Is this destiny?

Ivan's eyes widened in shock when he saw Sarah enter the room he was imprisoned in.

"You look surprised to see me.", Sarah said to Ivan who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Sarah approached Ivan and injected him with the truth serum before she took a seat on the chair and faced him.

She tilted her head and observed faint bruises and cuts on exposed parts of Ivan's body which healed well thanks to the medicinal cream of the Lebedev family. Without that cream, Ivan's appearance would be horrid and JoAnna stitched up a few spots on his body as well.

It's not that JoAnna was merciful, but she knew that Ivan will be tortured for acting against Sarah and it would be a pity for him to die due to blood loss or infection before Sarah gets a chance to deal with him, so JoAnna ensured that Ivan gets appropriate medical treatment and that the room he stays in is relatively comfortable with a bed, table and a chair for him to sleep and eat.

"Did you hope that Voronins will torture me? Kill me?", Sarah asked. "Well, they didn't. Here I am. Unharmed and pissed as hell."

Ivan swallowed hard when he saw Sarah's murderous glare full of madness directed at him. "Kill me."

The moment Sarah made her appearance, Ivan knew that there is no way he will come out of that place alive, and his only hope is to have a quick death. Vasily might beat him up as a lesson, but Sarah is not so forgiving.

Ivan knows about Sarah because he is tracking her (with Vasily), and he noticed that over time, her bloodlust was increasing as her capacity of forgiveness was reducing.

In this aspect, she was worse than Vasily who had a reputation of a merciless man. Ivan warned Vasily more than once that Sarah is losing control, but Vasily welcomed those changes, saying that forgiving enemies is a weakness. Little did Ivan know that he will be facing Sarah as an enemy so soon.

'Where is Vasily?', Ivan wondered. 'It seems that he abandoned me so that his favorite niece can have her dose of violence for the day…'

Sarah clicked her tongue. "You want to die? Not so fast. I have a few questions for you, and then I will decide how you die. Where is your loyalty, Ivan? Do you have any?"

"My loyalty is to the Lebedev family.", Ivan responded right away.

Sarah's eyebrows shoot up. "Really? You are not loyal to me and I have the blood of Lebedevs coursing through my veins."

Ivan sneered, revealing the fact that he is missing a few teeth. "You are not a Lebedev. You grew up sheltered, bathed in ignorance."

"You hate me.", Sarah voiced her observation.

"Yes. I hate you because you don't deserve the attention that others give you."

"Are you talking about Vasily?"

Ivan couldn't deny it even if he wanted to because the truth serum was doing its magic. "Vasily looks at you like you are some miraculous chosen child. But in time, I am confident that he will see the truth. You are nothing more than a pampered willful princess who is not worth a squat."

Sarah shook her head and lowered her gaze to hide complex emotions that swirled in her eyes. "He won't."

Ivan was irked by Sarah's statement. Surely, Vasily will see the truth. Vasily is one of the smartest and the most decisive men Ivan ever saw, that is why Ivan decided to follow him. Vasily's only weakness were three Hill sisters, especially Sarah. Maybe Vasily refuses to acknowledge that, but he will see the truth sooner or later.

"Vasily will see you for who you are because…"

"Vasily is dead.", Sarah cut off Ivan.

Ivan's eyes flashed in outrage. "You are lying."

Sarah got her phone and played for Ivan to see the last two minutes of Vasily's life, which ended with Vasily lying on the street in the pool of his own blood.

"This is fake.", Ivan said when he peeled his eyes away from the frozen image on the phone.

"What do I gain by lying to you about Vasily being dead? How much I know, he brought you here personally. If he is around he would come to see you. Vasily is not known for his patience. You know well that he loved me like his own daughter, and he would not allow me to come here on my own and dirty my hands with you. Or do you have some other explanation as to why he didn't come so far?"

Ivan was torn. Should he believe Sarah? How can a man powerful like Vasily die so easily? Unless… he sacrificed himself in order to save Sarah. It was just like Ivan feared, Vasily found his death because of his only weakness.

Ivan's face contorted in anger. "This is because of you!"

"No," Sarah denied it flatly even though she felt that Ivan was right. "This is because of you. You went to the Voronins. You betrayed me. By betraying the Grand Elder of the Lebedev family, you betrayed the family you claim to be loyal to. Vasily came to rescue me from the Voronins in order to make up for your mistake and he ended up dead. If you didn't tell Voronins who I am, they would not capture me and there would be no need for a rescue mission and Vasily would not put a bullet in his head in order to avoid torture!", Sarah ended with a shout.

Ivan lowered his head and trembled from anger that mixed with anguish. He would strangle Sarah or hit her, but even though his bruises healed, his bones and muscles ached, and he was barely able to move.

"Vasily was the greatest man I ever met.", Ivan said in a shaky voice.

"And yet you betrayed him.", Sarah said sarcastically.

Ivan glared at Sarah and if a look could kill, she would be sliced into a million pieces.

"I wanted you out of the way…", Ivan said bitterly. "But I could not do anything directly because of Vasily. He would skin me alive if I jeopardized you in the slightest."

"Is that why you went to Voronins? You were too scared to act on your own, so you decided to get someone else to do the dirty work for you? The Voronins would kill me, and Vasily already hated them so a bit more hate wouldn't matter. Right?"

"Correct. I planned it perfectly by leaving in the night and returning before he needed me. I turned off my phone so that I can't be tracked. I have no idea how he found out. I saw that in the morning he called me, but when I asked him about it he said that it was nothing."

Sarah was furious. She knows that Ivan must say the truth due to the truth serum, but hearing him say how he wanted her dead and his only regret was that Vasily found out about it, was painful to hear. Other than exchanging a few pleasantries with Ivan, she does not remember interacting with him. What did she do to deserve so much hatred?

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