That is what he drilled into us.
Don’t break. Don’t talk. Don’t beg.
So when the bastard punches me in the face, I just smirk through the blood. He wants me scared. I won’t give him that.
“Oh, you think it is funny?” he growls. “We will see how funny you think I am.”
He turns, and grabs Anton, ripping the hood from his head.
My whole body lunges forward. I can’t let them hurt him. He’s just a kid. Yeah, we have all seen a lot of shit, been dealt a lot of it too, but this will be too much for him. He will break.
“Maybe your little brother knows.” He pulls Anton’s hair, forcing his head back.
Anton grins, a defiant, shaky kind of grin. “I don’t know anything.”
He’s trying so hard to be brave, but I can see the tremor in his leg, the way his shoulders shake.
He doesn’t know anything. But I do.
The man leans closer to him. “Last chance.”
And Anton—my stupid, fearless brother—spits, “Fuck you.”
The man slowly drops his hand, like he’s enjoying this. He crosses the room, and for one second, Anton looks at me, chin trembling and eyes shining.
“Vso budit khorosho,” I whisper.Everything will be okay.
But that’s a lie.
When the man comes back, he’s holding something long and black in his hand. A whip.
My stomach twists so hard, I think I will be sick.
“Maybe now you will talk,” he says.
The first crack splits the air like lightning, and Anton screams. It hits his thigh, loud and sharp. The sound echoes in my chest until it hurts to breathe.
He hurts him again and again. Anton’s cries fill the room, and every one of them feels like it’s aimed at me.
“Tell me where the jewel is!” the man shouts, glaring at me while he hits Anton, this time on the other leg, bright blood breaking through his skin.
I can’t. I can’t tell them. If I do, my father will kill us both. And worse, he will be proud doing it.
“Pain means you are alive,” I say fast, locking eyes with Anton. “You are a lion. You fight to the death.”
His body rocks with his sobs, but he nods as another strike comes.
“Don’t hurt him! Do whatever you want to me.”
The man chuckles, but it causes him to stop and move toward me. “If you want me to stop, you know what you have to do. Tell me where the jewel is!”
My body rocks with harsh breaths, but I don’t say anything. It’s not an option.
He crouches down until I can smell his disgusting breath. “I will break you, boy.”
Then he flips open a knife and slices my shirt right down the middle. Cold metal presses hard into my chest, leaving a thin line of blood.
I grit my teeth, ignoring the pain like Papa taught me, and stare him dead in the eye.
