Chapter 65: Chapter 65

(Dmitri’s Thoughts)

The moment I laid my eyes on her, I was completely astounded by her beauty. I’ve been watching her from afar, but the first time I’d garnered the strength to talk to her was in Austria.

The moment she entered the bar, I heard bartenders gossiping about her. After all, she was the most beautiful of them all.

Her beauty stood out effortlessly. I had no plans to talk to her, I just wanted to meet and see her, how she really looked like in the flesh, but who would have thought, that would be our first meeting.

Well, for her, that is. I reminisced the memory of ever first talking to her, as she took a rest on my bed tonight.

This scandal took a toll on her big time, and because of me and my obsession with her, I put her into a difficult spot. Her company wronged her big time, and she took the fall.

I hated myself seeing her like this. I think I ruined her. Her glow suddenly fades away when she’s with me. Why am I born like this?

When I asked her to live with me, I am considering having a relationship with her, but, I still can’t bring myself to do it, thanks to my mom, by the way.

So when I had a chance at Key Largo, I brought up the sex contract just to be with her, to keep her on my side. But seeing her getting intimate with my secretary, Jeff.

It felt like a tear in my heart resides, especially when I saw that picture. I wanted to tear it apart.

That’s why I decided once we get home, I will try to give it a shot to have a relationship with her, maybe we can be happy like what she’s saying.

That’s why I sent that special gift to her, so she would see it and to make my intention clear. But then, this thing happened. And now, will she ever want to be with me again?

I clenched my fists hoping she would still want to see me.

However, it feels like it breaks my heart given that the first thing she ever said after waking up is “I want to go home, Dmitri.”

And here I think it is only a spur of the moment, but who would have thought it would be our last goodbye.

***

As she tells me those words while I drop her off, a part of me wants to tell me, no, every bit of me tells me to hug her, to cling to her, to not let her go because I might not see her again.

But I am a coward, I am a fucking coward, I am afraid that I might not be able to give her what she wants, the relationship she yearns for. I am afraid I will lose her for wanting more with her, just as I lost my mother.

“Stay, stay, don’t say goodbye, I, I think, I also love you. No, please, don’t say it, stay, Avery, stay!” these are the words I would like to tell her, but I decide to keep it to myself until the very end.

“Goodbye, Dmitri Sullivan,” there she goes. She is now saying goodbye. Then, she kisses me, on my lips, a kiss full of emotion, pain, and regrets. “Don’t go, please,” I badly want to scream these words, as she gets out of the car.

I feel tears flow nonstop. Am I crying? “If she looks back, I will definitely stop her. Look at me Avery, look.”

I grip the driving wheel so tight, hoping she will look back at me. But, but she didn’t.

My heart is torn into pieces.

“Fuck, Dmitri! Go get her, go after her,” a part of me wants to pull her back, but I didn’t do it. Instead, I drive off to forget, I drive off elsewhere.

I pick up my speed and don’t care about the other cars.

“Why, Avery? Why? Please come back to me?” I drive far away from her apartment.

Calls from different people keep on coming. I ignore all of it until one unexpected person calls me.

Greta says, “Dmitri, Nikolai Murrow, your brother-in-law, is calling, must I answer? He’s listed as one of your important contacts.”

My heart almost stops hearing Nik’s name pop out, at that moment, I know something is up, something seems wrong.

“Greta, I’ll take his Goddamn call,” I command her.

“Very well, transferring Nikolai’s call,” Greta confirms.

“Hello, Nik, why do you call? Now is not the time for my sister’s tantrums, you tell her,” I warn him.

“No, Dmitri, someone wants to talk to you, Kendra says it is important and she must talk to you right now,” he explains.

“Kendra? Put her on,” I tell him.

“Connecting call with Kendra Higgins, Nik’s mistress, Avery’s bestfriend,” Greta commands.

“Hello, what’s the-” I haven’t finished yet when she cuts me off,

“-Dmitri, what the hell did you do to Avery? She puts her apartment on sale! She’s leaving, Dmitri. Hurry!” she sounds hysterical and her stuffy nose means she’s crying.

I temporarily stop the car on the side. My heart beats faster and faster. “Leaving? Her house on sale? No, she wouldn’t dare!”

I keep on convincing myself she wouldn’t d such a thing because she is smart, wise, and brave. But why do I feel as if I will never get to see her ever again? No, no, no!

“Hey, are you listening, Dmitri? Please, stop her! Stop my bestfriend. Please!” Kendra begs on the other line, wailing like a child.

All of a sudden, Nikolai rejoins our conversation, “Uh, Dmitri, you better go back to her apartment, now!”

“What happened, babe> Is she okay?” K asks.

“What do you mean? Speak clearly, Nikolai!” I raised my voice.

“She just posted on her social media. She will do a live stream in five minutes,” Nikolai explains.

“What live stream?” K panics.

“What does it have to do with me?” I impatiently ask Nikolai.

“Everything is about you! She will explain her relationship with you! Hurry!” Nikolai says.

Hearing these, I understand why I feel so heavy burdened all of a sudden. Why?

“Nik, I am out of my way to her apartment, please go, I will get there as soon as I can. Please, brother?” I plead with him.

“Anytime, Dmitri. I’ll go now, I’ll keep you posted,” Nik accepts my request without any question.

“Nik, I’ll go, too,” K says.

And I hang up the phone. I search Avery’s profile that I’ve been stalking for months now. Although we aren’t friends or we don’t follow each other, her profile is public, so I can easily access it.

“Greta, show me Avery Anderson’s account and find her live stream now,” I command Greta.

“Very well, Dmitri. Searching Avery Anderson. Found, Searching Livestream, Found,” Greta easily does the work.

“Found 1 live stream, now playing,” Greta says and she displays Avery’s live stream on my car dashboard screen.

I can see a hotel, but she isn’t there yet, I can only see a red suitcase, a bed, and a chair in front of the camera, the room is not well-lit, but elegant.

I’ve never been to her room before, I only saw her living room when I sent the portrait over her apartment. Her bedroom looks more like a hotel room.

The camera is in widescreen mode, so I can see almost the whole bed frame, but I wonder about a thing, as far as I know, she told me about one particular thing she liked about her room, the glass panel wall. But I don’t see any here.

Nik and Kendra are together now and on their way to her apartment. I hope they get there on time.

I instruct Greta, ‘Send a message to Nikolai and Kendra, Message: Her live stream starts, let me know the update.“

Greta follows, “Message sent.”

Greta updates, “A voice mail receive from Kendra.”

“Play it,” I command her.

“Playing: Dmitri, that is not her room, no, it's not her apartment. I think she’s elsewhere, in a hotel,” Kendra says in her voice message.

“Fucking shit, Avery. Where the hell are you?” I curse at me, and her.

“Greta finds out where she’s live streaming from,” I command.

Then after a minute, Avery is seen on the monitor, and she starts with a statement.

“Hello, you know me, that’s why you are here listening to me, right? That’s correct, I am the infamous Elevator Girl or Alley Girl as you brand me,” she chuckles.

“Please make it in time, please? Avery, don’t say or do anything stupid, please!” I mumble to myself.

I continue to listen, her live stream reaches almost a hundred thousand views in just a minute, I turn off the comment section and just listen to what she has to say.

She continues while chuckling, “Maybe some of you, do not know me at all, and you don’t know what I did in order to climb to the top. I worked hard to get where I am right now, but that’s not even the oppressing matter, isn’t it?”

She takes a break and I can see her holding her tears back, “But you know, I got tired of working hard, so this time, I had to work smart.”

I don’t like the sound of her. I don’t like the way this live stream is going. No, don’t do that Avery. I beg of you. I am not even worth your sacrifice and hardship, especially your love.

Who gave you the idea to do it anyway? Then I come to a point of realization, “Did she hear me and my sister? Impossible!” I try to deny the fact, but it won’t matter anymore, would it?

“I, seduce Dmitri Sullivan in order to give me some advantage in getting the exclusive pitch for all his hotels. And I plan to use him even more, with this I am sorry. Either way, we all have our demons, so please don’t take your rage out of him, or his company. I am the one to blame anyway.”

“What the fuck, Avery? This is ridiculous!” I yell inside the car alone. I yell at her on the live stream.

“You know that’s not true. It is the other way around. I destroy you! It is the other way around, why are you saying this?” I pound my steering wheel even more.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I cry out loud.

“Incoming call from Nikolai,” Greta informs me.

“Answer,” I say.

“Did you watch her? What the hell is she saying? Kendra’s steaming mad here, but we can’t find her, can you locate the hotel?” Nikolai updates me.

“I ask Greta to trace the live stream, but she’s having a hard time, I don’t know what to do? I asked her to stay put because my men are on their way to catch the bastard who leaked the video,” I tell him with so much anger in me.

“She loves you, that’s what happened!” Nikolai’s words resonate in my mind.

And I hung up.

“Yes, she does it because of love. What about me? What have I done for her?” I drive faster even though I don’t know where to go.

“Avery, please wait for me. I am ready, I will take my chance with you.”