Chapter 7
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Maksim
I’ve made a mistake. For five years, I’ve been trying to put the pieces together to destroy the monster that has invaded every thought, every pore, every shred of reason in me.
Everything was going well until Julia came along, with eyes warm as honey, and made me almost ruin everything.
I hope you’re happy, Vera. I’m making the same mistake all over again.
She’s been raped.
He won’t escape justice for what he’s done. I’ll make sure he feels every ounce of pain he’s caused her.
“I hear you got a new toy,” Aleksandr’s voice echoes from the top of the stairs.
Another idiot I’d love to slowly cut into pieces until every saint has me on their black list.
I ignore him because, just like with Ivan, nothing bothers my “cousin” more than talking to the walls.
Aleksandr is a few years older than me, with blonde hair and brown eyes, making us as different as night and day. The only thing we have in common is our hatred of Ivan. Even there, we’re not on the same wavelength.
What I feel for my adoptive father goes beyond hatred; it’s the need to see life drain from him, to hear him screaming. It’s visceral.
Aleksandr, on the other hand, hates him because Ivan won’t name him his successor. But in terms of personality, they’re not far apart.
“Did the little girl bore you already? Or could you just not get a hard-on to do the job?”
His jabs aren’t anything new. Because I refuse to participate in their orgies, he thinks I’m incapable of maintaining sexual relationships.
Unlike me, Aleksandr doesn’t associate physical touch with that monster's touch. He doesn’t link pleasure with the sounds he makes.
I know he heard Julia screaming, so everything he’s saying now is just to irritate me.
I continue toward the exit. I need to buy Julia the things she needs, and I have to move quickly before the rumor spreads that the Mexicans have brought in a new shipment.
"Can I take a turn while you're out?"
I stop dead in my tracks. I turn to him slowly and don't miss how he takes a step back. He knows I'm unstable. He knows I could gouge his eyes out and force him to swallow them. And yet, despite being aware of this, the idiot still provokes me.
“I’ll tell you this once, Aleksandr, even though I know your brain hasn’t fully developed. Julia is mine. If I find out you’ve approached my room, and I will find out, you’d better sleep with your eyes open. Because I’m gonna make sure my blades get familiar with your respiratory system.”
“We both know Ivan wouldn’t let you do that.” His tone is less confident than he thinks.
“Who said I’d ask for permission?” I respond before leaving the house that's turned me into a ghost.
Outside, I smell the scent of linden trees and rain.
I get on my prized possession—a Neiman Marcus Limited Edition Fighter motorcycle, one of only forty-five in the world.
I bought it two years ago when I managed to save enough money from my side jobs.
I realized that I couldn't take down Ivan without resources, and the one thing he wasn’t good at became my strongest asset: computers.
I can find almost anyone and transport myself anywhere without leaving a trail.
And apparently, many people need my skills.
Ivan hasn’t been keeping tabs on me for a long time; he just accepts that I keep coming back here. He probably thinks it's out of loyalty or some other stupid reason.
In reality, I return because you can’t burn a nest of vipers from the outside. You need to be among them when it happens.
The problem is I’ve been bitten by so many of them in this nest that I don’t know if, when the fire engulfs everything, I’ll be able to escape, with so much venom in my system.
The nearest route to the city takes an hour, so I try to stay on course.
I'll need to teach her how to fight. I'll need to teach her how to use computers. Why did I complicate things?
I don’t know. Maybe after all the bodies buried and promises broken, I feel the need to try again.
Maybe it’s because I see a piece of Vera in Julia. Maybe I feel lonely. Maybe it’s because, after five years, I caught the scent of chamomile in the air and wanted to believe it was a sign from her .
Julia will leave you eventually.
I shake my head. I know Julia’s alternative was probably just as bad, if not worse. But what I’ve gotten her into now is beyond anything she could have imagined. Everyone will be watching her, just because I kept her for myself.
No. I’ll keep her safe.
Though I failed Vera, I’ll get Julia out of here.
I know I told her she can’t escape, but there are ways. Just not yet. And seeing how impatient she is, she’d try to run before everything is in place.
She’s still a child. You’ll kill her with your plan.
I shake my head again. No. If anyone will die in the end, it will be me. Not her.