Chapter 21 #3
As Mikhail is forced to his knees in front of Alexi, a sense of peace overtakes him. Like a storm finally breaking, he feels lighter. Free.
It’s been three hours since they found Ulayna. In the time it took for Alexi to calm her down and treat her wounds, he’s been thinking about nothing but who they found her with.
He’ll never forget the sight of her, glorious in her victory, as she smashed in the head of the commander with a metal food tray. She’d been covered in blood and filth, but had still looked beautiful.
He only wished he’d had a chance to explain.
But as Alexi holds a gun to the back of his head, he knows the time for explanations is over.
At least he got to see the commander die before his own death. It seems fitting, somehow, that his father would be killed by his half sister. Poetic, almost.
Bracing himself for the bullet that he knows will find him any second, he calmly places his hands on his knees and waits. He’s ready.
“Why?” Alexi’s voice rings out with all the weight of a pakhan’s command.
Despite himself, Mikhail is suddenly desperate for Ulayna to know of their connection before he dies. He blurts, “She’s my sister.”
The room seems to freeze.
“Who?” Alexi demands.
“Ulayna. She’s…” Mikhail licks his suddenly dry lips. “She’s my half sister.”
“It’s not possible! Even if it were true, why would you betray her?” Alexi presses the gun harder into the back of his head, and Mikhail struggles to hold on to the sense of peace from moments ago.
He shakes his head in denial. “I didn’t betray her. My half brother did.”
Alexi shakes his head in confusion. “Explain.”
Grateful he’s getting even the slightest opportunity to explain, he quickly tries to do so. “My father was the commander.”
If it were possible for the room to go any colder with hatred, it would. From the other side of the room, he can feel the visceral reactions of Ruger and Shade at the mention of that contemptible man.
Mikhail gulps, then continues. “The commander had one other son, by a different woman. He didn’t learn about me until I was nearly twelve.
And when he did, he killed my mother and brought me here.
What he didn’t know until years later was that my mother also had a baby girl by another man.
When he killed my mother—Ulayna’s mother—she was sent to live in the orphanage.
It was only after he discovered her ties to me that he kidnapped her and brought her into the Program as a way to try to control me. ”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Alexi asks in a deceptively calm voice.
“It was my half brother—the commander’s other son. He’s the one who betrayed us. I’d never met him until the training program. But Ulayna’s right. We had the same voice. Same eyes too.”
“Had?” Ruger asks from across the room.
Mikhail nods. “I killed him. His body is downstairs.”
Alexi tips his head in the direction of the stairs, indicating for Shade to go investigate. “Why would you kill your own brother?”
“Half brother,” Mikhail says with derision.
Not that it matters now, but he’d rather not be closely tied to that evil man if he can help it.
“I didn’t meet our father until I was nearly twelve.
Until then, I was raised in a mostly happy home.
We didn’t have much, but we were loved. And Ulayna…
She was such a precious little baby. An unexpected joy in an otherwise harsh world.
I loved her instantly. I swore to our mother that I would protect her, always. But then… the commander happened.
“Unlike me, my half brother was raised here. I don’t know who his mother was. He probably didn’t either. But from birth, he was the commander’s toy to shape and mold into his own image.
“We were kept separate, never allowed to meet. Likely another way for our father to torture us and try to control us. But I heard things. Rumors and gossip from the staff. Sick, twisted stories about his cruelty and sadistic pleasures. Like father, like son.”
“And how did you end up working for me?” Alexi asks.
“As I got older, I learned as much about the Program as I could so that one day, I could hopefully take it down from within. But when Ulayna was brought in, it nearly killed me. I couldn’t save her.
” Despite his best efforts to remain calm, anguish fills Mikhail's voice as he remembers those awful years watching them torture and torment his baby sister.
“I couldn't stop them. I didn’t have the power or the skills.
All I could do was give her something that would hopefully help her get through it with a piece of her soul intact. So I waited, and I watched.
“When Ulayna was sold to Boris and shipped to the US, I followed as quickly as I could. I was there the night you overthrew him.”
Risking a glance over his shoulder, he looks at Alexi’s stern face.
“I was planning to rescue her that night, but you rescued her instead. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get her out after that, or if I even should.
She doesn't know who I am and has no reason to trust me. So I decided to stick around and see how you treated her. I’ve tried to keep my eye on her ever since.
” His expression turns rueful. “She seems to have a knack for getting herself in trouble and putting herself in dangerous situations. I almost had a heart attack when she jumped into the grain chute the night of the first challenge. I was so mad at her for that.”
Alexi shakes his head, struggling to believe what Mikhail is telling him.
Mikhail looks up when Shade comes back up the stairs and hurries over to Alexi. They exchange a few whispered words, and Mikhail waits with bated breath.
Finally, Alexi turns back to him. “Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t,” Mikhail responds with total sincerity.
“If you truly want to protect Ulayna, you’ll put a bullet in my brain right now.
I share blood with that sadist. His sickness runs through my veins.
All I’ve ever wanted is to get revenge for our mother and make sure my baby sister is in a safe place.
Now that that’s done, and my brother is dead too, I’m ready to die and take the last of the commander’s legacy with me. ”
Steeling himself, Mikhail turns back around and once again places his hands on his knees, bowing his head.
But the bullet never comes.
“Where does your loyalty lie?” Alexi asks him.
Without pause, Mikhail answers. “With my sister.”
“And would you protect her with your life, if needed?”
“Always,” he says, again without hesitation.
“And what was the thing you gave her?”
“What?” Mikhail asks, taken off guard by the question.
“You said that when you couldn’t save her, you gave her something to help her keep her soul intact. What was it?”
“A book,” Mikhail breathes out. “A Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. I couldn’t give it to her directly, so I left it where she’d find it.”
Without another word, Alexi holsters his gun and strides out the door.
Mikhail follows Alexi’s retreating figure with his eyes. “I don’t understand,” he tells the room at large.
Ruger hauls him to his feet. “Your death may come soon, but it won’t be at Alexi’s hand,” he says.
“I don’t understand,” Mikhail says again, his head spinning. He lets out a breath of relief and something like… hope fills his chest.
Ruger grins, and the sight is mildly disturbing, given the circumstances.
“Alexi is leaving your fate up to your sister,” he explains.
“If she still wants you dead, then she’ll kill you herself.
But if not…” Ruger shrugs and follows Alexi out the door.
Over his shoulder, he says, “It’s her trust you’ll need to earn, not Alexi’s. ”
Gobsmacked, it takes Mikhail a few minutes to close his mouth and hurry after the other men.