Cora

I stood frozen, tense and shocked to my core. She wasn't supposed to find out, not like this and not now. Especially with Ivan in the basement

"Tell me it's not true"? She asked in a whisper, I couldn't form the words past the lump in my throat, I could hear my own heartbeat "Tell me it's not true Cora"!! She yelled and I exhale out loudly trying to calm my racing heart and my sweaty palms.

"What's going on here"? Enzo asks walking towards Cara from behind, his eyes darting between his wife and I in confusion "Baby I heard your voice from the living room, what's wrong"? He asked examining her, her eyes still fixated on me with so much pain and maybe tears too.

I can see her fist her hands tightly, she's trying not to flare up and my silence isn't even helping.

"Cora what's going on? Someone talk to me" Enzo voices out with frustration looking at me and I just look away.

"Who did this to you"? She asks her voice already cracking and tears glistening in her eyes, I just look at her and turn my head.

I don't even know what to say or if I'm even supposed to say anything. I feel my chest tighten with a familiar ache, as much as I try to hide it, I can't stand seeing my sister like this, it breaks my heart.

"Cora, which one of them touched you"? She gritted out with anger, Enzo just stands there clueless, watching both of us.

Thank God the house was void of any of his men, this would have been something else.

I look up at her and I see her trying to hold back the tears, and then a look flashed in her eyes before she dashes out of the kitchen and head out.

It takes me a minute before I realize where she's going and I rush out to follow her, she's going to kill him.

Enzo follows behind us, still as clueless as ever but I think he understands what's going on

"He didn't do anything, Cara wait" I almost yell following her but she doesn't stop, not until she enters into the basement and i follow, right behind me is Enzo.

She grabs a fitful of his collar before throwing the first punch.

"It wasn't him, stop" I try to stop her but muscular arms encircle me, stopping me from moving, it's Enzo.

"Let me go" I struggle to get out but it's of no use as I watch her land punch after punch and each one breaks me.

"You like to take advantage of innocent and vulnerable girls huh"? She mutters hitting him hard.

His face is bloodied and I can't tell if he's still conscious or not, his head lolls to the side as she keeps hitting him.

Her knuckles are covered in blood, his blood.

"Enzo please let me go, she's going to kill him" I plead desperately but it falls on deaf ears

"How do you like a taste of your own medicine"? She asks before landing yet again another punch

"Cara stop, he didn't do anything" I plead my voice barely audible through the tears. "You're going to kill him" I plead with her

She lands a kick to his face, sending him flying to the hard floor before she stops, not even looking at me, she storms out of the basement.

Only then does Enzo let's me go, following his wife closely. I'm scared to go close to him, he's not moving.

He hit his head pretty bad, there's blood everywhere, I crawl slowly towards him and only when I'm very close to him, do I notice the slight rise and fall of his chest.

I release a breathe of relief, he's still alive. Thank God he's still alive, but his face is barely recognizable, I craddle his head close to my chest as I try to look at his face without feeling bad.

This is all my fault If I had hidden the goddamn test very well, Cara wouldn't have found it and beaten him to pulp.

I'm already crying silently as I pull his head closer to my chest. He doesn't deserve this Ivan is too nice to be going through all this. He wasn't the one that kidnapped me or even tortured me.

Why isn't Dimitri coming for him? Does he not know that his cousin is here and suffering? Of course he doesn't know We're states away from him.

____________________________________

I come back with a towel and bowl of water with some aspirin and a bottle of water. I'm not surprised to find him already awake and sitting upright on the floor.

I gently walk towards him before crouching down and sitting in front of him, his eyes are trained on me, making me feel conscious of the whole room

It's cold and stinks, just like Dimitri's. He doesn't say anything as I slowly take two aspirin out of the bottle and hand it to him.

He takes it and I open the water and hand it to him before he gulps the aspirin in one go. His eyes are still on me, staring at me and making me feel an uneasiness in my stomach, his face is now almost purple, the initial beating had almost healed up but now it's all covered with fresh marks, cuts and blood.

He watches my every move as I soak the towel in water and squeeze it before gently moving my hand towards his face

Both of us not saying anything to each other, his eyes not leaving my face I gulp hard, throughout my six months locked up in Dimitri's basement, I had never felt so nervous in the presence of Ivan, as I was today.

I use the towel to clean a part of his lip that had dried blood on it, he doesn't flinch or react to the cold water, instead he just stares at me.

With a look I can't decipher, I can't tell if he's mad, angry or sad. For the first time since I met him, he has no emotion on his face, which scares me to my core.

Deciding to break the tension in the room, I finally speak up, not meeting his eyes "I'm sorry" I whisper.

I go ahead to clean the rest of his face gently, so as not to cause any more damages than Cara already did.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this, I didn't know she'd find the test in my bathroom, I'm pretty sure I hid it very well" I continue my rambling but a light chuckle stops me, I look up to find Ivan looking at me with amusement.

"You're doing it again" he mutters, I can barely hear him but I know what he said.

"Doing what"? I whispered out confused.

"You talk endlessly when you're nervous" he says making me go still, how did he know this? No one has ever been able to notice this

"How did you know"? I ask him and he just smiles

"I'm very observant Cora" he says before adjusting himself on the ground "especially when it comes to people I like" he adds making me blush hard.

Ivan just said he likes me. Wait, Ivan likes me? He's not mad

"Aren't you angry"? I ask and he just cocks a brow at me

"Do I have a reason to be"? He asks casually

"My sister beat you up" I mutter out, wanting to add the part that I'm pregnant for his cousin but I shut up, I still don't know his thoughts on that

"She was pissed, I understand. Maybe I deserve it" he says looking into space as if in deep thoughts "Dimitri beat you up too" he mutters, his jaw clenching.

He's blaming himself for all that?

"Dimitri did worse than beat you up" he says with pain lacing his voice and his eyes. "My cousin got you pregnant" he says lowly making me tense "And I did nothing to stop him, so yes I think I understand your sister's anger" he says with finality.

I don't even know how to respond to it. He thinks he's to blame for what Dimitri did to me. But he's wrong He's so wrong

Because he did a lot for me. If not for him, I would have ran mad in that house. He saved me countless times from Dimitri. Hell he even fought his cousin for me

I don't say anything, I just move closer to him and wrap my arms around him. I feel him tense for a second before he relaxes.

"I'm going to get you out of here, I promise" I whisper against his shoulder.

Woo This is getting intense 😩😩 I can feel the tension from here guys