• BOOK 1 OF THE ESZTAR SERIES •
Reaching upstairs, he hurled me inside his room and closed the door harshly. I stood there shaking with fear. He looked scary. Extremely scary.
He tilted his head, forming an evil grin on his face. I couldn't move. I...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She was a rebel.
She was a fighter.
But the girl I was seeing before me now was a living corpse with lifeless brown eyes, pale skin and a complete lack of emotion on her face.
The shock was too much. The hurt was too much. My betrayal was too much.
She had given up.
She didn't even try loosening Nikolai's grip holding her hands behind her. All she did was stare up at me. Maybe something's going on in her head like always. Maybe not. For the first time, I can't figure her out.
Only now did I realize she was an open book to me because she wanted to. The power was all in her hands. Now she has closed herself for me.
"Ava? Vittoria? I don't understand, Mr Grayson." Nikolai creased his brows.
"Why do you think she has a personal bodyguard? Why do you think Oliver is so protective of her?" I focused my eyes on his green orbs, too afraid and ashamed to meet Vittoria's eyes.
Vittoria. The girl I love.
The girl I'll always love.
Nikolai was stunned for a brief moment. The amount of shock he was feeling was a lot more than he was showing.
"We don't have time for your state of surprise, Nikolai. Oliver thinks I have denied this exchange proposal. We need to get done before he suspects anything."
"Okay, okay! I'll sign it. And you, Ava, don't you dare try and act smart." He threatened before cautiously releasing her hands to sign the documents.
"There." He passed me the documents, still displeased about having to surrender his support to me.
"All a lie." She whispered, her gaze now pitched down. "Everything a lie. You lied. You lied. You lied." He mumbled over and over again like she was trapped in a trance, her eyes not moving from the ground.
I shouldn't have looked at her. This just got a hell lot difficult. My resolve was faltering every second I tainted her with my poisonous presence.
But you're pushing her into a more poisonous world.
"No." I found myself yelling. "It wasn't a lie. None of it was. My love for you was real. It still is."
"Then why?" Her dead eyes snapped up at me. "Is power so important to you?"
I detected a hint of hatred gradually crawling into her eyes. She wasn't crying. But I could feel the pain stinging in her throat. I was feeling all of it.
"I need you to understand Vittoria. Power is a necessity for me. I have people to protect and promises to fulfill. Esztar started revolting against me. I can't afford that."
