Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
“I can do this all night,” Malakai sneers, stepping back and running the blade of his newly acquired knife over the lapel of his jacket. “We both know you can’t.”
“Try me.” I smile, spitting blood at his feet. The truth is, I know that one of us will break, but while the Federovs watch from the other side of the room, neither of us will be the one to back down first.
My response costs me. He drives the knife into my stomach, forcing what little air I have left out of my lungs. My vision blurs, and the chains I’m suspended from creak under the strain. Pins and needles dance through my extremities, my legs numb and lifeless, while blood drips from the fresh wound in my abdomen.
“Please,” Kai whispers in my ear. The desperate plea rattles his voice. “Just tell them what they want, and this can stop.”
I suck in a slow and sharp breath, blinking away the sweat and blood stinging my eyes. We’ve been at this for hours, and I’ve yet to give anything away. If they want my answers, they’ll be waiting a hell of a lot longer than my body can survive. I’m trained to infiltrate, to die with my secrets. Regardless of what I tell them, I’ll be dead before the next sunrise. I have enough stab wounds to start a connect-the-dots—thanks to Malakai—but they’re nowhere deep enough to inflict any lasting damage. But the pain is all the same.
“ Nobody,” I rasp. “ I work for nobody.”
Vadim doesn’t like that answer. He steps forward, reaching up and gripping my left hand, stretching my forefinger and middle finger apart, then directing Malakai on where to cut. A flash of silver catches my eye before pain explodes between my fingers, the blade slicing through the webbed flesh. Fire rips through my nerves, a sharp, fresh agony that explodes down my hand and arm. I bite down hard, swallowing the scream that claws at my throat.
“ Who are you feeding intel to?” Vadim barks. I feel the blade move between the next joining fingers, the metal warm from my blood.
Kai slices again, the second cut burning deeper than the first—not just in flesh but in expectation. My already raw and screaming nerves seem to recognize what’s coming and recoil too late. It's not just pain now—it’s betrayal. A blinding-hot line of agony carves through tender, exposed skin, sharper and more personal, as if the blade remembers its path and chooses to make it worse. The first cut shocked my body; the second confirms I’m helpless. It doesn’t just hurt. It lingers. It owns you.
I meet Konstantin’s gaze over Malakai’s shoulder as he moves the blade to the last section of connecting flesh. Konstantin’s expression is unreadable, but there’s no mercy in his eyes. No reprieve. Just passive anger. He holds a hand up to Kai, preventing him from the next incision. “Pain is no use, ” he finally says, his English tainted with his accent. “Milo has morals, isn’t that right?”
For the first time, I see Konstantin’s sinister side. The grin that widens as he decides his next move. It sends a chill down my spine because I can’t tell what he’s thinking. Frowning, I watch Vadim leave, the door slamming shut behind him and echoing in the surrounding silence.
“Konstantin, you don’t need to do this,” I grit out through the pain, the numbness invading my bloodstream. My body aches from the torture, my shoulders pulling out of their sockets from being hung from the ceiling. I barely manage to speak through the agony, but I can’t show weakness.
The door swings open again. This time, Vadim enters with a girl. His hands are wrapped in her dirty hair, dragging her in front of him. A whimper parts her lips, tears making tracks down her stained face. She can’t be more than eighteen, but the horror in her eyes is so haunting that it’ll stay with me forever.
When I opened that door earlier, finding a room full of girls of all ages chained up to the walls wasn’t what I expected. I know that the Russians have dipped their toes in the flesh trade, but I hadn’t realized they were bringing it to New York City. This goes further than just liquor and drug imports. Human trafficking will land them deeper in the pits of hell than even I could send them.
“Don’t do this,” I hiss as Vadim takes the blade from Kai. He pushes it against the girl’s neck, her throat bobbing with fear. She doesn’t mean anything to me, but that doesn’t matter. Nobody deserves to be here, least of all her.
Despite her obvious terror, she doesn’t make a sound. It’s like she’s accepting her fate, welcoming it. Hell, it’d be a preference to what I know the likes of Vadim would put her through. Death would be a reprieve from the onslaught of torture he’d deliver.
“ You may be able to handle pain,” Vadim sneers. “ But can you handle the guilt?”
Before I can answer, his hand slides from left to right, slicing a thick red line through the girl’s throat. Blood sprays outwards, coating me and the ground, seeping into my clothes.
A cry tears from my chest as her body drops into a lifeless heap on the ground. Incoherent words of pain and suffering reverberate against the walls. Her dull blue eyes stare up at me as she grips her throat, blood pooling around her blonde hair as her mouth parts in quiet realization. Fear widens her eyes, but she doesn’t beg for help. She doesn’t scream—not that she could—or cry for mercy. Only a single tear slips from her innocent blue orbs.
“ I’m sorry,” I whisper to her, my chest constricting so tightly that I can’t breathe. I can’t see through the tears blinding me. I can’t hear through the ringing piercing my ears. Guilt swallows me up and for the first time, I consider what I need to do.
“ We’ll leave you time to think about what you want to tell us.” Konstantin’s voice breaks through the numbness, and I slowly look up at him. Remorse doesn’t torment him like it does me. Shame doesn’t even penetrate the armor wrapped around him. He’s a soulless brick wall, a vessel of death and destruction, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.
* * *
T ime has no place here. With nothing but the constant clinking of pipes that run along the edge of the room to fill the silence, it’s easy to lose track of how long I’ve been tied up. I can distract myself from the impending torture, but I haven’t forgotten Konstantin’s parting words. I have a decision to make, one that will decide who suffers the most here.
I take in the lifeless features of the girl below me; her whitened lips and pallid skin, her sharp cheekbones distorted by the strands of bloodied hair brushed over her face. With nothing but my face being the last thing she saw before she died, I can’t distract myself from the guilt. She didn’t deserve to die. She didn’t deserve any of this. My job is always to protect, no matter what. And now I know what the Federovs’ game plan is, I won’t allow another innocent person to die because of me.
The rusted door creaks open, echoing against the walls of the damp room. Though I recognize the footsteps, I can’t bring myself to look at him.
Malakai crouches in front of me, a hand stroking over the dead girl’s eyelids. He closes them gently before pushing away the hair that covers half her face. I want to lunge at him, scream at him to get his hands off of her. He doesn’t get to touch her, he doesn’t get to put her to rest when he’s the part of the reason she’s dead.
It isn’t fair that she was a pawn used for my torture. It’s clever, I’ll give my boss credit where it’s due. He knew I’d hold out until my dying breath, but holding another person’s life in front of me as a threat uncovered the ultimate weakness I didn’t think he’d noticed.
Sliding his arms beneath the girl’s legs and back, Kai lifts her body slowly and carefully off the ground. The blood has long since drained from her veins, staining the floor a haunting maroon. Her silent scream still scores through my mind, her peaceful cry of pain and acceptance burrowed into my brain. Cautiously, he moves the girl’s body to the corner of the room. He readjusts her pitiful excuse for a dress, covering her up as well as he can in a respectful manner. When he finally turns to face me, I see the torment all over his face.
“That could have been her, ” I croak. My body throbs, but the agony of my contrition is torturous.
“I know,” Kai murmurs. I don’t miss the sadness etched in his voice, or the way his eyes round with remorse as he looks back at me. “Which is why I’m going to get you out of here.”
His words slam into me, confusion rendering me speechless. Frozen in suspense, I watch as he moves swiftly around the room, lowering the chains gently. A groan escapes me as my body drops to the ground with a heavy thud, my energy clearly too depleted to hold myself up. I don’t even have the energy to ask what the hell he’s doing, or why he’s not torturing me.
“You didn’t think I’d leave you here, did you?” he muses as he unlocks the cuffs around my wrists. The cool air bites into my skin, the flesh raw from the metal restraints—plus the splits between my fingers—stinging through each layer.
My shoulders ache, like they’ve been wrenched out the sockets, and when Kai hoists me up, the strain on them only intensifies the pain. “For a second…” I pant heavily, leaning all my weight onto him. “Yeah, I did.”
“Come on,” he huffs, guiding me to the door. “Let’s get out of here before anyone sees us.”
He takes the first step out of the room I was held in, his shoes clipping against the concrete and echoing around us. We plummet into darkness as we make our way through the long corridor, our breaths filling the emptiness. Every muscle throbs, every bone aches as if I’ve been pulled apart and stitched back together.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask, my throat hoarse and strained.
“Because I know who you are and what you’re trying to do,” he replies simply. There’s a tone of indifference, like my exposed secret doesn’t affect him in the slightest. “I know you’re FBI, Milo.”
For a split second, my hearts stalls. My fingers twitch at my side, and I do a quick scan of his face, searching for a tell-tale sign of betrayal, anger. But there’s none. He’s calm, controlled. Like he’s already had enough time to process this.
“That still doesn’t answer my question, Kai.”
We come to a stop as the sound of footsteps passes us by. Though they’re close enough to hear, it sounds like we’re separated by another wall. Kai leans in, handing me his gun. “I’m sorry about before,” he whispers. “I had to make it look real. I had to prove that I was on their side. I can’t risk them hurting her, Milo, but I don’t want to see you die, either.”
It feels like minutes pass before the footsteps finally disappear, and we continue our amble towards the set of steps. Dim light filters through the bottom of the door at the top of the staircase, and though I know it’s freedom on the other side of that barrier, I feel like death is creeping up my spine.
“I don’t think I can make it up there,” I grumble. It has to be at least twenty steps. It doesn’t seem like much, but when my body feels like I’ve been hit by a freight train, I can’t ignore it.
“You’ve made it this far, brother. Don’t give up on me now.” In the cover of darkness, I feel him give my waist a light squeeze, a comforting gesture that tugs at the broken flesh. I wince, but I push away any stray thoughts about the pain.
“Fuck it,” I grunt, taking the first step.
Kai is one step behind me, guiding me upward while protecting me from falling. The numbness has long since left my legs, and I can finally feel the blood pumping through them, but I’m still unsteady. When we reach the top of the steps, a wave of nausea and dizziness hits me.
“Whoa, careful,” Kai whispers his encouragement, sliding my good arm over his shoulder to assist me. Leaning against him, I let him push us through the door and into the daylight. I vaguely recognize my surroundings, but one thing I know for sure is that we’re not at the Federovs’ place.
“Where are we?” I ask, squinting through the frosty sunshine that assaults my face. We’re surrounded by fences and a long stretch of tarmac.
“Not far enough.” His grip tightens around me as he walks us towards the SUV parked around the corner of the building that we just exited. I recognize the area now that my eyes have adjusted. We’re still at the hangar, which means the Federovs can catch up to us easily if we’re not careful.
A brittle wind breezes over us as we reach the car, and I hiss a wince as the frigid air cuts through the wounds on my torso. As easy as Malakai was on me, I know these will leave scars. But I’d rather have the physical scars than the mental ones of knowing more girls died because of me.
“I’ll get you patched up soon, I promise.” Kai leans me against the side of the car, opening up the back passenger door to allow me in.
“What about you?” I ask as he guides me inside. “When the Federovs find out you helped me escape?—”
“I told them I’d handle you. By the time they come to check up on us, it’ll be too late.”
“Too late for who?” I frown as he slams the door shut.
Kai ignores my question and moves to the driver’s side. He starts the engine in silence and navigates us out of the industrial area. Buildings whip by us as we move deeper into the city. My thoughts start to plague me, and I let them run wild. I need to get in touch with Collins and let him know there’s been a change of plan. I need to find somewhere safe, where the Federovs can’t find me. Malakai isn’t safe either now that he’s helped me escape, and I don’t know what I can do to change that.
The familiarity of the city comes into view, areas I rarely frequent, yet I know exactly where I am. When the car slips down a ramp and into an underground parking garage, I turn my attention back to Kai. “Why are we here?”
Glancing at me in the rearview mirror, his dark gaze softens. “I didn’t know where else to bring you.”