Chapter 4
Dominik
“Up against the wall!”
The air is punched out of my lungs when two of Gavriil’s guards slam me headfirst into the concrete wall of my cell.
Pain radiates through my temples and my rib wound, forcing me to grit my teeth through the uncomfortable sensation.
“Stay there,” one of the guards, Roman, warns near my ear as the other steps away to switch my empty food tray with a full one.
They could’ve just slid the tray into my cell, but I know they’re doing this shit on purpose. They want the physical contact, the humiliation. It’ll be the only chance they ever get of laying hands on me without repercussions.
I can’t see the cells on either side of mine, but I can hear the shoves, the curses, my men getting the same treatment.
This is the punishment for our betrayal.
My betrayal.
“Your Pakhan is breaking his own deal,” I say, cheek grinding against cold concrete. “You’re not supposed to hurt any of us.”
“The Pakhan does whatever the fuck he wants,” Simeon replies in Russian, stating the words like it’s a well-known fact that’s not up for discussion.
Gavriil thinks he can do whatever he wants. He’s never been denied anything. But one day, he’ll face a battle he can’t win, and it will destroy everything he’s built.
My brother has never been humbled.
I’d love to be the one to do it, but what can I do while stuck in this goddamn cell?
“I want to talk to him. Bring him down here,” I tell the guard firmly, as if I still have any authority.
“The Pakhan will come down if or when he wants,” he replies, his hand pressing against the side of my head even harder.
“Tell him that I need to speak with him,” I demand, my voice bordering on a growl as I fight through the ache pounding throughout my skull. “He can’t ignore me forever.”
The guard leans in, crushing me harder. “I don’t take orders from you anymore, traitor.”
He’d rather continue taking orders from my psychopathic brother who will toss him to the wolves the second he fucks up.
Not me. I’m done being one of Gavriil’s fucking lackeys. I can’t be the man who follows someone else’s orders anymore.
Alina was right.
I was a coward for refusing to stand up to him before. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have lost everything I’ve ever wanted with one final order.
“Stay here. Move before I’m out and I’ll knock your teeth in,” Simeon warns me.
I grind my teeth together as his weight moves off me, resisting the urge to spin around and drop him with one fucking punch.
I’ve considered holding him or one of the other guards hostage to negotiate my release, but I don’t want to jeopardize the safety of my men any more than I already have.
Besides, Gavriil doesn’t care enough about the guards to give me anything for one of their lives.
When the door eventually clanks shut, I peel myself off the wall and face the cell.
All that Gavriil has allowed me to have is a shitty mattress on the floor, a sink, a toilet, and a showerhead in the back right corner. While I can see through the cell door, there’s not much to look at besides a wall and the occasional guard walking by.
Gavriil hasn’t shown his face once since he tossed us down here. He’s letting me rot while he plays upstairs with Alina.
Guilt hits me like a punch in the chest at the thought of what she’s enduring. My dikaya koshka. Fuck.
I rake a hand over my hair. All I can do now is hope that Alina is staying strong, and torment myself wondering what Gavriil has already done to her. What kind of sick games is he playing with my girl?
Then again, what I did to her, killing her brother right the fuck in front of her, is probably worse than anything Gavriil could do to her. She may never forgive me. And my brother is making sure I don’t even have a chance to apologize.
I wish I could touch her, talk to her, try to comfort her through her grief.
“Sir?”
I step up to the bars and find the corridor empty. “Renat?” I ask.
“Yes, sir,” he says from the cell to my right, his voice low. Viktor is on the left side of me and rarely speaks. I assume that Petrov is further down that way, but he’s been completely silent.
I close my eyes and rest my forehead on the bars. I hate that my men are all stuck in here with me, suffering for my decisions. At least it may be easier to figure out a way to escape with their help.
“Guards all gone?” I ask.
“Just stepped out. I can see the stairs from my cell,” Viktor replies. “The Pakhan doesn’t think we’re a threat,” he adds. “There are rarely more than two guards.”
“What are we going to do? Burrow our way out with our fingernails? Even the floor is fucking concrete,” Renat mutters.
“We’ll figure something out. We have to,” I tell them as I open my eyes, taking in the dim corridor outside of the cells. Only faint, flickering fluorescent bars on the ceiling light up the cells and the exterior corridor, and there’s a constant musty smell floating through the air.
I knew that Gavriil’s underground prison existed, I just never expected to end up inside it.
My brother rarely mentions it since he doesn’t often take prisoners.
Immediate execution is more my brother’s style for his enemies.
“Start taking note of guard rotations. How often there are times like this when we’re alone because they’re dicking around somewhere else.” I tell them. “I’m sure none of us have anything of use in the cells, but if you can get creative with blankets or shampoo bottles, let me know.”
“We could blind them or strangle them,” Renat replies.
A grim almost-smile tugs at my mouth then dies.
All of the shoving and throwing us around is light work compared to what Gavriil could do to us.
“Take note of guard identities as well. Find the weakest link. There’s always one that can be taken advantage of,” I continue, trying to stitch a plan together out of nothing but scraps. I have to get to Alina somehow, someway.
“Maybe it’s for the best that Gavriil leaves us down here,” a voice says from farther down to my right.
“Petrov?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why have you been so quiet?” I ask.
“Nothing to say,” he mutters glumly, like he’s already given up.
“I know things are bad right now, but don’t panic. Don’t lose yourselves in your anger or your fear,” I tell the men. “I need you all clear-headed if we’re going to get out of this mess together.”
“We’ve got your back, boss,” Viktor replies.
“Yeah, we’re right here,” Renat agrees.
“I know you are,” I say, my voice thick with gratitude. “Stay alert. Stay calm,” I say, fighting the surge of restlessness and uneasiness within me because there’s not a damn thing I can do now but wait.
I’m sitting on my fucking hands down here while Gavriil is upstairs with Alina. Has he touched her? Has he pushed her past the point my wildcat can come back from?
Women don’t leave my brother unchanged.
They leave wrecked, either terrified of him or twisted into wanting him.
That’s the part that sickens me.
But Gavriil doesn’t want women to fall at his feet without a fight.
Hell, I don’t even think he wants them to like him. That’s too much. Too far.
He just enjoys the challenge. A reason to control them until he bends them to his will.
My dikaya koshka is his dream prisoner. A force to be reckoned with. Alina’s stood toe to toe with him since day one. That’s why he took her from me.
Shoulders slumping, I retreat to my thin mattress. I can still feel the hardness of the floor against my back as I lie down and stare up at the ceiling light stuttering overhead. My body is heavy. My head is too fucking loud.
I’d give anything just to see Alina for even a second, to know that she’s okay, that she’s still staying strong.
If Gavriil won’t even show his face, then there’s no way he’ll let me see her.
Not knowing how long he’ll keep me and Alina apart has hope bleeding out of me faster than I grasp on to it.
But hope is all I’ve got left until this nightmare finally ends.