Chapter 29
Dominik
“Boss?”
“Fuck, it’s good to hear your voices again.”
Relief floods my chest as my men speak on either side of me. Days of blindfolds and earplugs, of silence, finally break.
Gavriil’s psychological torture bullshit has scraped all of us raw, but maybe he’s finally bored with it. He has more pressing things to focus on rather than tormenting us and trying to take my girl away from me.
The bastard.
If there’d been a clean way out, I would’ve taken it weeks ago.
But Gavriil didn’t make mistakes with prisons. Only with people.
“Feels like I’ve been disassociating for a week straight,” Renat mutters from the cell to my right. “What the hell’s been happening? Anything?”
I lean my shoulder to the bars, angling my head to catch every word. “A lot. And it’s all pissed me off.”
The only good thing that’s happened lately is Alina being sent down here for a little while before she gets ripped away, taken back up to my brother.
“Fill us in,” Viktor says from my left.
“Gavriil is losing a war with the Irish,” I reply with a disappointed shake of my head. “His moves are sloppy. Reactive. He’s thinking in minutes, not months ahead. He always has.”
“What’s he doing?” Viktor asks, sounding wary.
“Too much. He keeps changing things up too fast. He’s spreading us thin,” I bite out because it’s not just strategy, it’s bodies.
Gavriil isn’t giving anyone time to adjust. Confusion turns into hesitation, and hesitation gets people killed.
“Have there been more attacks?” Renat asks.
“Yes. Bombings. Men being gunned down,” I say, and my throat tightens. I don’t even know the full count yet. “They’re slipping past our patrols and hitting whatever they want again and again.”
“A full-scale assault will be devastating,” Viktor says. “They’re probing, testing, mapping out our weak spots.”
It’s the precursor to a bloody fight that’s bound to happen any day now. I’m sure the Irish and whoever is helping them are getting antsy.
They’ve already drawn blood. Next, they’ll go in for the kill.
“Gavriil needs to do something to stop them. His retaliation backfired and didn’t scare them. It cost us men,” I mutter as I scratch the back of my neck, wishing I could take the damn reins from my brother. “He needs a new approach. This one is killing us.”
“How do you know any of this? He’s been talking to you?” Renat asks.
“He let Alina sit in on a meeting,” I say, and the words taste wrong. “I don’t know what game he thinks he’s playing, but he wants her close.”
“Think he’s flaunting?” Viktor replies.
“He’s not the type,” I murmur as my brow furrows in thought. “But the way he is with her … it’s different.”
“She’s different,” Viktor points out. “She stands up to him. She doesn’t drop to her knees at his feet like all the others.”
She did give him something, though. And she probably will again. Whatever desire that she feels toward him, I hope it doesn’t weaken her. Gavriil is the type to pounce when that happens. Alina has to stand strong and turn things around on him when he least expects it.
“He’s let her come down here a few times,” I tell them. “He refuses to talk to me about the war, but he must know that she’ll tell me everything that she finds out.”
“Your brother’s a proud bastard.”
I pause at the sound of Petrov’s voice. He’s a little farther down than the others, but I know it’s him. “Alina told me you were still alive, that she saw you.”
“I’m sorry,” Petrov says, voice rough. “I didn’t know he’d use me like that.”
“You mean to make her shower with him?” I ask. The words scrape my throat raw. Like saying them makes them more real.
“I didn’t see anything. I swear,” Petrov tells me, panic bleeding into his voice.
I believe him because he would’ve apologized for even glancing at her if he did.
“You were threatened,” I say with a heavy exhale. “And she chose to spare you.”
“They yanked me out before anything…happened.”
Before the bastard’s hands started roaming.
I close my eyes and press my forehead to the bars, swallowing down bile-bitter jealousy.
“So, he’s letting her sit in on meetings and making her shower with him,” Renat comments. “That’s not how he plays with other women.”
“He’s interested,” I admit. “And when Gavriil wants something, he doesn’t stop.”
“Why would he do that?” Viktor asks.
“Because he thinks love makes me weak,” I say. “He’s trying to come between us because he’d rather I be a weapon than a man.”
Silence fills the prison.
“He put his hands on what’s mine,” I say, my voice going flat with rage. “And then he made sure I knew about it afterwards.”
After a few minutes Viktor speaks. “He wants her for himself.”
My fists clench. “As a trophy, or a blade he can press to my throat.”
“That would make sense except he’s letting her hear things she shouldn’t,” Renat points out. “And showering with her seems…”
“Too intimate for him,” Viktor says, and the words land like a punch.
“You haven’t seen them together, boss,” Petrov comments. “When he’s around her, it’s like he’s entranced. During the few minutes that I was in the room, he barely ever took his eyes off her. Like he couldn’t stop looking at her.”
I remain silent, unsure of how I feel about that. Of course, it’s concerning, but it’s also surprising.
Alina may actually have a decent chance of getting in his head, convincing him to let me out. She won’t approve of what happens next, but I’m prepared to pay the cost.
“Gavriil doesn’t usually get attached,” I state. “He collects. He controls.”
“Except you,” Renat says.
“That’s blood not choice,” I reply. “He doesn’t get attached to anyone else. He doesn’t care about relationships. Just power and control.”
“Well, he’s giving Alina more power and control than anyone else in his cage,” Viktor tells me.
“Which means it’s not just a performance to piss you off,” Renat adds. “It’s because he actually wants her.”
I cross my arms over my chest, eyes on the wall across from me as I think. “There’s always a motive with Gavriil. He doesn’t act on impulse.”
“I don’t think that’s the case in this situation,” Petrov says. “He’s been acting odd, right?”
“Alina thinks so,” I reply, tension creeping up the back of my neck. I think I know what he’s about to say.
“He’s spiraling,” Petrov tells me. “I think he caught feelings for her.”
Renat lets out a laugh of disbelief. “I never thought I’d see the day that Gavriil Morozov grew a heart.”
“We don’t know that,” I say but my gut twists like I do. “He might just be trying to piss me off. He knows taking her from me will ruin me.”
“If it was just to hurt you, he would flaunt it,” Viktor points out. “He barely comes down here, barely speaks to you.”
“Which is fine with me,” I mutter. “I’m done following his orders. If he wants to drown, he can do it without dragging the rest of us under.”
“He’s too proud to apologize, boss,” Renat replies. “You’ll have to either trick or force the truth out of him.”
Amusement flickers within me. He’s not wrong. Gavriil hates anything that has to do with sharing his feelings, which is another reason why he’s nowhere near relationship material.
The thought of him wanting to be with Alina in any sort of romantic capacity is nearly laughable.
But concern still stirs deep in my chest at the prospect of that actually happening.
If she’s unlocked something in him that’s never seen the light of day.
I don’t know how he’s going to react if he falls deeper.
Hopefully things go our way.
“Typical Gavriil.” I sigh. “Of course, the one time he catches feelings… it’s for the woman I love.” I hear a few chuckles to my left and right, but I can hear the sympathy in their laughter.
“What are you going to do?” Petrov asks.
I wrap my fingers around the bars and give the door a light shake, making the metal rattle. “Not much I can do in here but wait.”
“You think Alina can handle him,” Renat states.
“That’s the plan.”
“If she can hold out a little longer, maybe we can figure out how to get out of here and get her away from him,” Renat replies.
But what if she doesn’t want saving when the time comes?
I hate thinking that, but she touched him too. I’ve seen sympathy in her eyes when talking about him. If Gavriil is actually starting to feel things for her, there must be some sort of connection between them.
And if it’s mutual… I may already be too late.
That thought is worse than any kind of torture.
If that’s the case, then Alina might not want to leave him behind. Or let me kill him.
“Unless Gavriil gets us all killed first because he can’t stop the Irish,” Viktor mutters.
As if we don’t already have enough problems to worry about.
“If she convinces him to come to me for help,” I say, keeping my voice low, “you know the first thing I plan to do after he makes the mistake of thinking he’s won.
” His men have pissed me off left and right, but we all bleed if the Irish win.
And as the new Pakhan, I’ll need them all to fight our enemies.
“Finally,” Viktor says making me almost smile. “It’s been a long time coming, boss. He’s been losing support, getting people killed. They’ll all be ready to support you.”
This isn’t about settling a score. It’s about ending a war before it buries us all.
I breathe in steadily, hoping Alina and I are both up for this.
If anyone can get him to break, it’s her. I don’t like what I’m asking of her, but I trust her more than anyone else.
“Alina will come through,” I reply confidently as I step away from the door.
I just don’t know what it’ll cost her to make him bend.