VALERIASomeone was beside me. I could hear the sound of deep, heavy breathing, could feel the featherlight touch of hands moving over me; checking my temperature with a hand placed on my brow, adjusting the covers of the bed I was lying in, fluffing out my pillows and so on.I struggled towards wakefulness. It was hard to do because I had a feeling I had been in the darkness for long, too long. But I did it. I opened my eyes. Although her figure was hazy at first, I saw Amelia staring at me. She gave a loud gasp of surprise, a sigh of relief and promptly burst into tears."Oh Valeria," she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You are awake. It's been two whole weeks and I thought you would never-"Her next words were drowned out by renewed sobs. I felt myself tearing up too. My heart burst with love for this woman who loved me as her own, who loved me to the extent that she had exposed her own daughter.She wiped my tears with her fingertips. "Don't cry," she said, even though
DIMITRII had to wait until a minute before Stan, the pudgy policeman from the other day walked into the office. He was poring over a sheaf of papers in his hand."What news?" I asked, leaning forward eagerly as he took his seat."Just going through what I have here." He indicated the papers he held. "I have been going through documents like this all day and they all say the same thing." He stopped and sighed. "It's like we are dealing with a ghost, so to speak, Mr Dimitri. On paper, Grace is basically still dead. Her death certificate, the day of her death, the doctor's proposed cause of death all tally. To everyone else, she died four odd years ago.""But she didn't. There has to be a loophole somewhere in these so called evidence you have collected since she isn't actually dead." My eyes narrowed. "Or are you suggesting that I'm mistaken?""I didn't say that.""Good because I saw her myself. Also, I was not the only one who saw her, you know. There were others too. You can intervie
VALERIAI opened the door and there was Vance standing there, wearing a tight smile eyeing me dubiously."Hello," he said. "Can I come in?""Of course."I threw the door open at once and I could have sworn I heard him exhale in relief. Just before he came, I had been wondering what to do with myself. It was so nice to have company, even if it was just Vance and even though I knew Dimitri, who I was trying my damnedest not to think about was the one who had sent him. I smiled a little as Vance walked past me into the living room. It was no wonder he had looked wary when I had opened that door. He had probably been expecting me to throw him out or to tell him off like I had done Dimitri."What have you been doing with yourself since you got back?"With his hands thrust into his pockets, Vance turned to face me.I shrugged. "Just resting. Mostly."Was he going to talk to me about returning to Dimitri's house? I sincerely hoped not. To my relief, he didn't pursue the subject. After I had
VALERIA"For goodness sake!"The furious exclamation came from directly behind me as I got close to my office. How has he materialized so quickly? When I had stepped out from the elevator, I had not gotten a glimpse of him. I had been sure I would make it to my office without the 'discussion' which would in reality be an argument that was sure to follow. It turned out he had seen me after all.Now I could hear him stomping after me. A second later he had my wrist in a grip that was firm enough to be uncomfortable, but not firm enough to hurt."Move," he growled when I planted my feet and stared at him mutinously."Move," he repeated.I didn't. There was no one observing us yet, but even if they were, I would not care. They knew there was something between us anyway and I was done having Dimitri have his way. He simply dragged me along. With his superior strength, I was powerless to resist. He shut the door of my office immediately we were in. With his back to the door so I could not m
VALERIAI opened the door and Dimitri was standing right there, at the front door of my house. I had not sent for him. I had not invited him. He had not told me he was coming and I had certainly not given him permission to. Several times I had clearly told him that I didn't want to have anything to do with him, and yet here he was."What are you doing here?" I bit off."Valeria, we need to talk," he said.Talk. I knew that was what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth."Leave now," I ordered.He gave no indication that he had heard me. I hurried to close the door in his face. My bare foot slipped on the tile. I put out my hand to grab something to regain my balance. My hands touched nothing but air and I went down. The force of the fall knocked all the breath from my body and I just lay there, panting, gasping for breath, riding the waves of pain that came from my waist region which had taken the brunt of the fall. Dimitri, calling my name frantically was at my side in
Valeria's POV"You have to stop letting him use you like this, Val and you know it," Ivy said with a terse note in her voice. I blinked in fake surprise. "What-""-Am I talking about? You've glanced at your wristwatch for like a hundred times since we started talking, and I don't need a mind-reader to tell me that you're counting the minutes till you see him again. If only you knew..."I raised a brow. "Knew what?"My friend's face tightened, the way it usually did when she had bad news to import. Then she spoke with hardly a pause for breath. "Val, Dimitri just got engaged to Summer, the daughter of the CEO of Wood Group."She placed her hand on mine in sympathy. I just stared at her, my mouth agape, as I struggled to comprehend what she had just said. 'Dimitri, my boss and my lover was engaged, to be married to Summer,' I kept repeating, over and over in my head. I swallowed.That meant all these years I had spent loving him had all come to nothing. That meant that our contract wa
Dimitri's POV"What is that?" I asked. "My resignation letter."I was so surprised that I could have gotten knocked down by a feather. I stared from Valeria to the letter she held out to me in utter disbelief. On her face was an expression that I had never seen before- stubborn determination. My mind whirled in a hundred different directions. Docile, obedient Valeria turned me down? That was a laugh. What I had said about money probably hadn't registered yet. Or maybe it had, and she was just playing hard to get so I could improve on my offer. "I told you that money is no object," I said slowly. "Name your price, and let's get this negotiation over with."She threw the paper on the bed. "And I told you that I'm not interested in your money. I don't care how much you want to offer. I'm done."I gave her a once over, taking in her skin tight jeans and close fitting shirt. The look was meant to be insulting, and I felt a savage sort of pleasure when she flushed under my steady gaze.
Valeria's POVI took the morning off to see my grandmother in the hospital, like I usually did.I found her sitting up in bed, her nose nearly touching the magazine she was reading. As I watched, she stifled a yawn. I exhaled in relief, glad to see that she was in good form today. I loved this woman. She had raised me because my parents were not in the picture.I didn't know why they had abandoned me. Whenever I tried to ask her questions about my parents, my grandma would go awfully quiet, and she would tell me that my parents and I were not meant to be together or to know things about each other. But I knew she was not happy with the way things were because her greatest wish was for me to get married and start a family of my own before she died. She was always harping on that. She looked around, caught sight of me, and smiled. "Come in, pumpkin. Come in," she called in her high, tremulous voice, as she waved me inside. "Why are you standing over there?""Hi, grams." I walked over