Heart of the Beast

Chapter 7

Ayla

She didn't believe Vic was dead. Not because she thought Burak wasn't capable of murder, because the man had already proved himself a merciless monster. It was because her heart didn't accept that Vic was no longer alive. That the man who had dropped to his knee to propose to her in Central Park, that the man who claimed to love her so much, was actually gone.

Burak probably assumed she had run away from him and fled back to her prison cell, but he was wrong. She was standing in front of the only door in the hallway that she hadn't reached earlier, hoping to complete the mission she had set out to achieve. She knocked on the door, bracing herself if an unknown face answered.

Thankfully, the same woman appeared in front of her. She was dressed in blue silk pajamas and held a book in her hand, her dark brown hair flowing behind her.

"Ayla!" she gasped. Grabbing her wrist, Ruya tugged her inside.

"You're Ruya," Ayla whispered. "He—he said you're his younger sister. Please, you must help me."

"Ssh," Ruya whispered, quickly closing her door. She ushered Ayla away from the door, sitting her down on a rocking chair near the window. "Frankly speaking, I'm so offended, I should refuse to help you."

"W-what? Why?"

"Um, how about the fact that you don't even remember me? I was in your art class last summer! Okay, granted, we rarely spoke to one another, but that was because you had your head shoved in your canvas all the time."

Ayla blinked, thinking back to her art class at the community center. She studied the woman before her, from her hazel eyes to her dark brown hair.

"You had blonde hair!" she finally gasped. "It was much shorter back then too. My God, you look so different..."

Art was a hobby that Ayla enjoyed before becoming a lawyer. She tried to take at least one art class every summer, hoping the strict schedule of a class would actually allow her to sit down and draw. Otherwise, the law books had slowly started replacing her art supplies.

"It was ash blonde, thank you very much," Ruya snapped, flipping her hair. "I was into trying different shades at the time, okay?"

"You could be blonde or brunette for all I care, but could you please tell me if my fiancé is alive?"

"What do you mean? What happened to him?"

"Your brother happened to him," Ayla whispered bitterly. "He took everything from me. Could you please help me escape this hell, Ruya, please?"

"I can't. I genuinely can't, at least not yet, Ayla. He's my brother."

Ayla narrowed her eyes. "Are you really serious? He kidnapped me, Ruya. He brought me from America into...this place, and he's holding me against my will. I don't know whether Vic is alive, or if he plans to kill me too, and you're defending him?"

Ruya's eyes darkened, and her face paled. "Why would he do all that? He's a businessman, not some underground...killer."

"How should I know? You're his family, not me."

Ruya opened her mouth to protest, but then shut it. "I don't know about anything he does, and I'm not at liberty to learn, unfortunately. If I alert the American authorities, I'll be putting my brother in trouble, and though I probably should, I can't do that without knowing everything."