Chapter 17
Dominik
No matter how violently I struggle, the blindfold doesn’t budge, the knot biting into my skull as darkness swallows everything.
I don’t know how long I’ve been like this, my hands chained overhead to a ceiling hook, blindfold cutting off my sight, earplugs sealing me inside my own head.
I can’t see. Can’t hear. Can’t even shift my weight without metal biting into my wrists.
I don’t know what the fuck Gavriil is up to with all of this bullshit, day after day, but I want to wring his goddamn neck right now. How long will the torment last this time?
My jaw clenches as I try to slow my heart rate, but it keeps racing out of control. If I couldn’t feel the cuffs on my wrists and the floor beneath my feet, it would feel like I’m floating in nothingness.
There’s nothing but darkness, silence. And the sound of my own pulse losing control.
Panic crawls up my throat, tightening until swallowing feels like a mistake. The last time I felt something like this was years ago when I was young. Too young.
Gavriil was away for the weekend, leaving me alone with our father. I forgot what I did to piss him off, but it couldn’t have been anything too serious. Our father’s temper ignited faster than a struck match.
He didn’t want to look at me, so he shoved me into my bedroom closet and locked the door, sealing me inside total darkness. It didn’t matter how hard I pounded my fists or how hoarse my voice grew from begging.
He didn’t speak to me at all. I don’t know if he was even in the house or not. He could’ve left for Pakhan business for all I know, but it lasted the whole weekend because I wasn’t freed until Gavriil returned home and kicked down the door when he couldn’t find the key.
Of course, our father was pissed about that too and punished Gavriil for breaking the door and interfering with my punishment.
I always felt bad when Gavriil got in trouble for me, but I was glad that he was back home. Dealing with my father alone felt like a death sentence. Not that I wanted anyone else to be dragged into that hell. But it was more tolerable to endure with someone else who understood.
I tried to help Gavriil evade our father’s rage when possible, but I often just got us into even more trouble. That’s when Gavriil would be angry with me, and it hurt worse than when our father did it.
Probably because I had to rely on Gavriil for protection. Without him, I would’ve had no one to turn to, and that terrified me more than anything else at the time.
Before the memory can fade from my mind, light explodes in my vision as the blindfold is ripped off. I blink a few times to let my eyes get adjusted, a blurry figure coming into view.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding.
Gavriil stands in front of me like he did in the past, conquering the darkness by letting the light in. But this time it isn’t a rescue.
“What the fuck do you want?” I snap at him, cold bitterness filling me.
“I can’t check on my little brother?” Gavriil replies after plucking the ear plugs out, his eyes slowly sweeping over me.
“Not without an ulterior motive,” I mutter, glancing past him to see two guards standing outside in case I try to lash out.
That’s probably what they want me to do. If I retaliate, I get punished even worse. Broken down. Beaten.
I can’t become weak or I won’t be useful to Alina.
As good as it would feel to break free and get a few hits in on my brother, it’s not worth that temporary victory right now. I have to think about Alina, and I have to try to think two steps ahead of Gavriil.
“You seemed tense when I came in. Are you in pain?” Gavriil asks me as he tilts his head to study me.
“I was thinking about when I was locked in our closet while you were away,” I tell him, seeing a faint ripple in his serious expression. He remembers. I know he does.
Gavriil looks away from me, tucking his hands into his pants pockets as he slowly roams around the cell. “Did you learn your lesson?” His voice is calm enough to be dangerous.
“I learned a lot of things from our father, but I only learned one thing from his punishments,” I reply, my eyes following him.
“And what was that?”
“He was a cruel bastard.”
Gavriil cracks a small, amused grin. “He loved his punishments.”
As Pakhan, he didn’t just punish us when we stepped out of line. He had a whole organization of men to take his anger out on, and he expected damn near perfection from everyone. That’s why he was feared more than he was respected.
“You inherited that from him.”
“Don’t guilt trip me, Bratishka,” Gavriil warns me, his smile fading. “Unlike our father, I have your best interest in mind.”
At least he thinks that he does.
“If that’s true, then let me see Alina again,” I tell him. “It wasn’t fair of you to finally let me see her and then cut our visit so short.”
Gavriil barks out a cold laugh. “Wasn’t fair of me? We’re no longer children. Fairness doesn’t matter any longer. And you seem to have misplaced your gratitude, after everything I’ve done for you.”
I grind my teeth together for a second when he throws that shit in my face, keeping my harsh words at bay. “Bring her down here at least. Give us five minutes. I just want to make sure that she’s okay. Is she eating? Staying hydrated?”
“You saw her with your own eyes,” Gavriil says as he wanders closer to me. “She’s perfectly fine. She’s looking quite good these days.”
His teasing tone makes anger boil under my skin. I don’t want to know what he means by that.
“Gavriil.”
My brother’s eyes meet mine before he shakes his head. “No. You need to prove your full loyalty to me.”
His obsession with control will be his downfall. I’m fucking sure of it.
“If you weren’t such an arrogant bastard, you would be begging me to help you with whatever is going on out there,” I tell him. “I know that there’s some sort of threat. I’ve seen how unnerved your men are. You’re losing control.”
Gavriil casts a silent glance over his shoulder at the two guards, who immediately look down at the floor. I don’t feel sorry for ratting them out. “I have everything under control.”
I give Gavriil a pointed look, damning his stubbornness. It’s always gotten him in even more trouble. “If you had it under control, then your men wouldn’t be pulled from their posts so much to deal with it.”
Gavriil narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t tell me how to lead. It’s your betrayal that’s costing my men their lives.”
I frown at his accusation. I made him weak with my own choices. Now he’s dealing with the fallout, and our men are the ones suffering for it.
My heart stops when he pulls his necklace out of his shirt. His and mine. “You never deserved your half.”
“A necklace doesn’t mean anything.”
He smirks and puts the two ruby halves away again. “Then why did you give yours to Alina?”
“Why the fuck did you take it from her?” I question him.
“You forgot how to take orders from me without question. To obey me,” Gavriil says. “She’s learning, though. Maybe I’ll put a ruby collar on her. That’ll suit her better now that she’s becoming so…obedient.”
“She’s not your fucking pet,” I snarl, the chains rattling as my control slips.
“Alina went behind your back and agreed to be mine for a month, remember?” Gavriil says, amusement glinting in his eyes. “You’re just upset that I’ll have her first.”
“Alina loves me. She’ll never want you.”
“I don’t need her love,” Gavriil scoffs. “I only want her to submit to me so I can prove that she doesn’t give a damn about you. She’s no different from Daria.”
I bark out a laugh when I finally see the bigger picture, his lie for what it really is.
He’s obsessed with her and wants her to want him, which will never fucking happen.
“She’s got you distracted. That’s why you’ve lost control of whatever else is going on,” I taunt him.
“Things are only going to get worse unless you let her go.”
Gavriil shakes his head as he takes a step back. “By the end of our month together, you’ll realize that running off with Alina was never going to happen.”
“You’re punishing me because she’s making you feel weak and you hate it,” I point out with another chuckle.
Gavriil eyes me. “You should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you? For what?” I huff. “Any debt I owed to you for saving my life was paid years ago.”
“But you haven’t thanked me for saving Alina’s life.”
“Saving her life? That’s what you think you’re doing?”
“She’s so fragile, isn’t she? So depressed after what you did. Yelena barely made it here in time,” he says casually. “Another few hours and her organs would’ve started shutting down.”
“What?” I exclaim, trying to jerk free from the chains. My heart races out of control. I wish he was lying, but I know he isn’t. “When?”
“Right before your short visit.”
That’s what that was about? He brought me up to see her after she…
Smirking, he says, “She’s doing much better now. I have her wearing the most delicious lingerie.”
“You son of a bitch!” I shout at the top of my lungs. She nearly died, and he’s dressing her up like a goddamn doll?
I’m so furious that I barely notice a guard moving closer to the cell door until he yells, “Sir!”
Gavriil tears his eyes away from me, his grin falling as he walks over to the man, putting his back to me as the guard speaks to him quietly.
I strain my ears to try to hear, only catching a few words. One stands out to me, though.
“An attack? On who? On us again?” I question Gavriil.
Gavriil gestures for the guard to leave before turning back to me. “It’s not your concern.”
My skin heats up as my frustration builds. I’ve helped him with these sorts of problems for years. Now, I wish I didn’t give a shit about him or our men, but I do, even if he doesn’t deserve my help.
“Let Alina go before things get worse,” I tell him.
“I’ve been handling things just fine without you,” Gavriil replies. “Perhaps, I never needed you as second at all.”
He’s fucking delusional. That cocky expression on his face doesn’t fool me. I don’t know what attack is going on, but I have a bad feeling that things are only going to get worse.
Gavriil is a good leader, but my planning helped guide him, keep him in control. Without me, I don’t know what kind of trouble he’s making his men march into.
“At least tell me what’s going on. You can’t keep me in the dark like this when you’re putting Alina in danger!” I tell him.
“Speaking of keeping you in the dark,” Gavriil says before walking back toward me with the blindfold hanging in his hand.
I try to move away from him, but my back hits the wall, blocking my path of escape as Gavriil ties the blindfold around my head. Protests rise up my throat, but I don’t cry out like I did when I was a scared child.
That won’t help me now.
“Maybe I should silence you too,” Gavriil tells me. “You’ve forgotten how to shut up and fall in line.”
“You’re just worried I’ll tell you something that you don’t want to hear,” I say, looking straight ahead where I assume Gavriil is still standing.
“Your plans aren’t working. You’re costing us lives, not me.
These aren’t a bunch of idiot bikers, are they?
You’re going to lose whatever conflict we’re in right now. ”
Gavriil is eerily quiet for a few seconds, making uneasiness creep up the back of my neck. “You must feel lonely in here since you want to talk so much. Too bad your loyal men are receiving the same depravation punishment at the moment, complete with gags.”
Am I supposed to thank him for not gagging me?
I roll my eyes behind the blindfold as I hear his footsteps fade away, followed by the sound of the cell door opening and shutting. So much for that. Gavriil’s stubbornness is going to throw him into an early grave, and there won’t be anything that I can do to stop it.
My body aches as I continue standing there, unsure of how many hours it’s been since I last sat or laid down. I’m sure he’ll tack on a few more hours because of what I said. He doesn’t like being called a failure or someone insinuating that he is one.
I suppose no one does, but Gavriil always takes things further than anyone else. He has to make a point. He has to come out on top.
Whatever is happening upstairs, I pray he gets it under control before it’s too late. The last thing that I need is to worry about another threat to Alina’s safety. Especially when I’m unable to be there to save her.
Alina’s life is in Gavriil’s hands now. And that’s what terrifies me most.
While I don’t think he would intentionally kill her, I don’t know if he’s loyal enough to me to save her at all costs.