Chapter 24 - Selene
The door bursts open just as I realize my earpiece has gone dead. He must have blocked the signal somehow.
“Fucking daughter,” he snarls as he walks into the office.
My father grabs the back of my chair and tugs it, toppling it over. I fall backward, screaming in fright as my legs lift into the air. My head connects with the marble floor, and stars swarm before my eyes.
I fight it, but there is nothing I can do as consciousness slips away, and I think to myself, at least they know I love them.
The blackness comes and goes as pain throbs in the back of my skull. I’m sitting up again. Slowly, the world comes back into focus, and the pain in my head increases.
I’m still in my father’s office. But this time I am tied to the chair.
I groan, wishing I could reach up and touch the back of my head. I am sure I would feel blood there.
“Welcome back, Selene,” my father snarls.
“Bogdan is on the way. We have some questions for you.” He is furious.
In all my years of staring up at him, I have never seen him this angry.
This time, I pushed him too far. But I had to.
It was the only way. And at least it was worth it because I know my children are safe with their father.
It was worth it
My father has a steel trolley that he’s pulling closer to where I’m sitting. It makes a strange rattle sound as he moves it, and I strain to see what it is.
When my eyes catch a glimpse of the polished tools neatly laid out over the surface, I feel bile in the back of my throat, and I have to fight the urge to vomit.
Scalpels, blades of all kinds. Long, spiked needles on wooden handles. A stainless-steel hammer. A drill. A saw. Clamps.
I swallow hard, realizing what his plan is.
“You can do whatever you want to me, Father. My children are safe. There is nothing more you can hurt me with,” I say, my voice steadier than I expect it to be.
In response, he slaps me. A sharp backhand that stings across my cheek and leaves heat pooling on my skin.
“You’re wrong about that, Selene. And you no longer get the honor of calling me father. You are no daughter of mine. You are nothing to me. Nothing but a tool to extract information from,” he snarls.
“That’s all I ever was to you!” I blurt out angrily. “A tool! So, I dare you to tell me what’s changed!”
My angry outburst earns me another slap. This time, I taste blood on my lip.
My adrenaline is too high to feel the pain, though.
Even the ache in the back of my head is dull now.
My father picks up a long, thin, needle-like device.
He lets it shine in the light right in front of my face, toying with it in his hands.
“I’ve seen grown men cry,” he smiles. “It looks rather innocent, doesn’t it?
When this thing gets inserted just behind the knee cap, the pain is apparently unbearable. ”
I clench my jaw to hide my reaction. I will not show fear. I will not give him that satisfaction.
“Usually, I rather enjoy it when they cry. It’s somewhat amusing.
But it does get in the way of extracting information.
All that blubbering and sobbing gets annoying when I’m trying to make someone speak,” he huffs, tossing the tool back onto the table.
“This one, though… This one, I think, is the perfect one for you,” he smiles.
The blade isn’t long. But it’s sharp.
“If you don’t want to feel the pain, all you have to do is talk, Selene. Tell me everything you know about the Volkovs. You’re being their little bitch for over a month now. You must know some interesting facts about their business, their family dynamics, about how they run things…”
“I have nothing to say to you,” I spit.
He scoffs. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way then,” he says, shrugging, as though he wanted to do it the hard way all along.
He places the blade against the skin just below my clavicle. I wince as he presses down. A warm drop of blood spills from my skin. It runs down and gets soaked up by my t-shirt.
“Stop!” Yakov shouts, his voice booming through my father’s office.
“Yakov, if you don’t have the stomach for this, get the fuck out of here,” my father snarls.
“I won’t let you do that to her,” he snaps back.
“It’s not your fucking choice to make. She betrayed the gamily and she must now pay the price.”
“She is family!” Yakov argues, stepping closer.
My father makes another move to cut me, and Yakov grabs his hand, yanking it back and twisting his wrist.
Alek yelps in pain and is forced to drop the blade.
“You fucking little shit!” he screams at Yakov.
“I said stop. It’s time you learned that you aren’t the strongest man in this family anymore, Father.”
Alek scoffs. “What… you? You want to take me on?”
“I want you to stop pretending like what you did was right when he locked her away. And there is no fucking chance you can convince any of us that what you are doing now is right. So just stop,” he demands.
“Fuck you,” Alek spits.
“Fine, we’ll do it the hard way then,” Yakov says. His fist connects with my father’s jaw before any of us realizes what is going on.
My father’s body drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes, completely knocked unconscious. I gasp in shock.
“Yakov!” I stammer.
“He deserved it,” my brother snarls. “Come on, let’s get you out of here before he wakes up.”
Yakov moves quickly to free me from the restraints. I stand up too fast and my head spins, dizzy from the blow. He grabs me to steady me. “Are you okay?” he asks. “I wish I had gotten here sooner. I’m so sorry,” he murmurs.
“No, I’m okay, thank you so much,” I say quickly.
He takes my arm and pulls me towards the door.
We hurry together down the corridors and through the weaving maze that makes up my father’s mansion.
“Where are we going?” I ask, following Yakov.
“Out the front, there is no point in trying to sneak around anymore; everyone has been alerted about what you did,” he explains.
As he speaks, Bogdan steps out from a doorway and blocks our path.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarls at Yakov. “She’s a traitor, and she has to pay for what she did.”
“She’s our fucking sister, your fucking asshole. Are you going to stand there and watch him kill her? Can you really do that?” Yakov is fierce and doesn’t back down an inch, even though Bogdan is larger than he is.
Bogdan sneers, but to my surprise, he doesn’t move forward. Maybe Yakov’s words have gotten to him.
“Our father is the leader of this family,” Bogdan demands, still not moving.
“He’s a fucking old man. It’s time we stopped being so fucking terrified of him and stopped obeying every stupid thing he commands us to do,” Yakov snaps.
“I don’t obey…”
“Oh yes, you do. Everything. Without question. Start thinking for yourself, Bogdan. Start by deciding for yourself if you would be willing to kill our sister. And if the answer is no… then why let father do it?”
Bogdan swallows hard. He shakes his head as though his thoughts are bothering him. He groans, and to my absolute shock, he steps aside.
“I didn’t see you,” he snarls at Yakov.
“I didn’t see you either, brother,” Yakov says as he pulls me around our brother.
My heart is screaming with hope as we burst through the front doors and out into the garden. But the hope ends quickly.
My father is standing there with a team of his security guards. Our path is blocked.
“You stupid little bitch… and you… I will deal with you just like I dealt with her. Traitors to the family,” Alek snarls.
A loud crash sounds from the side of the house. Tires screech; an explosion erupts. I scream in fright and drop to the ground. My father leaps towards me and grabs me, pushing a gun against my head.
Yakov moves to take me back, but he pushes the gun harder into my temple. “I’ll shoot her. It will be your fault,” he snarls.
Several cars come crashing through the damaged wall of my father’s estate, skidding onto the lawn. Before they come to a stop, men are pouring out of the cars.
Simon.
His brothers.
Their teams.
Moving with controlled precision, they surround my father and his men. My father’s grip tightens on me. I yelp in pain as his fingers dig into my skin, and the gun pushes into my temple.
Yakov glares at my father. I can see he’s waiting for the chance to take him down.
Simon steps forward.
“Are they safe?” I shout.
He nods, “They’re home where they belong.”
Then turns his attention to my father.
“Let her go, Alek,” he says, clear and strong. His deep voice pulsing against me and making my heart race.
“Fuck off, Volkov. This is a family matter and is none of your business. This is my land. You are trespassing.”
Simon laughs.
My body is so tense I can barely breathe.
“Trespassing? Interesting. I would say it’s more of a rescue mission,” he taunts.
“This is my family!” Alek screams in anger.
“No, she’s my family. And I am not leaving without her.”
“Well, you’re going to be disappointed then, Volkov, because I’m not…”
“Do you know what this is?” Simon interrupts him, holding up an iPad.
Alek stiffens. “I’m not stupid, boy. I can see what that is.”
“Right, of course. But actually, it’s what’s on here that’s more important. You see… I did some digging. I dug deeper than I guess you ever expected people to dig into you and your business. Do you want to know what I found?”
“There’s nothing to find! You’ll never find any…”
“Smirnov. Popov. Santino. Vito…”
“You’re just listing names,” my father says, but his voice has become tense. He’s nervous, shifting from one foot to the other.
“Am I? You don’t recognize the connection in those names?”
“There is none!” My father snaps, but I can tell he’s already cornered.
Simon steps closer to us.
“Those are some of the families that you tried to play against each other for your own benefit. Your allies, supposedly. And that’s just a small list; it goes on for quite a while. I wonder if your allies would be so willing to side with you if this information were to get out.”
“You can’t prove it,” Alek says weakly.
“Oh, you are very wrong, Alek. I can prove everything.” He holds the iPad so Alek can see the screen, then flicks through documents.
Documents that my father clearly recognizes.
“So, the deal is this. You let Selene go. You never contact her again. You never stalk her or make any attempt to get updates on her life. The twins as well. They don’t exist to you.
And in exchange, I will keep your secret a secret.
The other option… well… We take Selene now by force, and this information goes out to every family in this city and every city around us. ”
My father is shaking. I don’t know if it’s from anger or fear, but his hands are shaking as he holds me.
“Make your choice, Alek,” Simon says sternly. “You have thirty seconds.”
Alek lowers the gun from my temple.
“And Yakov,” I say, stepping away from him. He can come with us, too,” I tell Simon.
Yakov shakes his head. “No, my place is with my family. I just couldn’t sit by and watch father harm you.”
“But he’ll harm you,” I say, strained with worry.
“Yakov’s safety is part of the deal, then. If anything happens to him…”
“Fine! For fuck’s sake!” Alek snarls. “Selene, the twins, Yakov—I swear if any of that information gets out, I will kill them all!”
Simon sneers.
“Watch your words, old man. If your daughter hears you threatening her children, she will skin you alive. I’ve seen how fierce she can be,” Simon throws me a half smile as I walk towards him.
“Let’s go,” I say, heading straight past him to the cars.
We leave with the security team watching our backs. Simon climbs into the back of the car with me, letting the guard take the wheel. One by one, our cars drive out onto the street, and we begin to put distance between ourselves and Alek Mykros. The man I will never again think of as my father.
I feel numb and in shock, confused about everything I just experienced.
I turn to look at Simon; my face knotted with worry. “Do you think he will hurt Yakov. My brother is the reason I got out. He punched my father in the face.”
I tell Simon what Yakov did for me, and he wraps his arm around me and pulls me up against his side on the back seat. “So, there is hope for the future of the Mykros name?”
“What if he hurts him, though?”
“Then I will kill him,” Simon says, kissing my head. “I already wanted to kill him today. I still do. Selene, I can’t believe I got you back. I thought… I thought I lost you forever.”
“I knew you’d come for me,” I whisper, snuggling close up against his side. “I was scared, but I knew you would come.”
“Always,” he says. “I love you, Selene. I love you more with each passing day, and I will spend the rest of my life falling in love with you!”
My heart spills over with happiness as I look up at him with wide eyes.
“I… I love you too, Simon. I always have and I always will.”
He pulls me onto his lap and whispers against my ear. “Marry me. We can be a real family. I will never let anyone tear us apart.”
“Yes,” I laugh. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll marry you over and over again.”
That night, we climb into bed with the twins snuggled between us. I can’t believe that the danger is over. I can’t believe that my dream has become a reality. I have my family. I have my children and the man I love!