Chapter 16
Alina
The clock is no longer just ticking. It’s feels like a knife pressing against my throat.
I need to break Gavriil before he finishes what he started with me.
Even if that means losing parts of myself I won’t get back.
My eyes settle on the closed bedroom door as I huddle in the corner of the cage with my back against the bars, knees pulled to my bare chest on the mattress with the thin blanket covering me. Valentin hardly guards me anymore.
Why does he need to when Gavriil can’t seem to stay away for more than an hour?
Most of the time, he doesn’t say much to me at all. He’ll step into the bedroom, look around the cage, make a comment telling me to eat more or stop sulking, and then leave again.
I have a feeling he’s always watching me on the camera in the corner of the room too.
He’s still worried about me after the health scare, which is…odd. I assumed the bastard enjoyed seeing people miserable.
Somehow, though, I’ve been getting under his skin in a way that he’s not used to. There’s a chink in his armor. One I’m going to expose and use it to my advantage.
Mine and Dominik’s.
A fire has ignited inside me now that I know I have a little power over the Pakhan. It’s burned through the guilt and numbness that nearly swallowed me whole.
Fury remains in the ash and aftermath, but I won’t waste it on an explosion he expects. I need it for steady fuel until Dominik and I get out of here.
The bedroom door opens again, and Gavriil walks in like clockwork. There’s one thing that’s different this time, though. He’s holding a black bag with red tissue paper spilling out of the top.
“Brought you something to replace my shirt,” Gavriil says as he shuts the bedroom door behind him.
I don’t like the glint of amusement in his eyes, but I gather myself and get to my feet as he steps into the cage and places the bag on the floor. Once he takes a few steps back to hover in front of the door, I walk over to the bag and yank out the tissue paper to reveal lacy fabric.
Heat rushes to my face as I pull out a strapless red and white lace corset with a matching G-string. God, he’s such a pervert.
“No.”
Gavriil smirks and crosses his arms as he leans back against the bars. “Yes, Alina. Put it on.”
I consider strangling him with this G-string, but he’d probably get off on that.
I remain standing there, rooted to the spot and inwardly mortified at what he wants me to wear. This is his game, though—strip me down, dress me up, remind me he makes the rules.
He must feel like he’s losing control if he’s intent on making me wear the sexy outfit for him.
It’s a desperate move. He has to know that.
And yet he still looks so damn eager. Excited even.
I’ll just have to figure out a way to beat him at his own game.
The most dangerous part is how easily my body warms, more than ready to play along. I do enjoy seeing how badly he wants me. Once I’m wearing his lingerie, he will probably give me anything I want.
“Turn around,” I order him.
Gavriil smirks and raises an eyebrow at me. “You’re being shy now?”
He’s going to insist on watching. God, he’s so pathetic.
I toss the bag on the ground and put on the corset first. It hugs my figure irritatingly perfect. How’d he know my size?
Then again, this isn’t the first time that I’ve worn lingerie he purchased.
I adjust the bra portion, my cheeks glowing as I quickly realize how little the lace actually covers. Still, it’s better than being naked. And the lacy design makes me feel…sexy. Confident.
After I slip on the G-string, I look Gavriil right in the eyes, refusing to be self-conscious.
“Well?” I ask while fidgeting with the thin straps on my shoulders and nearly nonexistent waistband.
Gavriil doesn’t say a word as he silently gawks at me.
He blew up a giant canvas of me in a similar outfit before. What will he do now that I’m standing in front of him, wearing lingerie for him?
“Do a spin for me,” Gavriil commands, his accent heavier than ever before.
Oh yeah, he’s so turned on he can’t even think straight.
I clench my jaw to keep from smirking as I turn slowly, every inch of my skin buzzing as his gaze follows.
When I face back forward and meet his eyes again, I lose my breath at how intently he’s staring at me.
His jaw goes slack, his breath stalling like he’s forgotten how to glance away.
“Well, look at you, printsessa,” Gavriil says, his voice even more strained, more affected. “You’re stunning.”
Did he just call me…princess before his compliment?
Feeling even more confident, I place my hands on my hips, ignoring the way my heart skips. He can dress me up like a clown for all I care, but he won’t strip away all my dignity. In fact, it’s time to try and turn the tables, to make him feel vulnerable.
“Have you always gotten what you wanted, Gavriil?”
The corner of his mouth curls up but he doesn’t lift his eyes from my chest. “If I set my mind to it.”
I take a step toward him, noting the shift in his shoulders as he faintly tenses in surprise. “Since you were a child?”
Gavriil finally lifts his gaze. “Why?”
I shrug. “I don’t know much about you or Dominik besides what I’ve been told. I really don’t know anything about your past.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
That means there’s a lot to say, but he just doesn’t want to say it.
“Well, you must’ve been nicer to Dominik back then than you are now. He wouldn’t have anything to do with you if you acted the same,” I state, prodding wherever I can to get some information that I can use as ammo.
“What do you want to hear? That I was a caring big brother?” Gavriil questions. His remark reminds me of Archer, causing my heart to squeeze painfully.
“I don’t want to hear lies,” I reply.
“You won’t hear lies, but you’ll hear things that you’re unfamiliar with,” Gavriil tells me as he pushes himself off the bars, gravitating closer to me. “An older sibling who puts his younger sibling first. An older sibling who actually sacrifices himself for his younger sibling.”
“Archer risked a lot for us,” I say firmly, knowing exactly what he’s doing.
“Us. Not you,” Gavriil points out. “If I had to bet, Archer only did what benefited himself as well. He wouldn’t dare inconvenience himself for you.”
I shake my head as an ache spreads throughout my chest, tightening it. “You don’t know what we survived together.”
“I could say the same,” Gavriil replies, keeping a few feet of space between us. “Your brother didn’t deserve you. He cared about himself more than you all the way to the end. If there was a way for him to sell your soul to save his own, he would’ve taken it.”
His words land low and vicious.
I don’t want them to be true, but Archer was selfish. He loved me, but his own survival meant the most to him.
“Rich coming from someone who locked his own brother up in a cell and took the woman he loves.” My words come out gritted. Dagger sharp.
“You had a chance to free Dominik with one letter, remember?” Gavriil says calmly like he truly believes his own delusional words. “He needs to learn a lesson and be reminded who he should remain loyal to, who he can trust.”
I step closer, eyes narrowing in curiosity. “You act like I’m such a threat to him.”
“You made him disobey me, and he was almost killed because of your loyalty to your backstabbing brother,” Gavriil tells me, his expression darkening.
I wince at the reminder of how Archer nearly got me and Dominik both killed. “I didn’t mean for Dom to get hurt. I tried to protect him by making a deal with you. You’re the only one hurting him now.”
“Ever heard of tough love, printsessa?”
“Don’t call me that,” I snap at him. I hated when he called me wildcat. This new nickname is even worse for some reason.
“I’ll call you whatever I want.” Gavriil reaches out, brushing his forefinger along the thin strap of my G-string that runs along my hip. “We still have so much time together; time you willingly agreed to spend with me knowing full well what we would be doing…”
Anger burns under my skin as he keeps delivering low blows. He’s not wrong, though. I did know, but that was when Archer was still alive.
I breathe through the fury and keep my voice deadly calm.
“If you keep this up, you’re going to end up all alone.
No younger brother to control. No men who respect you or fear you.
If it’s already lonely at the top, I can’t imagine how much you’ll suffer when you fail to keep control of the city, and everyone abandons you. ”
Gavriil’s hand pauses possessively on my waist, my skin automatically warming under his touch. “But I won’t be alone, because I will still have you. It’s not like you will have anyone else either after you break Dominik’s heart again.”
No. I won’t do that. I won’t hurt Dominik. He just said it to mess with my head.
My breath stutters, and I hate myself for noticing how my body reacts before my mind does as his thumb grazes the top of my thigh, getting closer and closer to where heat is building between my legs. I hate myself for not moving. And hate him more for knowing I won’t.
My stomach churns with guilt, but I’m frozen in place, unable to bring myself to slap his hand away, to move away from him.
“I knew you would look delicious in this outfit,” Gavriil says, voice dipping lower. “Last time, it was for blackmail. This time, it’s for me. Just for my pleasure.”
“Dominik won’t like this,” I murmur, mostly to myself since Gavriil doesn’t pull his hand away.
“I don’t fucking care.”
My heart feels like it’s fluttering as fast as hummingbird wings, and it doesn’t help when Gavriil rakes his eyes over my entire body like I’m a portrait to admire.
“And you’re fine with breaking your brother’s heart?”
“How do you think Dominik felt when he found out that you went behind his back and came to me the day you were supposed to leave with him?” Gavriil asks.
“You keep trying to paint me as the bad guy between me and my brother all you want, but he is the one who ultimately pulled the trigger. He’s the one who kidnapped you. You saw how he punished Petrov.”
“That was all on your command!” I exclaim.
The side of his mouth tilts upward. Amused. Excited. He loves arguing with me, which is why I should stop.
“Dominik knows that doing what I tell him always benefits him in the end,” Gavriil replies, his hand moving upward over the lace of the bustier where it grips my side. “You should take note of that.”
“That would require trust.”
“No, it doesn’t. It requires obedience,” Gavriil says, sliding his hand around to the small of my back. He doesn’t pull me forward, though. He merely rests his hand there like a claim.
The thought of slapping him across the face slips into my mind, and my hand nearly vibrates with the longing to do so. He deserves it for what he’s done. He deserves worse.
But I won’t get anywhere hitting him or shouting in his face. He would just love it.
The only way to beat him is to make him crumble from the inside out.
“Where did you learn that?” I ask quietly. “Your father?” I take a guess, my eyes lowering to the two rubies he now wears around his neck.
Gavriil’s blue eyes lift to mine—sharp, controlled, and suddenly dangerous. “You don’t know anything about my father.”
Something tells me that I don’t want to, but it must be important. Dom barely said a word about him or their mother.
“If the former Pakhan were still alive, and thought you were a distraction, you would be dead.”
I keep pushing, even as his expression darkens. “He’s who you learned everything from, right? How to lead. How to bottle up your feelings. How to hurt other people.”
“And what did you learn from your brother?” Gavriil questions me, taking a sudden step forward that makes me quickly step back. “How to cheat and scheme? How to betray those who trusted you? How to run and hide like a coward?”
Harsh words bubble up in my throat, but they can’t make their way past my clenched teeth. I want to remember the good things about my brother, but nothing that Gavriil said is wrong. He might as well drive a knife into my heart.
But what makes me feel a little better is that I sense pain from Gavriil too. He won’t talk about his family or his past, and I suspect it’s probably for the same reason why I don’t say much about mine.
It’s too depressing. Too painful.
When I don’t reply, Gavriil exhales slowly before turning his back on me. “Maybe I’ll take some pictures of you later. I wouldn’t mind having a canvas above my bed. Or maybe just a mirror would work since you’ll be in it with me soon enough.”
And he’s back.
I keep my mouth shut as I watch him lock up the cage and leave the bedroom, my pulse pounding. It feels like I made a little progress and none at all. But at least I kept my composure for the most part.
This will be a long game between us.
I’ll play if it eventually earns Dom and me our freedom, but I don’t know how much of me will survive it.