Chapter 12
Dominik
The guards have been watching us less each day. In fact, Roman is now the only one who guards the prison, and we only see him at mealtimes. Which means he’s being called away for other duties.
I pace around my cell, wishing I knew what was happening upstairs.
What kind of threat requires all hands on deck?
Something is going on that Gavriil doesn’t want me to know about, and whatever it is, it isn’t good.
“They could be weakening us piece by piece,” I mutter to myself, my brow furrowing in thought.
Thanks to my brother’s secrecy, I’m blind.
“Multiple attacks would stretch our forces too thin,” I say as I continue pacing. “Maybe that’s the purpose.”
“I didn’t realize you were so lonely that you had started talking to yourself.”
I whip around at Gavriil’s voice, adrenaline spiking when I see him standing outside my cell.
“Where the fuck have you been, asshole?” I bark out in Russian as I storm over to the door, wishing I could break through it so that I could get my hands around his neck to strangle him.
Gavriil doesn’t flinch. “Busy. Your wildcat has been… difficult.”
I grip the bars tighter, fury swelling in my chest until it feels ready to detonate. “What did you do to her? Are you making her sleep on the floor without any clothes?”
Part of me is afraid to hear what he’s done to her. I brace myself though, because I need to know.
Gavriil casually tucks his hands into the pockets of his pants, his expression remaining infuriatingly calm. “I had no choice but to punish her. She’s been refusing food. And water.”
My stomach drops.
My anger collapses into something worse—fear.
I know Alina is strong enough to survive Gavriil’s manipulation. I don’t know how far she would go to hurt herself after Archer’s death. “What do you mean?” I demand. “How long has she held out?”
Gavriil’s jaw tenses for a second before relaxing. “Since the moment she arrived.”
I slam my palm against the bars, making the door rattle. “Since she got here? It’s been fucking days! How could you let her do this to herself?”
“What would you have me do, Bratishka?” Gavriil asks way too calmly for the situation. “Shove food down her throat? Even if I tried, she would only spit it back in my face.”
Goddamn him.
It’s bad enough that Alina agreed to be his for a month, but it’s even worse knowing that he hasn’t been taking care of her.
“You have to do something! You can’t let her die, and you can’t fucking punish her for grieving!” I snap at him, my entire body growing hot with fear and rage.
Why would Alina do this to herself?
Unless she thought she deserved it?
Is that what she’s doing? Punishing herself over what happened to her brother?
Or is she trying to punish me?
What the hell is she thinking?
Gavriil narrows his eyes slightly before clicking his tongue at me. “I can see you still haven’t learned your lesson. You shouldn’t be so sentimental. Your only loyalty should be to me.”
“Don’t even start that bullshit,” I grit out. “You know how important she is to me. That’s not going to change no matter what you do to me!”
He exhales sharply as he looks away from me. “Yes, I’m aware of how you think you feel about her,” he says, completely dismissing my feelings. “You betrayed me for her, a girl you barely know.”
“Because you weren’t fighting fucking fair!” I tell him. “You crossed the line when you made me kill Archer in front of her, and you know it!”
Gavriil’s eyes cut to mine. “I didn’t make you do anything. I gave you a choice.”
“You knew exactly what I would choose!” I say as I lower my hands from the bars. “You used Archer to prove a point, to drive us apart.”
Gavriil pauses in front of me. “You should always choose me first. Your brother. Your family.”
I can’t stop the scoff that leaves my lips. “No. I’m fucking done with you. I thought I owed you…but you went too far.”
Loving Gavriil had always come at a cost. I was just finally admitting how much it had taken from me.
My brother’s eyes turn icier than normal. “You wouldn’t be standing here if not for me, and this is how you choose to repay me? I did you a favor by taking her from you before you got even more attached and she hurt you like Daria.”
“You’re too late,” I reply. “I love her.”
“You know what happens to those who betray me, little brother,” Gavriil states as he slowly straightens each sleeve of his suit.
“I didn’t betray you; I just fucking disagreed with your decision to kill Archer because you were wrong. I’ve always been loyal to you and the Bratva,” I grit out.
“If you’re so loyal, then prove it to me by obeying my orders,” Gavriil says simply.
“I won’t obey any more orders that hurt the people I love,” I tell him point blank.
“That’s the problem. You love your men, your wildcat, more than you love this family.”
Him. He means that I love them more than him.
When I don’t deny that truth, Gavriil says, “Your men swore oaths to me, not you. And then they betrayed that oath. That’s why I have to make an example of them.”
No.
He wouldn’t.
“You gave your word. You told Alina that my men wouldn’t be harmed.”
“Alina and I made an agreement that I personally would not harm you or them,” he clarifies. “There are ways to get around that.”
Here it fucking comes.
My heart falters knowing that my brother is about to make me hate him even more.
Gavriil glances away from me to look at either side of my cell. “You’ll choose one of your own men to receive their punishment. You will prove to me that you can still follow your Pakhan’s orders.”
I brace myself. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Gavriil gestures to either side of me. “You’re going to aim and fire a gun at one of them. If you refuse, I’ll give the option to Alina, and she has already done quite a number on herself…”
I grind my teeth when he trails off, knowing exactly what he’s saying. My dikaya koshka is so distraught that there’s no telling what she would do with a loaded gun, possibly even turn it on herself. “You want me to kill one of my friends to spare her and prove myself to you?”
“A revolver. One single bullet. Just a little game of Russian roulette. If you do as you’re told without argument, then your man might survive one shot with a minor wound,” Gavriil explains with a shrug.
“I never said it had to be fatal if the gun fires, but it must hit flesh if it does. Continue to refuse, though, or intentionally miss, and the number of bullets in the cylinder will increase. Every second you or her delay, another bullet is added. Decide now.”
I don’t want to hurt any of my men, but I won’t let my brother put this burden on Alina. It sounds like all he would need to do is let her refuse food for a little longer, and the deed will be done without her having to lift a gun. Maybe we’ll get lucky and not land on the bullet.
“If I do this,” I say through clenched teeth, “you have to make her eat and drink something.”
“Of course. I already have a few ideas to entice her.” Gavriil snaps his fingers, and Roman emerges from where he stood out of view with the key to my cell door. Gavriil takes the key from him, then Roman lifts his automatic weapon right at my head.
When the cell door swings open, I barely resist the urge to lunge at my brother and rip his throat out. But I know I could never beat Gavriil at hand-to-hand combat. After all, he’s the one who trained me.
Another time I might take the chance. But I can’t afford another injury, not when Alina needs me.
I walk out of my cell for the first time in days, my body tensing in preparation for what’s to come.
Gavriil stands there calmly, though, as if he’s confident I won’t turn on him. “Choose your man.”
I glare at him before turning around to look through all the cell doors at the men who stood by me and were willing to risk their lives to help me and Alina escape the city. Going behind my brother’s back was dangerous, but they did it anyway for me. They would do anything for me, even bleed.
And I have to fire a gun at one of them and pray it doesn’t injure or kill them.
Guilt twists my guts as I walk past the cell doors. Of course, my men are as brave as they come, nodding to me in understanding as my eyes meet theirs.
“I think I can make this decision much easier for you,” Gavriil comments.
I turn toward him, dread creeping up the back of my neck.
“You should know that Petrov reported everything you did to me. He was the one who let me know that Alina had accepted my offer, right before you were planning to run,” Gavriil tells me.
My head snaps to the side, my gaze locking with Petrov’s through the bars.
He hangs his head, not even bothering to defend himself.
I ball my hands into fists as anger courses through my veins. Every move I made, Gavriil knew about because of Petrov. I thought I could trust him, but it was all an act.
I knew someone was keeping my brother informed of my every move. I never thought it was one of the men so close to me.
Petrov had been Gavriil’s informant the entire time.
And Alina…she went behind my back to accept my brother’s offer to spend a month with him? It wasn’t some spur of the moment thing in the garage. That’s why Gavriil showed up just when we were about to leave.
How could she do that to me?
Is that why Alina’s starving herself? Does she feel guilty for going behind my back, agreeing to a month in my brother’s cage which cost Archer the time he could’ve had to run?
I know she did it to try and protect him and me both, doing the same thing I did when I pulled the trigger to save her life. She thought we were out of options. She didn’t trust me to keep her brother alive, and it cost him his life.
God, my poor dikaya koshka.
I inhale sharply as I look away from Petrov, merely nodding to Gavriil. Petrov is the easiest choice. He betrayed me, so I don’t even know why he’s been locked up down here with my loyal men.