Unrequited Love

Chapter 26 - Luciana

With shaking hands, I removed the thick wad of letters from the envelope. Fat tears spilled down my cheeks as I tried to keep my emotions at bay - but to no avail. Mikhail had once again shown me my worth in this house. I was nothing but his playtoy until he got bored. His property that he thought he could control. He'd have a whole thing coming his way if he really thought that he would get away with treating me this way. I wasn't one of his casual fucks that didn't give a damn except for the sex. I was in way too deep at this point for it to be a no strings attached relationship between us.

Might as well make use of the time by reading the letters - hopefully I'd get an insight into the Petrovs' past and find out why Mikhail was the way he was. I wasn't naive enough to think that I could fix him, obviously. But there was no harm in trying to understand him a little bit better...right?

I opened the first letter from the stack as I saw the same scrawled handwriting that was written on the scrap of paper that I had picked up earlier in the room. My eyes glazed over the date as I handled the piece of paper with care. 18th November 2011 - almost 10 years ago. My heart thudded in my chest as I scanned every single word that was written.

Dear Mikhail,

I know that you're probably going to find this weird, but I've decided to start documenting my life through letters, starting today. The reason? Well, let's just say that I may or may not have read Anne Frank's diary and drawn inspiration to start writing in a diary - the only exception being that I don't have time to write in a journal everyday, hence, I'll be writing short letters that include only the important things in my life. The reason why I chose to address these letters to you is because I hope that you read them someday. You've always played the part of my big brother well, always protecting me from everything, even if it annoyed the shit out of me - the same way you do now for Sofia. I know that ever since Mother up and left us, it hasn't been easy. I may not remember much of that day since I was literally a baby, but I do remember you going out of your way to shield me so I wouldn't have to grow up as fast as you did. Like when Father would come home, wasted as hell, you'd be the one to pick him up from his pool of vomit and tuck him into bed. I knew. I always knew, big brother. Now, I don't want to make this some sappy, emotional letter so I'm going to stop right here before I start recounting our entire life story. I love you so much, brother.

Lots and lots of love,

Ilaria

Well, that wasn't so bad now, was it? I was expecting a lot worse than this since I had already guessed about Sergei's drinking problem - an assumption that turned out to be true. Still, knowing that Mikhail had to see and do things at an age where he should've been playing around sent a pang of pain through my heart.

My fingers itched to pick up the next letter as my curiosity grew tenfold. Now that I had gotten a glimpse into who Ilaria was as a person, I wanted to know more. Right as I unfolded the second letter, there was a knock on my door. Hurriedly, I grabbed the letters and put them in the drawer and slammed it shut. The door opened on cue as Sofia walked in with a tray of food. There was a tight smile on her lips as she placed it on the bed. Heaving out a heavy breath, she took a seat beside me as I wondered if she could hear my heartbeat skyrocket in my chest.

"Luciana, I don't even know what to say. Mikhail is being a dick as usual. I tried talking to him but he's just not -

I cut her off as her voice increased in volume.

"It's okay Sofia. Really." I assured her as I lay my hand on her arm.

"No it's not!" She screamed as she stood up and paced the length of the room.

"It is not okay! He's acting like such a child for fuck's sake, thinking he can control you by locking you in. I mean, who the hell does he think he is huh?"