Roman and Daniil shrug, which is enough of an answer for me.
If Alina is naked without a mattress on his cage floor, I’ll make Gavriil pay. He knows I’m already livid at him and he seems to be enjoying enraging me even more.
What line did Gavriil cross now?
He must still be trying to break her. Which means Alina is still standing strong against him, defying him however she can.
“Bring him down here now!” I shout at the guards, rattling the cell door with all the strength in my body. If I could rip the fucking door off its hinges, I would in a heartbeat.
“He’s busy with far more important things than you and your complaints,” Daniil tells me before nudging Roman. “I need a smoke after the shit he did to her.”
“Hell yes,” Roman says in agreement.
“I’m going to fucking kill Gavriil!” I grit out as they head for the staircase, no doubt to sit on the steps and go through a pack of cigarettes after…whatever they just witnessed upstairs.
“You need to reign it in, boss,” Viktor says quietly a few moments later as the smell of cigarette smoke and the guards’ laughter fill up my cell. “If you lose your head, he could take it out on her,” he adds.
I force out a deep breath and finally release my grip on the cell door bars, my palms and fingers red from my tight grip. “Fuck. You’re right. I know that. It’s just…so fucked up!”
“I can’t believe Gavriil did that shit to her,” Renat says.
“I believe it,” I mutter, bitterness filling my voice. “He’s always been fucking cruel.”
“Must’ve been tough growing up with him,” Renat replies.
Our father was cruel, and Gavriil learned early how to survive him. After he died, whatever softness my brother had went with him.
“He wasn’t always like this.”
As kids, Gavriil would do what he could to protect me from our father’s wrath. But after his death, well, nothing was the same after that. I knew that I owed Gavriil for the burden he carried alone on his shoulders. He’s been cold ever since, and I’ve spent my life mistaking obedience for loyalty.
But not anymore.
“He’s been losing support for years,” Renat says barely above a whisper. “When we get out of here, you could challenge him forPakhan. Everyone knows you have what it takes…”
Gavriil would do anything to stay in power, which means I’d have to back up my threats and take him out.
I’m sick of answering to him, of following his fucking orders even when I know he’s wrong. What he did to Alina crossed too many lines.
“How far are you willing to go for her?” Viktor murmurs. “Because overthrowing him is the only way this ends.”
A heavy sigh leaves my lips. I don’t want to think about that, but Gavriil is stubborn. He doesn’t back down. I think he would put his life on the line to keep me from walking away with Alina. He would see that as a challenge, and after my betrayal…I’m not sure how much more leniency he would show me.
So could I take things that far once I’m free? Could I pull the trigger on my brother? The same man I owe my life to?
I’d do almost anything for Alina. Maybe I would put a bullet in Gavriil for her, but I just won’t know until that moment comes.
And it very well might if I can find a way out of this cell.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe,” I say. “First, we need to get out of here, then we can make plans.”
“For now, we just sit in here and wait out the month?” Viktor comments.
“I don’t know if Gavriil will honor that time limit or not,” I admit. He has a sneaky way of slipping through cracks in his agreements, even if he claims to be a man of honor.
“All the more reason to attempt an escape,” Renat replies. “We just can’t fail.”
If only things were that easy.
