“Why the fuck did you take it from her?” I question him.
“You forgot how to take orders from me without question. To obeyme,” Gavriil says. “She’s learning, though. Maybe I’ll put a ruby collar on her. That’ll suit her better now that she’s becoming so…obedient.”
“She’s not your fucking pet,” I snarl, the chains rattling as my control slips.
“Alina went behind your back and agreed to be mine for a month, remember?” Gavriil says, amusement glinting in his eyes. “You’re just upset that I’ll have her first.”
“Alina loves me. She’ll never want you.”
“I don’t need her love,” Gavriil scoffs. “I only want her to submit to me so I can prove that she doesn’t give a damn about you. She’s no different from Daria.”
I bark out a laugh when I finally see the bigger picture, his lie for what it really is. He’s obsessed with her and wants her to want him, which will never fucking happen. “She’s got you distracted. That’s why you’ve lost control of whatever else is going on,” I taunt him. “Things are only going to get worse unless you let her go.”
Gavriil shakes his head as he takes a step back. “By the end of our month together, you’ll realize that running off with Alina was never going to happen.”
“You’re punishing me because she’s making you feel weak and you hate it,” I point out with another chuckle.
Gavriil eyes me. “You should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you? For what?” I huff. “Any debt I owed to you for saving my life was paid years ago.”
“But you haven’t thanked me for saving Alina’s life.”
“Saving her life? That’s what you think you’re doing?”
“She’s so fragile, isn’t she? So depressed after what you did. Yelena barely made it here in time,” he says casually. “Another few hours and her organs would’ve started shutting down.”
“What?” I exclaim, trying to jerk free from the chains. My heart races out of control. I wish he was lying, but I know he isn’t. “When?”
“Right before your short visit.”
That’s what that was about? He brought me up to see her after she…
Smirking, he says, “She’s doing much better now. I have her wearing the most delicious lingerie.”
“You son of a bitch!” I shout at the top of my lungs. She nearly died, and he’s dressing her up like a goddamn doll?
I’m so furious that I barely notice a guard moving closer to the cell door until he yells, “Sir!”
Gavriil tears his eyes away from me, his grin falling as he walks over to the man, putting his back to me as the guard speaks to him quietly.
I strain my ears to try to hear, only catching a few words. One stands out to me, though.
“An attack? On who? On us again?” I question Gavriil.
Gavriil gestures for the guard to leave before turning back to me. “It’s not your concern.”
My skin heats up as my frustration builds. I’ve helped him with these sorts of problems for years. Now, I wish I didn’t give a shit about him or our men, but I do, even if he doesn’t deserve my help.
“Let Alina go before things get worse,” I tell him.
“I’ve been handling things just fine without you,” Gavriil replies. “Perhaps, I never needed you as second at all.”
He’s fucking delusional. That cocky expression on his face doesn’t fool me. I don’t know what attack is going on, but I have a bad feeling that things are only going to get worse.
Gavriil is a good leader, but my planning helped guide him, keep him in control. Without me, I don’t know what kind of trouble he’s making his men march into.
“At least tell me what’s going on. You can’t keep me in the dark like this when you’re putting Alina in danger!” I tell him.
