Chapter 11 Roran
Roran
Ibite my lower lip hard as the needle pierces my skin. I never get used to the burn. The medicine they give me every two weeks always sets fire to my veins the second it’s in. But the dizziness and the voices disappear the moment the dose finishes—like magic. Pulling me back into my senses.
Which I really need right now.
I’m about to marry a monster to save my little sister.
“I’m so sorry, Ror. I never meant—” Diana’s hugging my free arm, sitting next to me on my bed as my father’s doctor walks out of the room.
“Shhh,” I cut her off, shifting my gaze to the door, waiting until I hear the click of the lock.
Only then do I let out the breath I was holding.
“You can’t take my place,” she starts again. She’s been trying to convince our father to let her take the marriage deal back, but for some reason, he’s finally backing me instead.
He’s a piece of shit—but as long as it keeps my little sister, who’s not even of legal age, from belonging to him, I’ll take the consequences.
“Ror! Talk to Dad again.”
She shakes my arm like I don’t know what this means. Like I’m just some blind girl in love with the idea of sacrifice.
“You can’t go there. You need your medicine every two weeks! Who’s going to give it to you? He might even enjoy watching you suffer!” Tears form in her eyes. Her voice shakes just like my heart does.
The only reason I haven’t left this hellhole is because they’re the only ones who know how to make my medicine—the only thing that keeps me sane.
Otherwise, I would’ve run years ago. Taken Diana with me.
But I can’t protect her out there if I lose my clarity. I’m the only thing she has. And as long as she keeps her head down, keeps the club running, and avoids attention—our father won’t even look at her.
It’s better this way. It has to be.
“Diana, this isn’t up for discussion.” I place my hand over hers, prying her fingers gently off my arm. “I’m marrying him whether you like it or not. And if you even think about going to our father with this again, or trying to sabotage it, I’ll tell Mom.”
Her gasp is loud—sharp. Her eyes go wide. “You wouldn’t dare—”
“Try me.”
I frown, locking eyes with her, making sure she knows I’m not joking. Especially when it comes to Mom.
“Mom’s been locked up for so long, Ror. She’s in so much pain already, she's not aware. You know what will happen if she finds out you’re marrying into the Petrovs!?” She leans in, scanning my face like she’s searching for any shred of hope.
“She won’t find out. And neither will you tell her.” I squeeze her hand—hard, making sure she understands my words.
“Ror!”
“Stop arguing with me! Can’t you see I’m trying to give you a safe life?” The yell rips out of me before I can stop it, louder than I meant, harsher than I’ve ever used on her.
Diana recoils, blinking rapidly, just as shocked as I am. I’ve never raised my voice at her. I hate this. I hate what we need to go through.
“Safe life?” she scoffs, letting out a bitter chuckle.
“This place? This family? Konfetki?” She gestures around the room like it’s a joke.
“That’s not safe. And definitely not a life.
You think I don’t know we’re still here just because of your medicine?
” Her eyebrows knit together, anger overtaking the shock.
She scoffs. “And now you’re going to marry Ivan, knowing you might not even get your meds anymore?! Do you really understand what’ll happen to you if you stop taking them?”
She throws the truth at me like daggers, then lets out a sharp exhale. And for a second... I’m not sure if I’m the big sister anymore. She’s fifteen, but she’s growing up too fast. She shouldn’t at this age—but it’s not a choice for us.
“Diana, stop worrying about me. I’m a grown woman.”
I pause. “Start worrying about making something out of your life here. Mom’s not going to live long—you know she’s long lost. You have to keep hiding the money you make. Find the perfect window to run. When you hit the last goal on the list I gave you, you leave.”
It tears something inside me to say it. To teach her how to leave us behind.
To prepare her to survive without the only two people who love her. But we’re only ghosts in our father’s shadow.
And once I’m married to Ivan, I know what’ll happen to me.
She’ll have to fight alone.
“Ror, I’m so close to finding a way to get your medici—”
“Di... you didn’t.” My voice cracks, the sound breaking out of me before I can cage it. Almost a sob. The realization hits like a blade. This is why. This is why she let herself drink herself sick.
Her chin lifts, eyes flashing. “Oh. But I did.”
She pushes herself up from the bed, crossing her arms. No longer crumpled and small—she’s standing tall now, defiant in a way that twists my chest.
“I know Solas’s men drink at that bar every Thursday. I finally got one of his suppliers’ contacts when I drank with some of them.”
She pulls out her old, cracked phone—the one I refuse to let her replace, because every cent she makes has to be saved for the day I’m gone. She shoves it into my hand.
“Here.”
The screen glows with an open message thread in Russian. “I’m meeting him next week, when they come to give Solas his next supply.”
My stomach knots the moment I read it. Cheap, sleazy flirting. Lines that drip filth.
I know these words. I know the men who use them.
They’re throwing lewd comments at a child.
She’s fifteen.
I feel the bile rising fast, choking. My fingers twitch around the phone.
I know this world. I lived this world. I remember the way men’s eyes shifted the second my chest came in, the second my body curved.
I was a child.
They didn’t care.
To them, I was nothing but a wet dream—ripe, ready, disposable.
The memories claw at me, hot and jagged. My lungs burn, my throat closes. For a moment, I almost can’t breathe.
Diana is still watching me, waiting, proud of herself for what she’s done. She doesn’t understand the cost.
“You’re not going,” I say finally, my voice low, raw.
She frowns, opening her mouth to argue, but I cut her off, sharper this time. “No. You’re not. Ever.”
I drag in a breath, steadying, even as my insides scream. “Stop putting your life in danger.”
That’s a red line. One, I will not let her cross.
Not while I’m still breathing.