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“What is this about, Juri?” Marek’s voice was deep as he spoke before I had a chance to.I wondered if my identity was outed as Kharon. It wasn’t necessarily something I knew I could keep hidden but Marek had wanted to help keep it under wraps. Not to mention that Marek knew and if Juri found out that Marek had been withholding that information, then there would be hell to pay. For someone to tell Juri though, it would have had to come from my father’s side, which you wouldn’t really call that an allegation.Now, suddenly, I didn’t think it was that at all. An allegation was something without proof. My father could easily provide proof. No, this had to be something else. Racking my brain, I tried to think of something that I did in the past that would be bad. Sadly, there was a lot that came up and I pursed my lips together. It would be stupid to say something and it not be that. I would just be getting myself in more trouble.
Juri leaned back, his eyes on me before sweeping over everyone else in the room. “I understand what this may look like…”“May?”“Rosaria, don’t interrupt me.”The tears were back but this was more frustration than anything. Stepping back, I leaned over and grabbed the gun that Marek had stuck behind his back. Everyone at the table sat up, eyes wide as I held it in my hands. Bronya looked downright petrified. Marek didn’t move and didn’t even try to take the gun back.“I’m not some spy. I’m not some printsessa who doesn’t know how things are done.” I slammed the gun down onto the table. “I escaped my father. I didn’t ask for this fucking family to save me. I asked for them to kill me.” Sliding it down to the table, Juri reached out and stopped it before it fell off. “So kill me. If you think I killed Aleksei, then kill me. Be
Despite what Kazmer had said, it was another two hours before Marek opened the door. He wasn’t as explosively angry. Instead it was more like a rolling boil of rage. He didn’t even look at me as he stormed through the room. I watched as he disappeared into the bathrom, shutting the door and turning the shower on.Gauging my chance of success, I got up and undressed before turning the handle of the bathroom. It was already starting to steam, which meant that Marek had the water on way too hot. Shutting the door behind me quietly, I stepped up to the shower door.“Rosaria…I can’t talk right now…”Opening the door, I stepped into the shower. Marek turned around, surprised when he realized I was completely naked. With my mouth firmly shut, I reached out and took soap bottle from his hands. Taking the scrubber that was hanging off a hook, I lathered up the soap and started to scrub his back. Marek looked like he wa
Shock. Horror. Confusion. All of it ran through me as I registered what Marek said. He was so angry that his accent was heavy. It took me a minute to one, realize he was speaking in English, and two what words he was saying. I did some mental math. If Bronya was twenty-nine at the time…then I was around eleven. Four years of that, I would have been fifteen. My eyes widened.“He…he was right…”“What?” Marek all but growled out.I looked down at knees, my face falling a little. “I was fifteen. That’s when…when I had the abortion. I didn’t let anyone know though. Least of all Enzo. He must have just thought he failed. Bronya was probably already back in Russia with the Petrov’s.”Something cracked and I saw Marek’s hand grabbing the arm of the chaise. He was lost in his rage. Moving to straddle his lap, I grabbed his face in my hands.“Hey, muzh, com
Marek was on edge going back to the penthouse. We didn’t feel anyone following us, or at least I didn’t, but he continued to be in business mode the entire drive back. It made me think something else was going on in the background but Marek would have told me if it was something important. Lec pulled into the underground and up to the elevator. Keenan unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, opening the door for me. I looked from him to Marek.“Are you…not coming up?”Marek shook his head. “I’ve got some business to attend to for a bit. I’ll be back later this evening. So don’t worry about dinner or staying up for me.” He reached out and gently pulled me closer, kissing my lips. “Be safe.”“You too.” I slid out of the car and shut the door behind me. “One piece?”He smirked, nodding. “One piece.”I stood there with Keenan as we watched them leave and disappear back on the street. My lips pursed and I sighed.“You don’t know where they went, do you?”“No. Lec didn’t say anything but he looke
The nightmares came in full force. One after the other. Memories of the past. The pain and the suffering. Sitting in that metal chair as my father did everything he could to break me. Enzo, nearly succeeding, as he recreated what Father did. Except without the boundaries. I felt myself slipping. My heart shutting down as I sat in that chair, tied up to with leather straps on my wrists and ankles.Unable to move or to run. Only able to take what was being done to me. No matter how strong I was. No matter how much of a fighter. My father and Enzo would be a looming figure over me as I sat in this chair. I was at their mercy. I was torn down only to be pulled back and torn down again. Over and over.You could be stronger than any man alive but there was difference between having strength and having fight. I had strength. What I didn’t have for so long was the fight. I’d lost it somewhere along the way. Maybe it was watching my friends die, the people I cared for die, watched as they all
“Stop, Marek!”I rushed over to him, pushing the weights off him before he decided to crush himself. He looked up, surprised. As he sat up from the bench, I wrapped my arms around him. Marek could still breathe as I held his to my chest since my breasts were so small but still. I held him tight encompassing him as completely as I could.It had been three days since his outburst. It didn’t get better. I was getting better but his mood continued to darken. He would be close but it felt like he was still too far to reach. Worse, Marek wouldn’t talk to me. As much as I asked what was wrong, he refused to even look at me. Going so far as to slam doors in my face.Lec, who had been keeping an extra eye on him as well, texted me this morning that Marek was going too far. He was trying to force himself and break himself in the gym today. Pushing nearly double his personal record, Lec finally tried to stop him. He called me down when Marek pulled
I found myself back at Goddess Divine. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d stumbled my way, nearly dead, to this one spot. The only sure spot I knew the Russians had taken over this close to the neutral border. Marek wasn’t happy as he led me in, especially since it was two in the morning but he got a call we couldn’t ignore.The bouncer let us through without a word from Marek and we stepped into the loud and dark club. I slowed, falling behind as I looked into the main area of the club. It was dark but there was nothing seedy about it. It lived up to the name Goddess Divine. It had a more ethereal feel, with how the dark drapes were coming down from the ceiling and how the room seemed to flow like water. Maybe it wasn’t a goddess of light but one of darkness, still divine, still beautiful but nothing heavenly.Aleksei used to describe the club to me and the fact that it was his favorite. He promised he would sneak me out one night and we would go dancing. A promise that would never