Chapter 23
Gavriil
Nothing is going as planned. Not outside of my house and not within its walls.
Which is why I can’t sleep yet again.
Uneasiness claws its way under my skin as I leave my bedroom to pace around my office. My eyes repeatedly flicker to my computer screen as it displays an arrangement of live video feeds. Only two things matter to me right now, though.
Dominik’s cell and my bedroom.
It’s late, an hour or so before sunrise. Alina lays curled up on her mattress in the cage, constantly tossing and turning. Dominik is also awake, slowly pacing around his cell like we’re reflections of each other. In some ways, I guess we are.
A fire burns in my chest as I watch him, wondering what he’s thinking about. Her? What I’ve done with her that she hasn’t told him?
A furious exhale punches out of me as I continue roaming aimlessly around the room. I underestimated how deeply he still lived under her skin.
I thought throwing them together would tear them apart, that being around him again would remind her of the choices he made and the things that he did that broke her heart.
But that’s not what happened.
Instead, she ran to him and let him hold her. She was all over him, and it took everything in me not to tell the guards to rip her away from him sooner.
How could she love the man who killed her brother?
Jealousy carved through me, sharp and humiliating. I wasn’t just angry that she still wanted him. I was angry that she didn’t need me, that I was forgotten so soon.
Need was power. And Alina had stripped it from me without even trying.
But why should I be the only one who has to deal with this pestering unease deep in my chest as it eats away at my damn soul?
I think I owe my brother a little bit of honesty.
I couldn’t hear their conversation. Even with the sound turned up they spoke too softly.
But I doubt Alina felt the need to give him every piece of truth when she was with him.
If not, then it’s because she felt guilty, like she did something wrong by wanting me.
If she truly hated me and thought I had manipulated her in the shower, then she would’ve told Dom and cried on his shoulder about it. She would’ve wanted to feed his rage so he would take it out on me the first chance he got.
My pulse races as I leave my office, combating the exhaustion threatening to slow down my body as I take the stairs to the prison. I feel like I could split apart at any moment, and nothing pretty would come spilling out.
Pieces of a tortured soul. Blood that has yet to be shed in this coming war. Jealousy as nauseating and stomach-churning as bile.
“I wasn’t expecting you, sir.” Simeon clears his throat and shoves his phone into his pants pocket, his spine snapping straight as he stands at the entrance of the prison.
I stride past him, not even giving him a glance or a second of my time. My focus is on the bars of Dominik’s cell, and I rake together every fragmented ounce of my sense of control to remain composed. Unbothered. Untouchable.
“Can’t sleep?” I ask once I reach the cell door. “Petrov hasn’t been catching you up on things?”
“Petrov?” Dominik stops his antsy pacing and shakes his head before slowly edging toward the door instead, eyes locking with mine through the bars. “Why did you send Alina down here just to take her away from me again?”
“Well, you can’t have her all to yourself, Bratishka,” I chide him.
Dominik’s expression stiffens. “What are you doing to her, Gavriil?”
I don’t have to ask him the same question since I’ve seen it for myself. I wanted to lash out at him just for kissing her.
The unknown must be driving him crazy. I’ll help alleviate a little of his curiosity.
He has no idea what she has freely given to me. Maybe it’s time for him to find out she’s disloyal, just as I warned him.
“Do you really want to know what Alina and I have done together?” I ask him as a sly grin tugs at my lips.
Dominik closes the distance between him and the door, his fingers gripping the bars that separate us. “I know that the Irish are attacking us, that you’ve been letting her sit in on meetings. What’s your play? How do you plan to stop them?”
I’m sure she’s told him every little detail that she’s heard too. I can’t expect discretion from her, and I wouldn’t have put her in the same room as me during those meetings if I wanted to.
“Do you want to hear about the war with the Irish or what happened in the cage just minutes before I let her come down here to you?” I question him, each word building up the tension already lingering in the air. “Choose carefully.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
There’s a waver in his voice. I can practically hear the sinking of his stomach because he knows that I’m about to tell him something that he doesn’t want to hear. That doesn’t stop me from storming down the war path that I’m already on.
“She didn’t tell you?” I ask knowing she didn’t.
Wouldn’t tell him. His grip on the bars loosens.
Just for a second. Enough to let me know that I’ve hit something vital.
“We both needed a shower after I got done killing a traitor,” I say as I rest my forearm on the cell door above my head.
“Don’t worry. I was a gentleman. I washed the blood off her first.”
Dominik’s jaw clenches so hard that I think he’s going to shatter his teeth. “You fucking didn’t.”
“I did.”
“If you laid a finger on her…”
“You’ll do what? There’s nothing you can do to stop me from touching her now, little brother,” I remind him, keeping my voice calm.
Dominik glares at me, his fury rolling off him in waves. His anger has never unnerved me.
This time it’s expected even. He’s too much of a fool to not get attached to other people.
Especially a woman who bends his loyalty and makes him betray me.
“Alina melted at my touch,” I tell him, remembering the softness of her skin under my fingertips. The way she arched and trembled as the pleasure escalated. “She didn’t want me to stop. In fact, she begged for more.”
Dominik lunges forward and grabs the front of my shirt through the bars, yanking me forward.
I manage to catch myself with my forearm, but the force of his grip makes my top lip catch one of the bars, splitting the tissue. Instead of getting pissed off and dealing the damage back, I merely smile at him, blood welling up in the cut.
Pain is familiar. Control is even better.
I wave my hand behind me, motioning for Simeon to stand down. I don’t need him to rush to my aid. This is between me and my brother.
“I’m just being honest with you, Bratishka,” I say as he tightens his grip on my shirt. “Someone should be since she isn’t.”
Something flashes in his eyes, and it’s not anger. Obviously, Alina didn’t mention a word of what we did to him, which doesn’t surprise me. She can’t expect me to hold my tongue, though.
Some of us value honesty.
“The sounds she made for me,” I continue, lowering my voice. My tongue sneaks out to sweep across the cut, the metallic taste filling my mouth. “My name has never sounded so good on someone else’s lips.”
That’s not a total lie. She did say my name. I’ll never tell my brother that it was his name she called out when she came.
Dominik leans closer, an angry exhale punching out of his lungs. “Did you fuck her?”
I could lie and drive him past the point of madness, but what’s the fun in that? I want the truth to torment him.
“No, it only took my fingers to unravel her.”
Dominik releases my shirt and slams his hand against my chest, knocking me backward away from the cell door. He whips around to put his back to me, one hand raking through his hair. “You’re a fucking asshole. She wouldn’t have…you manipulated her.”
“Did I twist her arm to get her into the shower? Yes,” I say as I watch him fray at the edges. “But I didn’t have to make any threats for her to let me run my hands all over her sexy body.”
Dominik shakes his head. “I don’t want to hear your bullshit lies, Gavriil!”
I watch him pace and cast glances at me like he’s prepared to launch himself at me again, but he knows it’s futile.
A flicker of satisfaction sizzles in my chest, but it dies as fast as it’s born, leaving a cold, empty feeling within me.
I thought this would feel more fun, spreading the jealousy around.
“It’s the honest to God truth. Just ask her. And you’re welcome by the way,” I comment as I turn away from him to leave.
“What would I possibly thank you for?” Dominik snaps.
“Getting her warmed up for you. Too bad you didn’t take advantage earlier…”
I still hear Dominik’s curses when I reach the top of the stairs to leave the prison.
The hollow feeling follows me up the stairs.
I had wanted this to feel like a victory.
It doesn’t.