Cora

He started taking menacing steps towards me making me feel small and vulnerable, he had this look in his eyes, they almost seemed inhumane.

"I don't know how you did it, but you have my cousin on a leash already" he muttered lowly glaring at me, his sage green eyes piercing into my skull, I just shake my head with the little strength I have.

I don't even know what he's talking about, what does he mean I have his cousin on a leash? I didn't even ask for any of this.

"You're sly and cunning, which is why I have you down here" he said stopping in front of me before taking steps towards the table, God please don't let him torture me again.

"Your husband has called me, he didn't seemed thrilled that I have his wife locked up in my basement" he muttered clattering the knives in the table.

My ear perk at the mention of Lorenzo, he has called, they know where I am, oh God I feel like breathing out in relief.

Cara will come find me, Enzo, they both know where I am and who has me and who he thinks I am, oh thank God

"He wants me to hand you over to him, but I don't think so, like I said, you'll be here until I have no further use for you" he says walking towards me with a small bottle in his hands.

It has no label and the content inside looks transparent, I wonder what it is.

"You have my cousin countering my orders in my own home, I'm going to punish you for that" he says walking towards me and I start shaking my head with each step he takes.

None of this is my fault, I didn't ask his cousin to argue with him, how is it my punishment to take?

"I'm going to break you Cara, by the time Lorenzo comes for you, you'd be nothing but a shadow of yourself" he mutters before holding my cut arm, the same one that had been bleeding for the past days or hours, I don't know.

The bottle in his hand is open and so is my wound, he then lowers the bottle on my arm and as soon as the contents of the bottle touches my arm I feel the air being sucked out of my lungs.

If I thought I felt pain when he cut me or drove his fingers into the open wound, I was fucking wrong, I hadn't felt pain like this in my life

I literally saw stars and felt as if the wound was being punctured with so many sterilized needles, every pain I felt before doubled by 10 and my head and ears became too heavy for me.

The only thing I can hear is the high pitched screaming, which echoes around the basement, apparently it's coming from me.

My vision gets blurry and my head lolls backwards as I give in to the darkness

_______________________________________

I feel like someone's touching me, more like touching my arm, I know I'm lying down because my head no longer feels heavy, but the throbbing is still there.

I can hear their breathing, slow, steady and calm and also feel their touch on my skin, I'm still on the cold, hard floor.

I open my eyes slowly, I can't make out the face of the person in front of me, he's talking and at the same time tying something around my arm, I close my eyes back and will myself to open them.

One more time I try and this time they actually stay open, I squint them to be able to make out whosoever is crouching in front of me, my eyes move from their shoes which is brown up to their pants, blue pants and then a white tank top.

Brown hair, attractive face, Hazel eyes, Russian accent. Ivan, Ivan is the one crouching in front of me, he seems to be..... Putting a bandage over my wounded arm.

I try to get up but he just look at my face and shakes his head

"You shouldn't move too much, you lost a lot of blood" he muttered but I don't pay any mind to him and I steadily and painfully sit up.

My hands are no longer tied, I look around and I'm still in the basement, the torture table still here and so is the chair.

My eyes move back to Ivan and he's muttering incoherent words under his breath while working my bandage.

"He's not always like this" he mutters without meeting my eyes, I know he's talking about Dimitri but I couldn't care less to even answer.

I just stare at him, calculating his every movement and taking in his face up close, he does look like Dimitri but younger and calmer. Probably this is was what Dimitri looked like before he became the Devil.

Ivan noticed my silence and his eyes move from the bandage to my face, he stares at me for a while before going back to my arm and muttering words in Russian.

"How long was I out"? I croaked out, my throat feel dry and parched, maybe even bruised from all the screaming I did before passing out.

He looks at me sympathetically before breathing out "A day" he muttered and my eyes widened in shock

I'd been passed out for a day? Holy shit. And I'm just getting covered up in bandage now?

"Don't worry, I've treated the wound yesterday and also this is just me dressing it" he says answering my questions as if he could read my thoughts

I just keep staring at him as I drown out the rest of his words, he doesn't seem like the others, not like Vissarion or Dimitri.

He's more compassionate, not like the regular Russia mafia men I've heard about.

"Why are you being nice to me"? I blurt out, his eyes snap from what he's doing and meet mine, his lips tug in what would seem like a smile.

Personally it's not like I hate him being nice, I'm just wondering why, what if it's a trap or a plan to get me to let down my guard, no one in the mafia is nice, not even Enzo

Yes I've seen and heard things he's done too, the only difference is, Enzo thinks he's doing it to help and he says he only ever kills bad people.

"Not every Russian is Evil, Cara" he mutters, the way he says my name and the way his accent makes it sound "and besides you don't strike me like a heartless, viscious assassin everyone has been talking about" he adds going back to my wound.

That's because I'm not, I don't even know the first thing about killing someone, what if I actually tell him the truth? Will he help me escape Dimitri, or will he rat me out and have me killed?

If there's one thing I've learned in the mafia, is to never trust anyone. Not even if they're family. Ivan may be nice to me, but at the end of the day he's still Dimitri's cousin and he has sworn his allegiance to the Russian mafia family.

"And maybe I like you Cara, more than I should" he adds lowly before shrugging his shoulder at my stare.

"Dimitri's not gonna like this" I mutter and I see him chuckle a bit before letting go off my arm

"All done" he mutters and then he looks at me with a smile "Personally I don't care what he likes, you needed help and I rendered mine" he said with a shrug.

He then goes ahead to sit close to me, I look over at him thinking he's crazy, why is he sitting here with me?

"Don't worry, he's not going to kill me" he says quietly "and I'm flattered you're worried about me" he says making me turn my head back so I'm looking in front of me

We sit together in silent, it's not uncomfortable or awkward, just filled with unspoken words and unanswered questions.

I decide to break the ice after thinking for a while "You're different" I whisper out

"Yeah I know, a lot of people tell me that" he says looking at me

"I think that's why your cousin hates your guts" I tell him and he just chuckles

"Dimitri doesn't hate me or my guts, he's just confused" he says looking into space "He's not as bad as people think"

"Yeah I know, he's worse than what people actually think" I mutter out and Ivan just laughs

"No, he's not, I kind of understand why he does a lot of things he does, he's the Don, everyone looks up to him, he feels burdened sometimes, at the end of the day he's only human and he's protecting those he care about" he says seriously.

"From what"? I ask and Ivan just looks at me a pained expression crossing his face before he replaces it back with a ghost smile.

"You're part of the underworld Cara, you should understand too" he says, if only you knew Ivan that I know nothing about all of this. "Given what I've heard and seen about you and what you do, if you were in his shoes, you'd probably do much worse" he adds

Do you think Dimitri is being unfair?

What does Ivan mean by if Cara/Cora were in Dimitri shoes she'd do much worse??