Victor

So many times I've stood in front of a gun, training and putting my life on the line. Without thinking, without worries and regrets, without thinking about 'what' and 'if', without feeling even the slightest tremor of the heart, without succumbing to the impulse of adrenaline, with pure thought and consciousness I threw myself against the bullets and led my men forward. And I was surviving, winning, conquering. Because this is my life, kill or be killed, losing was not an option, it was not a way out.

My life was empty, its only meaning was fulfilling my duties and I was doing it well. I was my father's son, I followed his covenant, I lived like the monster he created, merciless and overfed, empty and unfeeling.

"Shit!" with one sweep I swept everything on the desk, grabbed the chair and swept it against the wall, breathing heavily, without taking my eyes off the pieces of wood that scattered on the carpet. "Damn bastard!" I looked around frantically, looking for the next victim of my wrath. "Calm down you bitch, you're not getting anywhere and you're scaring the girls!" Damien tried to grab me but he was too slow and I was too mad. Dominic jumped to his defense, but that only made me angrier.

"It's all your fault!" I roared and slammed my fist right into Damien's nose before Dominic could grab my arm. "You and the desire to be better than me!" I continued, trying to touch Damien's now bloodied face once more. "Victor!" Ophelia lunged in front of him, unsteadying me enough to find myself in Dominic's grasp. "Calm down,Vic!" he screamed, grabbing my armpits from behind and locking his fingers behind my neck.

"Victor!" Christina stood in front of me and cupped my face, Simon stood behind her, hovering over her head ready to protect her if I didn't hear her and tried to attack her. "Look at me,Victor" she gripped my face tighter and pulled my head towards her, staring straight into my eyes. "Elena and the baby need you,Victor" Christina began slowly and controlled and I let out a hopeless howl of helplessness. "You need to calm down, now you are a husband and a father, your wife and your child need you, your strength and experience in such situations" she continued and I snapped at her like an angry dog.

"I know you love Elena, Victor, I also know that most of us are useless right now, that you probably don't trust us and don't even want to look at us, but we're here to help in any way we can, Victor, so please "for the sake of Elena and your son, calm down!" she raised her voice, but what caught me off guard was the slap that sent my head spinning hard to the side and the sharp gasp of air before I sagged in Dominic's arms.

My anger drained out and I glared at her again. I looked down and watched as Simon wrapped his arms around Christina and pulled her a little further away from me, I watched as her body pressed against his, the protective way his fingers dug into her stomach, as she lifted her head back, smiled at him and covered his hand with her palm, a manner similar to the one Elena had when I held her like that.

I took a deep breath and let it out, closed my eyes and tried to put my thoughts and feelings in order. I can't, no matter how hard I try, closing my eyes I see only Elena, her smile, her face, her look full of love and trust when she looks at me. A trust that I betrayed, I failed and now only God knows how my wife and child are doing.

"Let him go, Dominic" I opened my eyes and now Ophelia was standing in front of me. Her gaze shifted from me to Dominic, she nodded and his grip on my neck relaxed. "Come on, Victor" she spread her arms and I looked at her as if suddenly I'm not the one who's raging in anger, but she's the one who's totally out of her mind. "Come on" she urged me and I looked up looking around at Christina, Simon and Damien who just shrugged. "Oh, for God's sake, come here!" Ophelia huffed and I found myself bent over, wrapped in her arms, patted on the back like I was a child in need of reassurance, hating the fact that it was working.

"I've known Elena almost all my life" her voice in my ear was low and calm. "I have never seen her as happy as I have in the last year and as much as I judge who and what you are, I will never forget the confidence in her eyes, the warmth of her smile, whenever she talks about you, Victor" I hate, that her words work for me, I hate that I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, clutching at straws like a drowning man, for the thought that Ophelia is closer to Elena than Christina and that I use her hug to feel closer to my wife.

"Elena trusts you, Victor, I'll be damned if I know what she finds in you, but I know that right now, wherever she is, Elena knows that you will do anything to get to her in time" I slowly nodded and I squeezed her tighter. "I feel powerless,Ophelia" I grunted low and she snorted. "Is that so?" I shook my head and smiled slightly crookedly. "Then show me why Elena trusts you so much, Victor, be the man worthy of Elena's love and save them both, will you?" I nodded and felt her arms tighten around me.

"How many?" Marcus rubbed his neck thoughtfully. "About twenty men" he replied and I sighed. "Okay,Damien?" I looked at Damien, who was holding Ophelia as if I was going to attack her at any moment. "About eighty on the line, but I can call more that are on break" he shrugged and I shifted my gaze to Dominic. "I have a few acquaintances who can do the job" he answered my silent question and I nodded. "So a total of a hundred per line, Dominic and whatever we find on the side" I turned the plan of the house towards me and rested my palms on the desk, looking at the sketch.

That's what I needed, a nice slap to get me back in the game. Until Ophelia hugged me, I didn't even realize how dependent I had become. I feel an indescribable need for Elena. Just the thought of her can calm me down or drive me crazy in equal measure. I love her, from the first moment I never doubted my feelings for her or how important she would be to me, I just didn't fully realize the extent of my need until I was in a position where I could lose her .

"Simon, see how many of the Craven Groups security you can gather without leaving the building unprotected, get the weapons department and warehouses ready, we'll need everything available. Marcus will help you arm the men" Simon nodded and pulled out his phone. "Dominic, take care of the air, I want as much sniper power as possible, everything you have, Damien and I take the ground attack, I don't want any mistakes. The last thing my wife and son need right now is to leave something to chance" Dominic nodded, turned on his heel and left the office.

"I'll get the cars ready" Damien looked at me, looking between me and Ophelia. I get it, for years he and I had been much more than rivals for power and territory, and his girlfriend, even if she was my wife's friend, had just slapped me a few minutes ago and now Damien was wondering if he could trust me enough, to leave Ophelia with me in the same room, if he is not near to protect her. I think he is the person who understands me best at the moment. And he, just like me, met a woman who drives him crazy, purely by chance, but I know from his look that he would do anything for her, that's exactly why he hasn't pierced me like a sieve yet, because he knows how I feel.

I made a mock offended expression and he snorted, kissing Ophelia on the lips and giving me one last warning look before walking out as well. "What are you going to do?" Ophelia stood to one side of me and looked down at the house plan I was looking at. "To take back my wife and my child" I curled my fingers into fists on the side of the sketch, trying with my eyes to burn the paper, as if that would magically return Elena to my arms.

"Thank you" I murmured quietly and Ophelia sat on the edge next to my arm, crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at the ceiling. "Until a year ago, Elena was just an innocent, inexperienced girl. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean it as something negative, but the fact is that Elena had no concept of life, she was too naive and trusting and somehow, I felt the need to protect, to teach her, because I accept her as my younger sister" I looked at her and smiled sadly. And I saw Elena the same way, not the part with the sister, but as something too pure and innocent for this terrible world.

"I was terrified when she told us about your arranged marriage, I was afraid that a man who didn't love her would crush her heart and throw it in the mud, because I know how easily Elena falls in love, although never before that love was aimed at a man. Then she told us what you were like and my fear turned into something much more. I was afraid that Elena wouldn't make it, that you would squeeze everything out of her, and in the end she would end up, if not in some pot, unrecognizable, then in the hands of your enemies and you will do nothing to save her" I stood up and shook my head, placing my hands on her shoulders.

"Elena's not just my wife, Ophelia, she's all I have, all I've ever looked for. It's impossible not to love her, even less likely to stand by and watch her hurt and not do nothing" Ophelia smiled and grabbed my forearms. "Yes, now I know, as I see how Elena blossomed, how she refuted all my fears and became a strong woman, much stronger than I could have imagined" I pulled her and hugged her. I needed it, right now Ophelia and Christina were all I had of Elena and I somehow wanted to keep them as close as possible.

"Bring them home,Victor" Ophelia buried her face in my chest and sniffed. "Definitely Offie, I won't stop until Elena is home, I promise!" it was more an oath to myself than to Ophelia. My heart needed reassurance that his love would not be lost, and though I directed my promises to Ophelia, I was really selfishly making them to myself.

"I need a hug too" Christina sobbed and Ophelia and I pulled away from each other to make room for her. I wasn't completely right, but I wasn't wrong either. Holding my wife's two closest friends in my arms, sobbing and looking for support, trusting me to bring Elena home, was enough to give me the strength to suppress the feelings of despair and helplessness I felt until a moment ago .

"They'll be fine, both of them" I mumbled and looked over their heads at Simon still on the phone and Marcus silently watching us with a determined expression. Elena has changed so much for each of us. She brought light where darkness reigned, banished shadows and made monsters look like stuffed toys. No one, not even me, nor her best friends, guessed exactly what Elena was capable of, no one would have ever believed a year ago that such a small, so naive woman could turn our lives around so drastically.

But Elena did. The impossible. She brought me back to life, she taught me what it is to love and be loved, she gave me so much that a lifetime, no, ten lifetimes would not be enough to prove to her exactly how much I love her or to thank her, but now she was carrying my child and would soon make me a father too. I don't know how I ever lived without her. Everything I have is thanks to Elena, not money or power, but this right now. It brought me even closer to my best friends, turned a rivalry into friendship, gave two couples a chance to find love and everything, just because she was Elena, she was herself and managed to make us open our hearts and see the truth with that natural manner of hers, as if she were just pouring a glass of water.

"All set, I'll jump over to Craven Groups and get the weaponry ready" Marcus and Simon walked towards the door, which just opened and Damien and Collins entered. "One hundred and fourteen men, I don't have the weaponry of the Craven Groups, so we're relying on you" I nodded and smirked. "Let's bring my wife home, and then I promise that in return, you will receive as a gift the best that the Craven Group's weapons department can provide!" Damien laughed and Ophelia pulled away from our embrace to snuggle into his.

Elena

I went through so many, there were times when I doubted there was something else I could bear, pulling my last millimeters of force to stand on my feet, smile and move on. I lost the number of wounds that my heart and soul suffered, but still, somehow I found my strength again and took the next step.

My father and everything he caused me, I had to accept and get used to the thought of what kind of man I got married, how dangerous it is and that I will always have to look over my shoulder, I will be guarded to my teeth and none of my step will I went unnoticed, I accepted that my children would grow up in this way, and probably one of them awaits him the same fate as his father. So much, and again, I found the strength to accept it and be happy.

Why?

Because I had my friends and Victor.

They were next to me every step. Christina with her strange playfulness that makes people think she is a brainless beauty whose carelessness means that nothing interests her, nothing affects her, never reaches her when I know it is her way. Christina is optimistic to the brain of her bones, there are no impossible things for her, there is a crossroads between two decisions, and she enjoys waiting for these solutions to appear.

Ophelia and her sewn face that makes you feel like a god -men's if you ever manage to see her smile. Eternal voice of reason, always criticizing, eternally pessimistic -looking people and situations from every corner, as if trying to see the invisible, for D pointed it out and to tell you 'Did I tell you' when this is her way to show that She loves you and keeps you.

Ophelia and her sewn face that makes you feel like a god -men's if you ever manage to see her smile. Eternal voice of reason, always criticizing, eternally pessimistic -looking people and situations from every corner, as if trying to see the invisible, for pointing it out and telling you 'Did I tell you' when this is her way to show that she loves you and is concerned about you.

And Oscar. The ideal combination of optimism and pessimistic realism. Dear, sweet, sometimes a strict Oscar. The only man who approached me before Victor, the only man after my father I have ever trusted. I couldn't wait to tell him that I was pregnant, to tell him that I expect to always be with my son, to be the uncle my baby would need.

"Why?" I didn't want to, but my voice broke slightly. "Why are you doing all this, Oscar, what do you aim?" his dark eyes looked like huge abyss of madness and hatred. "Why?" he repeated his hands on the back of the chair he had twisted and propped his chin, tilting his head as if looking at something really interesting. "Are you really so blind, Elena?" he snorted out and his head swing on the other side.

"Little, sweet, naive, defenseless Elena, who has never known the world" there was a crazy gleam in his eyes that made me shudder and for a moment forget the pain in my wrists and ankles, to feel a pain stronger than this in my throbbing head. "It's so easy to trick you, like child's play" he clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Day after day, I stood beside you, across from you, smiling at you, coming to your house and sleeping there and you never noticed, did you?" he chuckled, sighed and sniffed.

"Tell me, Elena, did you ever wonder why your father never got married after your mother died? Why while she was alive they never really got used to each other and each lived separate lives?" my eyebrows went down in confusion, what does my dad have to do with this? "I don't understand" something rose up in my chest, something bitter and with icy cold fingers, which squeezed my heart and made it skip a few beats with the feeling that at any moment I will find out something that will collapse my whole life.

"Your father is gay, Elena" Oscar declared triumphantly and I blinked in shock, holding my breath as his words burrowed into my mind like a worm digging a hole. "W...What?" my father? Gay? But how, he was married to a woman, he had a child, gays don't marry women, right? And even if they did for some reason, how do they find something arousing in a gender that doesn't attract them to make a child?

Oscar sighed and got up from the chair, pushing him aside, he paced back and forth with a smug expression, looking somewhere at the ceiling. "You must be shocked, right?" he laughed and stopped for a moment to look at me. "I admit I was shocked too, I won't bore you with the details, so here's a quickie" he stopped again, leaned forward until our faces were only inches apart and grinned. "Your father and I have had a relationship for the past six years" he stated and a sharp pain shot low from my stomach and stuck straight into my chest making me gasp.

"Yeah, yeah" he nodded and stood up, starting to pace back and forth again. Oscar and my father? Relationship? But how, when? How have I not noticed something like this in six years? It's true that I haven't been home most of the time, it wasn't long since I graduated, I spent what, a year or two in my home before I married Victor, but I would have noticed something like that, right?

"In the beginning it was just for fun" continued Oscar, as if it wasn't enough for him that I was already shocked. "You know, your father can be very nice, he used to give me presents, invite me to visit even before you came back, take me on vacations and I enjoyed myself. Everything" his tone was icy, calm, and yet, there was a note that made me imagine him in a straitjacket. "I didn't put much importance on our relationship until you came back and your father started talking about inheritance, how he was going to marry you off to a rich man, someone to inherit him and blah blah" he shook his head with an expression of disappointment.

"And then my plan began to take shape" he paused and dug the tip of his foot into the carpet. "You see, even before your father, I was already working with the Italians. Of course, I didn't expect your father to marry you off to someone like Victor Craven, I was surprised when you told us and a little angry that he didn't, so I had to to punish him, Elena" he approached me and I shuddered when he reached for me, but instead of me, he grabbed the chair I was tied to and spun me around.

Then he walked past me and I watched as he walked over to the huge wardrobe I was now sitting in front of, grabbed the double wooden doors and grinned at me for a moment before snapping them open and moving to the side. "Blessed God!" I screamed and closed my eyes, but even so, I saw my father's bloodied, lifeless face fly forward and down, and I heard the thump of his body on the floor.

"Ta-dam!" Oscar cackled hysterically. "You like the surprise, Elena?" his fingers dug into my cheeks, he threw my head back roughly and with his other hand grabbed my hair and pulled hard until I opened my eyes. "Why are you crying, Elena?" he made a surprised face, as if he didn't understand why my father's corpse could be the reason for me to shake uncontrollably and cry.

"No, no, no" he blinked, putting on a dumb sad expression and I sobbed. "You shouldn't cry for him, sweet Elena" he shook his head, letting go of my head and falling to his knees in front of me, placing his hands on my hips, looking at me pleadingly. Just how crazy is Oscar? And since when is he like that? How could he have fooled me for so long? To fool us all? My panic turned into indescribable fear. Everything I've heard so far, every word was a knife, no betrayal, no pain, was stronger than anything I'd heard in the last few minutes.

"Listen to me, Elena" his hands slid up my thighs, onto my stomach and he leaned forward, placing his cheek on my stomach. I threw myself, pulled the ropes and tried to get him away, at least to keep my baby away from this man, away from the fear and terror, away from the madness of cruel reality. But nothing helped, Oscar just lay on my stomach, smiling madly and caressing me gently. "Your father never loved you Elena, he never wanted you" he continued and I closed my eyes. How much more?

"We spent hours with him telling me how forced he was to marry your mother, pressured by norms and society, then how drunk he had to be to fuck her because he needed an heir, how disappointed he was that you were born a girl, so he did his best to at least raise you to find a suitable husband. And when you married Victor, I spent so many more hours listening to how much your father hated you both and that, after we've sucked each other's dicks and I've fucked his ass until he fell from exhaustion and yet the old man found the strength to spit on you again" I felt him move, his fingers dug into my stomach and I cried out, feeling a sharp pain stabs me in the back.

"But it's your fault too, Elena" he sighed and I opened my eyes sharply. Even if I didn't want it to, my gaze shifted from Oscar's insanely disappointed face to my father's corpse, half out of the closet, and I should probably be thankful it's on his face, because I don't know if I could have endured that sight. "All that was asked of you was to divorce Victor" he growled and stood up, bringing my attention back to him. "If you had listened to Nicholas, we wouldn't be here today, Elena" he shook his head and in the next moment, the slap threw my head back, this time causing pain in my stomach as well.

"If you had done that, instead of getting pregnant by the bastard, everything would have been different now, sweet Elena!" he screamed and his next slap made me taste blood in my mouth. "Now you and I could have been happily married, this baby could have been mine" he looked down at my belly and a strange smile played on his lips, bringing him to his knees again, he got on all fours and buried his face in my lap. "How....what?" I barely managed to cry and he looked up.

"Nicholas told you, didn't he? That he found you a suitable husband?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly and I nodded. "I was that husband, Elena, I was supposed to marry you and inherit everything, but you messed up" he sighed and sat back on his legs, patting his hands on his hips. "I was disappointed, but I couldn't let everything I worked my ass off for slip through my fingers. So I brought your father into the affairs of the Cosa Nostra, being careful to stay in the shadows so that even he wouldn't know that I have a hand in his connection with Sergio Gradoni" he bowed his head and closed his eyes, taking a breath.

"The deal was simple. Gradoni kills Victor and your father, I marry you and inherit the money, leaving the casinos as part of the Italians' territory. Simple, but Victor Craven turned out to be a damned immortal!" he jumped to his feet, grabbed his hair and started pulling it, looking around frantically. "That bastard husband of yours just refused to die!" Oscar continued hissingly. My heart flitted between uncontrollable terrified beats and complete stillness. I could no longer distinguish my own feelings, I could feel my tears, I could hear my sobs, but my mind, my body, were so numb that I just listened and watched, trying to avoid my father's body.

"If you had remained the same naive easy-to-control Elan, everything would be different now, sweet Elena!" he roared and I shook my head tearfully. "Please..." I don't know why I said that, what was I asking for? For myself? For my baby? It was too late for my father. But it was all I could do, pray and hope. To hope that Oscar will not hurt my child, to believe that Victor will find me, before something much more irreparable than my father's death happens, before I break down completely and give this pleasure to Oscar.

"Ooo, no, no, don't be afraid, Elena" Oscar shook his head and I watched as he walked back to the wardrobe, nonchalantly kicked my father's body out of the way and began rummaging through one of the upper shelves until pull out a folder. "This, sweet Elena, is our salvation" he picked up the folder and looked at her adoringly. "These documents list me as the sole guardian of your baby, which in turn makes me the heir not only to Mascot's money and properties, but to Craven's as well as the Craven Groups" my breath hitched and I stared at the folder, shaking my head.

"What? Don't you want your baby to inherit everything? To become one of the richest babies in Los Angeles, if not the entire world?" Oscar asked in surprise and I sobbed. "Think, Elena, it's true that you and his father won't be around when he's born, you won't see him grow up, but I promise I'll take good care of him" Oscar walked towards me again and I realized, that even if somewhere deep inside me there was some hope, Oscar's madness was too great and it erased every light that I tried to keep, that everything would end well, that Victor would show up on time, that I would see my child.

"Oscar, for God's sake, please don't!" I cried desperately as he knelt next to me again, placed the folder on the floor, reached into his inside jacket pocket, pulled out a pen, placed it on top of the folder, and then leaned forward on my lap and I felt him untie one of my hands. "All you have to do is sign, sweet Elena" he continued, as if he hadn't heard my words, as if I were a mute participant in his plan, who was nothing more than a puppet without any meaning. "Then it will all be over very quickly" my hand drooped numbly, my fingers felt icy and I was unable to even try to move them to get my blood circulating.

Oscar sat on his heels, took and opened the folder and placed it on my stomach, reaching for the pen with a contented expression. My mind went wild, working frantically, looking for something, some way to avoid all this, to slow down events, to give Victor time to find me. And as if my son wanted to show me that he understood me, that he knew he was in danger and wanted to help me, a sharp pain shot through me, I screamed and threw my head back with my eyes closed, biting my lips to try not to deliver more Oscar's sick pleasure.

"Whoah, look what you did, mommy!" despite my fear and pain, despite the panic, I somehow managed to open my eyes. Oscar was standing a step away, looking at my lap with huge eyes and a big smile. Cold shivers ran through me, my ears filled with a wet clap and my body shook. "Looks like I won't have to force my son out" Oscar laughed and I gaped at my lap getting wet. That was it, it couldn't get any worse, and I didn't have the strength to take it anymore.

A wave of pain shot through me and my scream mingled with the sound of shouting, gunfire and the smashing of something massive.