind. No.
Lurching forward in bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him tight to me. My hold was unyielding. I refused to let him go. He quickly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me onto his lap, holding me just as tight.
“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. Don’t ever leave me. I can’t. Please. Don’t leave me, Artemy,” I mumbled in his chest, my heart racing at the thought of being without him. My body was shaking with silent tremors, and I trembled in his arms.
Tears ran down my cheeks in an endless flow. I continued to beg him.
“Shhh…I’m here. I’m not leaving. I’m right here, Angel.”
His words were soothing, but the fear inside me wouldn’t subdue. Artemy continued to soothe me as I cried in his chest. He never let go of me, his arms remaining tight around me. I felt his fingers softly caressing my hips.
“I’m not leaving. I will never leave you. Don’t cry, Angel. I can’t bear your tears. I’m right here. I got you,” Artemy continued sweetly in my ears, willing me to believe him.
I wished I could. I wanted to believe him. It was just a dream, just a nightmare I tried to convince myself.
But was it really? Maybe it was just showing the truth, my reality when Artemy learned the truth.
After all, he hated me. The real me. He hated the Cavalieris, and no matter how much I wished it wasn’t my reality, it was…and I was his enemy.
My fingers tightened around his neck at the thought of losing him. My guilt tasted bitter. My heart ached, and my mind felt numb. I wanted to forget. I just wanted to live in this happy bubble with Artemy, but for how long?
My tears eventually stopped, my sobbing turning into small hiccups. Artemy’s soothing words finally penetrated through my foggy mind, and I went limp against him. We were still holding each other, refusing to let go.
I couldn’t even if I tried. It felt like if I let him go, I would crumble to pieces.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whispered one final time.
“I won’t,” he vowed.
“Promise me.”
“I promise you, Angel.”
“You said you don’t break your promises.” My voice was muffled as I buried my face in his hard chest.
“And I don’t. I will never break my promise to you, Rebecca. I’m yours as much as you are mine. I’m never letting you go,” he soothed in my hair, placing a kiss on the top of my head.
His words were what I wanted to hear. They were more than I wanted. Except whatever promises he made to me, they would mean nothing if he learned my truth.
But I still made him promise. It was selfish of me. Maybe…just maybe, if he made this promise, he wouldn’t leave me?
Artemy was the type of man who would never break his vow, no matter what. So I tried to bind him to me in any way possible.
My hands went to his chest, one place right over his heart. I felt its beat against my palm. It was racing just as hard as mine.
He was worried. Scared even.
My fingers softly caressed his chest as I took a deep breath and confessed one thing.
“My name is not Rebecca Turrini.”
They were the hardest words ever spoken by me. It broke a little piece of my heart. In that moment, I wished I was Rebecca Turrini. Not an Cavalieri.
I wasn’t ready to lose him yet. But I could confess something. Anything. One step at a time.
But his next words took me by surprise.
“I know.”
My head snapped up, and I stared at him, fear slithering down my spine. His face was almost unreadable, but his eyes were soft, regarding me as if I was someone precious.
“You know?” I sputtered.
“I made a background check the very first day you came here,” he simply replied. “And got nothing. We searched up every single Rebecca in the country. Even did some background checks on names that sounded similar to yours. But still got nothing. It was like you never existed. So I knew you were lying about your name.”
“You knew I was lying this whole time?” I asked, completely astonished at this new revelation.
“Yes.” A simple word, one syllable, but it was enough to tilt my world upside down.
“But why? Why did you let me stay?”
“I was curious at first but then realized that I couldn’t let you go. It didn’t matter that you were lying to me anymore. Sometimes, I forget that you are even lying,” he explained quietly.
“But what if I had turned out to be the spy? Or the enemy?” I choked on the words, my throat closing up as I suddenly felt nauseous. “What would you have done?”
Artemy stared at me for a second, his bluish eyes penetrating into my soul. “I would have had to kill you.”
Bringing my hand to my mouth to stop the sudden cry, I buried my face into his chest again. “I’m not your enemy,” I whispered.
“I know,” he replied just as softly. His hands were caressing my arms, and I melted into his embrace.
“Why are you lying, Rebecca? Is Rebecca even your name?” Artemy asked suddenly.
“Yes, Rebecca is my name. I didn’t lie about that.”
“Then why did you lie about your last name? What are you trying to hide?” He pushed for more. “Are you in danger? Is someone after you?”
I gave him a stiff nod. Just one simple nod, and then we fell silent. Artemy didn’t ask anything else. I knew he was waiting for me to reply.
“The man I am to be married to.”
I whispered them, and Artemy froze, his body tensing, his arms tightening around me like bands of steel. “What?” he asked, his voice calm and low, but I knew he was feeling anything but calm.
I knew when he spoke in this tone he was at his angriest.
“He wants me, Artemy. It doesn’t matter that I ran away; he will never rest until he finds me, dead or alive.” Taking a deep breath, I sniffled, trying to keep my tears at bay. “I’m his obsession, his prize possession, and he will not stop looking for me until I’m in his bed again.”
Artemy’s fingers dug into my hips, and I winced. “Who is he?”
I shook my head. “Rebecca, who is he?” he asked, his voice deadly.
“No.”
“Damn it!” he growled. “Why are you protecting him?”
My head snapped up, and I shook my head wildly. “No! I’m protecting you! And me. He is a dangerous man, Artemy. A mad man.”
His eyes turned into slits. “More dangerous than me?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. I knew Raffaele was obsessed with me, but to what extent he would go, I didn’t know.
“He is a dead man, Rebecca,” he vowed. “Tell me his name.”
The fury in his eyes was unmistakable. But it wasn’t at me. It was for me. It was directed at the man who had hurt me.
I stayed quiet. I thought he would snap, but he didn’t. Instead, he leaned his forehead on mine. “Why are you so stubborn?”
“Because I want to stay alive. I want to live with you. And I don’t want to lose you.”
“Angel,” he murmured. “You are not going to lose me.”
“I might be lying about my name, about who I am, but that is the only thing I am lying about. What I feel for you is the truth,” I confessed, hoping that when the time came, he would remember those words.
“Will you ever tell me the truth?” Artemy questioned.
I wish I never have to tell you the truth, Artemy. For the truth will break you. And I can’t bear to break your heart. But I have to. One day, I will have to tell you. And that day might be the day I lose everything.
“I will. When I’m ready. Right now, I want to forget. I don’t want to live in the past.”
Understanding flashed in his eyes, and he sighed. “I will protect you, Angel.” There it was. Another vow.
I didn’t say anything else. Laying my head on his shoulder, I breathed out a sigh, letting my body relax in his embrace. Artemy laid us down on the bed and pulled the cover on top of our bodies. Not once did he let me go.
“I know I’m not supposed to touch you, but we both know we can’t sleep without each other. I will hold you tonight, and tomorrow, I will keep my promise,” Artemy said in my ear before placing a kiss there.
One of his arms was wrapped around my stomach, my back to his front. He held me tightly, cocooning me into his body. I placed my hand over his and closed my eyes. “I know you will keep your promise.”
“Sleep, Angel. I will watch over you.”
Holding his promise to my heart, I let sleep take over me. This time I was filled with peace. After all, I was in the arms of my savior.