Victor's cruelty was not like that of an ordinary mafia don; it was artistic, methodical, designed to break someone mentally rather than physically. After closing the door, he set aside the whip. He realized that physical pain was trivial—true revenge would be to shatter Sofia psychologically.
Victor's New Form of Cruelty: "Surrender Before the Mirror"
Inside the room stood a full-length mirror. Victor grabbed Sofia by a fistful of her hair and dragged her from the bed to stand before it. Her thin silk dress now clung to her body with sweat and tears.
Victor (low in her ear):
"Look into the mirror, Sofia. See yourself clearly. That red dress—you wore it to seduce Dimitri, didn't you? But now, look in the mirror—whose dominance truly shows in that reflection? Mine, or that coward Dimitri's?"
Victor twisted her arms behind her back. Sofia screamed in pain, but he didn't let go. He took a piece of ice from the table and pressed it against her neck. The icy cold ran through her body like electricity.
Victor:
"You slapped Alia because you thought you were strong. Now I will show you how helpless you really are. These hands that struck…"
He pulled silk cords from a drawer and tied her hands to the mirror frame. Sofia now stood crucified before her reflection, forced to watch her own helplessness mirrored back at her.
Victor:
"All night you will stand like this. Watch yourself in the mirror and think—did your CIA training teach you how to stand like prey before a predator? I will not strike you, Sofia. If I did, you would faint. I want you awake. Every second you will feel that you are under me."
He then poured a bottle of perfume over her torn dress. The alcohol burned wherever it touched her skin. Sofia writhed in agony, but had no way to move.
Victor (smiling cruelly):
"Outside, Dimitri cries, perhaps Alia laughs. And inside, you burn in the hell I have prepared. Every time you look in the mirror, you will remember what happens when you disrespect Victor Alekzevich."
He leaned close to her face, his lips near hers, but did not kiss her. He exhaled his heated breath onto her.
Victor:
"Your hatred—I crave it. When that hatred ends, I will grant you freedom. But until then… tonight belongs only to me."
Victor left her tied in that position, turned off the lights, and sat on a sofa in the darkness. Only the red glow of his lit cigarette pierced the shadows, and Sofia's muffled sobs filled the room.
When morning light finally filtered through Moscow's gray skies, an ominous silence had consumed the room. Victor had remained in the darkness all night; his cigarette long extinguished.
The Horror Beyond the Door
Outside, Dimitri and Alia had waited the entire night. Dimitri's eyes were red, and Alia's face showed restless fear. Impatient, Dimitri kicked the door one last time. Victor rose calmly and unlocked it.
Dimitri rushed in, but what he saw made his knees buckle.
Sofia was still bound to the mirror frame. Her body hung limply, no longer standing straight. Her once-red silk dress had faded, her head drooped, and her face had turned bluish. The reflection she had seen all night showed nothing—no hatred, no light.
Dimitri screamed and freed her from the cords. Sofia collapsed in his arms, lifeless. He checked her pulse—there was almost nothing.
Dimitri (shouting):
"Victor! What have you done? She's barely breathing! Is she dead?"
Alia rushed in and checked Sofia. Her pulse was faint, almost imperceptible.
Alia (in terror):
"No, Dimitri, she's not dead. But her mind couldn't endure this mental and physical torture. She's in a coma. Her body lives, but her spirit… Victor, you've turned her into a living corpse!"
Victor stood like stone. For the first time, a void appeared in his blue eyes. He had intended to break Sofia, but hadn't realized her psyche was so fragile that it would shatter completely.
Victor (coldly):
"If she wants to die, let her. There is no place for defeat in this palace. She wanted to meet my gaze, to fight me… yet she surrendered to darkness."
Dimitri held Sofia in his arms, screaming like a madman:
"No! I won't let her end like this! Call a doctor—now!"
Two Years Later…
Sofia still lay in that royal bed. An oxygen tube in her nose, mechanical sounds all around. She is alive, but knows nothing. Dimitri sits by her side every day, while Victor occasionally glances at her unmoving face from behind the door.
Sofia did not die—but she has entered a world from which neither Victor nor Dimitri can reach her. This was Sofia's final act of defiance.While Sofia was in a coma, the continuous "beep" of the monitor suddenly stopped. The heart-rate line went flat. Doctors rushed in, but it was already over. Sofia took all the secrets of the Alekzevich empire with her as she closed her eyes forever.
A Terrifying Explosion of Truth
As Dimitri broke down in tears beside Sofia's lifeless body, Victor walked to the window like a stone statue. There were no tears in his eyes, but his jaw was clenched tight. Alia stood there, still wondering why Victor had been so cruel to Sofia.
Suddenly, Victor turned around. His voice no longer carried the arrogance of a mafia don—there was only a deep anguish.
Victor:
"Dimitri, stop crying. You don't even know who you've lost. Sofia wasn't just your fiancée… she was my ex-girlfriend. Many years ago, when I was in London, Sofia and I would have given our lives for each other. She was the only light in my life."
Alia and Dimitri stood frozen in shock. Alia spoke in a trembling voice,
"What are you saying, Victor? Sofia was your ex? And I never knew?"
Victor gave a cruel smile.
"Yes, Alia. You didn't know. Because Sofia wasn't just my lover—she was a top-level agent of Bangladesh's DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence). She was not someone small like the CIA. She came to me on a mission, but we fell in love. I knew she had come to destroy me, and she knew I was a killer."
Victor looked at Sofia's lifeless hand as he continued.
"I was so cruel to her because I wanted her to hate me and leave. I knew Dimitri loved her, but I couldn't tolerate the thought of her being with my brother. I wanted to break her so she would return to her agency. But she was stubborn… she wanted to pull me out of this hell."
Dimitri cried out,
"So you knew she was a DGFI agent? And you still sent her into that dark chamber?"
Victor replied,
"I was trying to save her, Dimitri! If her agency had found her, they would have killed her as a traitor. I wanted her to appear dead in everyone's eyes so I could hide her. But I didn't realize that my pride and cruelty would be too much for her heart to endure. She insulted me so I would shoot her, but instead, I destroyed her slowly."
At that moment, Alia understood why Sofia had slapped her. It wasn't hatred between two women—it was an ideological conflict between two agents (CIA vs DGFI), and the pain of losing Victor.
Sofia may have died, but she left a wound in Victor's heart that would never heal. Alekzevich Victor might be the most powerful man in the world, but from this day on, he is nothing more than a living corpse.