Like Never Before

Viviana thought that he will shift her elsewhere. For some reason, he needed her to serve him his medications. She did what he asked of her.

Katerina entered the room, picked up the dirty sheets and plates, and left the room. Leander made the bed himself.

Rubbing her belly, Viviana watched him. Her tummy was not feeling well. She was nauseated as she had to eat a lot. She offered help, but he asked her to stand aside. She didn't bother him afterward.

Her eyes were on Leander, but her heart was thinking about the days she spent with her friends. She was the only one in their group who could make the bed pretty well and so whenever she went to their house, they will ask her to make their bed.

They called her the "bedsheet whisperer" jokingly because she makes the bed perfectly like in a five-star hotel.

Now they are all gone, and she is here in Leander Kastello's room, eating food earned from blood money and watching Leander Kastello making his bed. Her eyes clouded without her control, and she bowed her head.

She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Leander finished making the bed. He didn't know why his heart was racing. He was nervous about sharing the bed. They've been sleeping in the same bed for days.

However, it was going to be different today. She was not unconscious.

"Which side?" he asked covering his mouth with the back of his hand to conceal his smile.

She was not answering. Her shoulders were drooped, and she was staring at the floor. He lost his smile and pressed his lips. Her teary face was unbearable. His chest hurt.

She might be sad that all her efforts went to waste. But it is his duty to protect his brother. He won't regret that.

He did regret telling her about it. He should have found other ways to keep her focused. And now she is crying.

"Hey!" he shouted to get her attention.

Viviana winced out of her thoughts. He was looking at her and she turned to show him her back to wipe her tears. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her suffering.

He did say that he will make her suffer and that she will regret everything. Maybe that's why he saved her life—to make her life more unbearable than it already was.

He is invoking her friends any chance he gets to make her feel guilty that she was the one who survived. He is gloating that they are dead because they feared him.

Despicable! Wicked! Heartless devil!

He is holding her life in his hand to not let her die. That thought made her feel helpless. She was alone, in a dangerous place. Her inability to do anything to change her position depressed her.

Leander Kastello is that powerful to decide when she dies. He is keeping her alive just to make her suffer. No human should have such power over another human.

What can she do if she can't even control her life?

"Which side?" he asked again.

She said nothing and took the side close to the big window. She wanted to look at the stars through the window and watch bats fly to further grieve for her lost freedom. Hugging her legs into a fetal position, she cried silently just like she used to do when she was young.

She thought her life was hard then and it had only turned harder. But she is to blame this time. What brought her to this wretched state is her thirst for revenge. Maybe this is her hell on earth.

Or maybe that guy was right to call her out.

Maybe she didn't want to die. Maybe there is a place in the bottom of her heart, where she still keeps her wish to live. She wanted to live a great life a very long time ago. Maybe that's why she always finds herself alive even after putting herself in danger time after time.

Smoking didn't kill her, crossing the road during heavy traffic didn't kill her, the explosion that killed her parents didn't kill her, jumping from a building and into the river didn't kill her, and the fire that took Leo from her…spared her only for her to suffer alone!

Leander let out a long sigh as he watched her. She was almost hanging at the edge of the bed. He tried covering her with the duvet but she pushed it away each time. Although there was no sound from her, he had a feeling that she was crying.

His heart squished in pain. He couldn't understand this pain. He had never felt this way, not even when he watched "the love of his life" saying "I do" to the heir of the Palatini family.

He loved her and she loved him. Yet her family decided that would have a better life as the heiress and so she was married into the enemy family of the Kastello family. He attended the wedding. Nicholai Palatini wanted him, specifically, at his wedding.

His heart was crushed seeing the one he thought would be his bride, standing beside another man twice her age. But still, he could find himself giving her his hearty blessings. He wanted her to live well.

She is alive. He'd see her at times, just as a passing face in a crowd, at parties, among the others he knows. She has two girls and she'd smile brightly as if she was living her best life whenever he sees her at parties. But he had no idea if she was living well as she wanted.

Leander sighed staring at the ceiling. He is thinking about "her" after a very long time. It is funny that he is not even disturbed a bit to think that she is not his. That feeling kind of disappeared when he saw her kiss her husband. It hurt at first, though. He thought he could never get over it when she told him that she is marrying another man.

But here he is. Just fine…

He rolled over to look at Viviana. Her shoulders were shaking. And so did the foundation of his heart. He thought his heart would rip out of his chest from the pain.

This woman… the woman who wants to see the end of his family… Why does his heart hurt this much for her? Why does he care this much for her?

Will this pain pass if he sends her away?

There was only one way to find that out.

But the million-dollar question was—Does he want to send her away? Can he let her leave?

But first, he needed to stop her crying. He didn't know what to do. He never was in such situations before.

It was then he remembered his good friend, Lionel Waldorf. If it was an issue regarding a woman, he would know.

Leander never had the need to ask him for help, but now is the time. He needed help.