Nadia groaned in her sleep as she saw different disturbing images. She saw herself getting burned and shot at. It was so disturbing she wanted it to end.
Her eyes snapped open and she gasped.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” She heard a voice say and she turned to see Axel. She looked away from him and looked around, she realized she was in a hospital.
She felt Axel’s thumb crease her hand and she realized he was holding her hand, she jerked her hand away from him and he sighed.
She recalled what happened and she exhaled heavily.
“I am guessing they are fine?” She asked, referring to the kids.
“Yes, they will be here soon though.” Axel replied.
Nadia kept mute, she just kept staring at the ceiling with her mind blank. She wasn’t thinking about anything.
“The doctor said you will be fine. You will just spend a day here before getting discharged.” Axel said.
“How long have I been here?” She asked without turning to him.
“Just a day. It’s past 5:00 pm.” Axel replied.
She didn’t say anything again. Axel just kept staring at her, he was glad she was okay. He had always wanted to talk to her since she got back but she never gave him the chance to, he felt like it was the perfect time to talk to her. There was no way she could avoid the conversation at that moment.
“El Diablo contacted me directly. He says he wants to meet up and talk about business. He thinks we can walk together.” Axel told her.
“Yeah, no shit.” She muttered in response.
“But I am not, cause he wants you and… ”
“I can take care of myself. Business first, isn’t that your grand rule?” She asked and looked at him.
“Not when it comes to you, Lily.” He replied.
“That is not my… ”
“Nadia isn’t either. I will always call you Lily.” He cut her off and she shook her head a little before looking away from him again.
They fell silent again and Axel decided to talk.
“I was wondering if we could talk.” Axel muttered.
“I’m listening.” She answered.
“Olay.” Axel exhaled heavily and ran his hand through his hair.
“Why are you working with the Russians?” He asked. Nadia was quiet for a few seconds before responding.
“They saved me. You know, when you left me to die, they saved me.” She replied.
“I didn’t leave you to die, I was trying to protect you.”
“And you could have told me. You could have said something.” She looked at him.
Axel looked away from her, he couldn’t hold her gaze.
“How… How did you survive the fire?” He asked and Nadia chuckled.
“It’s crazy.” She chuckled again and shook her head.
“Just so you know, someone close to your family knew I was alive, that person saved me.”
“Who?” Axel asked curiously.
“Have you heard from Lydia and Taylor?” She suddenly asked. Axel furrowed his brows at her question. That was so random.
A few years back, Taylor and Lydia left New York, and only their families were around.
“Are you trying to say Lydia saved you?” Axel asked.
“No, I just asked about them because I was curious.”
“So who saved you?” Axel asked curiously. He badly wanted to know.
“There was a body, right?” Nadia asked as she recalled what happened. Axel nodded in response.
“Lily, say something.” Axel said as he was dying to know.
“Fine. It was Marley.” She replied and he furrowed his brow.
“What? Marley? From Atlanta?” Axel asked, confused. How could Marley save her? It was so random and didn’t connect.
“I will explain. If you can recall, days before the accident happened, you had a business deal with Marley and Gustavo in Atlanta. Marley and some of their men had to travel here to carry out the deal. That same day, you were addressing your men about how they would save me when I was out of the house. Well, Marley overheard and got curious, he felt something odd about it and told Gustavo.”
“Gustavo ordered him to stay back, not because he cared but because he was going to kidnap me and have me to himself on my way to the safehouse but everything went wrong. Turns out, El Diablo managed to get one of your men on his side which was your chauffeur. El Diablo was mad because he felt his plan would get ruined and if he can’t have me, no one else can.”
“On the way to the safe house that day, the chauffeur tried to kill me but they would make it look like an accident. Marley was there at the right time when the car crashed, he managed to get me out before the car exploded. I was unconscious and when I woke up, I was in Atlanta in Gustavo’s mansion. Then, this Russian woman who knows who I was and fucking hates you very much shows up on a business deal with Gustavo.”
“She saw me in his mansion and asked him to name his price since I would be a toy to him anyway. Gustavo was all about his pleasure and money so he didn’t mind, I was sold to the woman and was taken to Russia. She taught me everything I know and made me powerful with wealth in exchange for one thing. Kill Axel Blackwell.” Nadia explained.
“Woah.” Axel exhaled. It was a lot to take in.
“And here I am, wondering why I haven’t put a fucking bullet in your head yet.”
“Why the hell will you make such a deal?”
“Because I thought you wanted to kill me!” Nadia snapped at him.
“And I was also tired of being controlled by your fucked up family, I wanted to know what being powerful felt like, I was tired of being naive.”
“I’m sorry.” Axel muttered and she scoffed.
“Well, you can’t kill me. If you do, what about our kids?”
“You think I don’t fucking know that? And I really want to kill you by the way.”
Axel chuckled and shook his head.
“No, you don’t.”
“Ugh.” She scoffed and sighed.
“I have stayed so long here and she wants me back. I am supposed to be done with the job.”
“Who is she?”
“Someone you once had a deal with but you killed someone she cared about.”
“Oh, I have done a lot of that.” Axel muttered and Nadia glared at him.
“I can’t betray her. I owe her a lot. Burning up your warehouses was something I had to do so she could know I wasn’t messing around.”
“What will you do now?” Axel asked and she sighed.
“I don’t know Axel, one way or the other, you have to die. That is the only solution to this.”