Chapter 5 #2
Georgi moves to catch me, but with his wrists shackled, he can’t. His muscle strain and the chains rattle from his attempt to help as I go down hard.
The back of my head slams into the concrete, and I accidentally bite my tongue. The bottle of antiseptic fluid rolls to the side, clinking against the wall when it comes to a standstill.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Vasil, one of the guards, shouts angrily.
Georgi ignores Vasil and looks at me as he asks, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I mutter softly. Sitting up, I rub the goose egg forming beneath my ponytail. “I slipped and fell, Vasil. You can leave.”
The guard glares at me. “No funny business or I’ll tell Boris.”
The threat clears my mind, and I get back to work. Picking up the antiseptic bottle, I return it to the cabinet before taking out the skin glue.
Aware that Vasil is watching my every move, I return to Georgi and set the bucket right before I climb on it again.
Doing my best not to make eye contact with the Sicilian who has me feeling weird things, I twist the cap open and brush some of the bonding liquid over the cut by his eyebrow.
The instant I’m done, I move the bucket back to where I found it and place the glue in the cabinet. When I rush toward the doorway, Vasil steps out of the way so I can pass.
I hurry to my bedroom and quickly shut the door before taking a deep breath. Wrapping my arms around my middle, I glance at the wall between Georgi and me.
“I hear you’re some big shot mob boss,” I hear Vasil’s muted voice, his accent heavy. A few seconds later, he lets out a bark of laughter. “You don’t look like a big shot.”
“Come closer, and say that to my face,” Georgi growls, his tone so low and deadly that it makes goose bumps erupt over my skin.
“You’re restrained cocksucker,” Vasil taunts him. “What do you think you can do?”
Suddenly, I hear chains rattle and horrible choking sounds. Footsteps pound past my door in the hallway, then Martin, one of the other gaurds shout, “Let him go!”
With wide eyes, I listen to the commotion.
“Son of a bitch,” Martin shouts again. A gunshot rings through the air, making my entire body jerk.
More boots hit the concrete hard as men run past my room, then suddenly someone pounds on my door and shoves it open.
Martin glares at me as he orders, “Come patch up the piece of shit.”
Reluctantly, my body moves forward while fear creeps into my mind.
Not knowing what I’m about to see, my breaths come faster than normal over my lips. Just as I step out of my bedroom, two of the guards pull Vasil’s body into the hallway.
His open eyes are frozen with a look I’ve seen before. Death.
Holy shit. How did he die?
I press close to the cold wall as I slowly walk toward the other room.
“What the fuck is going on down here?!” Petar, the head of the guards, roars as he comes down the stairs.
Just as I step into the doorway, and my eyes flit over Georgi, who has a wide grin on his face, Martin says, “The dog broke Vasil’s neck. I had to shoot him.”
I see the blood seeping from Georgi’s thigh as Petar asks, “How?”
“He used his legs,” Martin explains.
When Petar stalks toward me, I dart into the room and go to the cabinet. Keeping my head down, I get everything I’ll need to extract the bullet and stitch the wound closed.
“The next time you try something like that, I’ll remove your fucking leg,” Petar threatens Georgi.
A wave of nausea rolls through my stomach.
“No one gives him any food or water for the next two days.” After barking out the order, Petar leaves again, and I exhale a slow breath.
Turning away from the cabinet, the thought that Georgi can kill me crosses my mind, and my feet refuse to move forward.
Georgi notices and lets out a dark chuckle while looking at me. “Scared, little mouse?”
“Shut up!” Martin snaps, then he gestures with his gun for me to get to work.
As I walk to Georgi, my body starts to tremble and my mouth grows impossibly dry. Once I’m within reaching distance of him, he chuckles again, and it makes me jerk with fright.
“Hmm…don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not into breaking women’s necks.” My eyes dart to his face, then he adds, “I’m all about the love.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Martin hisses. “You fucking talk too much.”
Kneeling beside Georgi, I pray to all that’s holy, he doesn’t kill me. I clean the area around the wound, and my voice trembles as I warn him, “It’s going to hurt.”
“That should be a turn on for you,” he says, his tone still playful but with a dangerous undertone to it.
I press my lips together in a firm line and begin to dig the bullet out. Luckily for Georgi, it didn’t go too deep, but I’m still surprised when he doesn’t even grunt.
I clean the wound again before stitching the hole shut. Gathering my supplies, I climb back to my feet, and as I glance at Georgi’s face, I notice he’s lost some color.
Honestly, I feel he should get a saline drip, but I know mentioning it will only get me in trouble.
“Faster,” Martin snaps.
I hurry to put everything away, then rush out into the hallway and return to my room.
When I shut the door again, I slump back against the worn wood and close my eyes.
I wish I could hold Simi.