Chapter 49
MILA
Fuck, that hurts. But, my idea is working.
Ivan’s dark eyes are inches from my face, watching me with a greedy smile as he hits the spike again.
I know he hates questions.
His reputation has preceded him. Anyone who’s ever worked out of the light of day knows.
“What night? Tell me and I’ll find her.” It’s hard to talk past the pain.
But I learned a long time ago how to shut it off.
I catch a glimpse of Nikolai trying to shake his head at me.
“Nikolai knows it well.” Ivan clinks two more of the heavy nails in his hand. “It’s the night I burned my friend’s house down with my cheating whore of a wife inside.”
A smirk pulls up his cheek. “And his.” He jerks his thumb towards Nikolai.
No way.
He didn’t.
Not her.
Ivan killed Nikolai’s wife?
Elena’s mom?
It takes everything in me to keep my features neutral, but I still glance over Ivan’s shoulder to see the pain etched on Nikolai’s face.
My chest squeezes for him and a knot forms in my throat.
“She wasn’t a cheater,” Nikolai growls. “She was visiting her father.”
Ivan’s brows tighten and his teeth grit together as he turns quickly toward Nikolai. “Well, he was fucking Ofeliya! They both deserved to die!”
I have a headache from this tailspin ride I’m suddenly on.
But, I’m stuck on the fact that Ivan did that to his own son.
He’s a fucking monster.
“Then why was Zoya there?” I have to redirect him before he tries to punish Nikolai.
Ivan turns back, his bloodshot eyes burn into me and he raises another nail over my leg. “She didn’t understand what I was doing. It was for her own good. So she needed some space.” He presses the point against my thigh.
I hate that he knows exactly where to put them to hurt like hell but not kill me.
“She was coming back. But, I know that Ofeliya stopped her.” His lips pull back in a grimace. “And, if it wasn’t for Mikhail, I would have been able to get her.”
“Mikhail had nothing to do with it!” Nikolai tugs at his restraints, his neck strains with the effort.
Jesus. This whole family dynamic is crazy.
“What happened?” I’m not sure I really want to know. But, I have to push him harder.
Ivan tightens a fist until his knuckles crack inches from my nose. “I burnt that motherfucker to the ground,” he growls.
Before I know it, his hand unfurls and wraps around my throat.
He turns to his son, pulling me with him until my pinned arms stop me. “Maybe I should take this one, too. Huh? You and your brother took my wife and my love. It’s only fair that you should pay the same price.”
His fingers tighten, cutting off my air.
This isn’t the same as when Nikolai does it.
Ivan is terrifying.
One squeeze, and he could rip out my throat. His nails dig into the tender skin sending shoots of agony down my chest and into my jaw.
Nikolai’s eyes widen.
I can see him staring at his father’s grip.
“Where. Is. Zoya?” Ivan grits to Nikolai.
Dmitri leans against the table, his arms crossed with a smug smile.
The cords of Nikolai’s neck stand out as he screams. “I don’t know!”
My vision is starting to go fuzzy, and my lungs burn.
A heavy knock on the door cuts through the haze.
I’m struggling to stay conscious as Ivan stares down Nikolai.
But then, I can breathe again.
Ivan sits back and nods to Dmitri.
In hushed tones, another man whispers urgently to Dmitri, but I’m too foggy to understand what they’re saying.
“Sir, there seems to be an altercation at the front gate.” Dmitri nods to the unseen man who disappears into the hall.
“Fuck.” Ivan stands and tosses the hammer and nails to Dmitri. “Get him talking. Use her as a board.”
That sounds scary.
When Dmitri turns and smiles at me with his dead, fishy eyes, I know I’m in for a problem.
I think he’s probably even more sadistic. The way he licks his lips as he takes Ivan’s seat in front of me makes my stomach roll.
“Where were we?” Holding one of the long spikes in his thin fist, he drops his hand and stabs the point into my leg.
Pain arcs through my body. It feels like fire running through my thigh.
Then, he pulls it out and jabs it into me again.
Fuck. I can’t hold back the groan when he sinks the prod for a third time into the thick muscle of my leg.
Blood soaks my jeans from the punctures.
Nikolai thrashes in his chair and grunts his frustration with each failed attempt to move. “Leave her alone!” he yells, arching his hips away from the steel seat.
“You’re a pussy,” I spit out at Dmitri. “Ivan got them deeper. Look at you with your tiny holes. Are you used to just short strokes?”
“Mila,” Nikolai growls in a warning tone.
Dmitri’s features cloud and his jaw ticks. “I didn’t think you’d be used to a full sized prick.” He raises the hammer and hits the pin, driving it through my thigh to bounce against the steel chair beneath me.
God damn, that makes my stomach seize and knocks the breath out of me when the excruciating pain rockets through me.
It takes me a second to shut it down. I’ve fought with it my whole life.
Nothing hurts more than the moment I had to betray Nikolai.
Knowing he’s here because he forgave me gives me the strength to tamp down this momentary agony.
I have to keep pushing him.
“You think your skinny little dick can do the trick?” I pant out, struggling to keep the misery out of my voice. “I bet that chicken you fuck every night can’t even feel it when it’s in.”
Dmitri jerks to his feet, anger twisting his brow as his hand lashes across my face.
Lights explode behind my eyes, and I feel something crunch in my mouth.
Shit. Was that a tooth, or my jaw he just broke?
Blood pools around my tongue, so I let it drip from my split lips onto my lap.
“I’m the one in control here!” His arm streaks back as he connects again with his fist, this time on the opposite side of my face.
Ringing drowns out Nikolai’s screams of rage.
I don’t know if I can take much more.
But, he’s out of nails.
“I bet this is the only way you get laid, isn’t it? Tying the girls up so they can’t run?” I spit at him.
Yep, it was definitely a tooth. It sticks to his lapel before slowly dropping onto the floor.
“Mila! Stop!” Nikolai roars.
I can hear the pleading.
This is my path.
I’ve had the happiest moments of my life with Nikolai and Elena. I hope one day, I’ll have my brother there, too. I’m sure this little bit of misery is nothing compared to how he’s suffered since falling into Ivan’s clutches.
I have to do anything I can to try and save him. All of us.
If this doesn’t work, we’re all doomed to die.
Taking a deep breath, I narrow my eyes and scowl at Dmitri. “I’d wager you can’t even get it up.”
This time, he hits me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me.
As I sit gasping, he turns, knocking the stool out of his way, and stalks to the bench.
“I’ll show you getting fucked,” he mutters.
Slipping my hand from the loose restraint, I quickly unbuckle my other and my ankles.
Fuck, it hurts like crazy, but I pry the long spikes out of my thighs.
Nikolai watches me, and his eyes widen as he gestures to his own wrists.
Peeling my blood soaked ass from the seat, my legs try to rebel against the movement.
I give him a silent shake of my head. There’s no time to free him, yet.
Armed with the matching nails, I tiptoe behind Dmitri and throw out my heel into the back of his knee.
With a cry, he tumbles against the bench, grabbing the edge to hold himself up.
I use one of the nails to stab him in the neck.
He screams, grabbing at the weapon, and turns to lash out at me.
I use all of the strength I can muster, and I drop the second spike through his wide eye, pushing it as hard as I can until I feel it lodge against the back of his skull.