“You were threatened,” I say with a heavy exhale. “And she chose to spare you.”
“They yanked me out before anything…happened.”
Before the bastard’s hands started roaming.
I close my eyes and press my forehead to the bars, swallowing down bile-bitter jealousy.
“So, he’s letting her sit in on meetings and making her shower with him,” Renat comments. “That’s not how he plays with other women.”
“He’s interested,” I admit. “And when Gavriil wants something, he doesn’t stop.”
“Why would he do that?” Viktor asks.
“Because he thinks love makes me weak,” I say. “He’s trying to come between us because he’d rather I be a weapon than a man.”
Silence fills the prison.
“He put his hands on what’s mine,” I say, my voice going flat with rage. “And then he made sure I knew about it afterwards.”
After a few minutes Viktor speaks. “He wants her for himself.”
My fists clench. “As a trophy, or a blade he can press to my throat.”
“That would make sense except he’s letting her hear things she shouldn’t,” Renat points out. “And showering with her seems…”
“Too intimate for him,” Viktor says, and the words land like a punch.
“You haven’t seen them together, boss,” Petrov comments. “When he’s around her, it’s like he’s entranced. During the few minutes that I was in the room, he barely ever took his eyes off her. Like he couldn’t stop looking at her.”
I remain silent, unsure of how I feel about that. Of course, it’s concerning, but it’s also surprising.
Alina may actually have a decent chance of getting in his head, convincing him to let me out. She won’t approve of what happens next, but I’m prepared to pay the cost.
“Gavriil doesn’t usually get attached,” I state. “He collects. He controls.”
“Except you,” Renat says.
“That’s blood not choice,” I reply. “He doesn’t get attached to anyone else. He doesn’t care about relationships. Just power and control.”
“Well, he’s giving Alina more power and control than anyone else in his cage,” Viktor tells me.
“Which means it’s not just a performance to piss you off,” Renat adds. “It’s because he actually wants her.”
I cross my arms over my chest, eyes on the wall across from me as I think. “There’s always a motive with Gavriil. He doesn’t act on impulse.”
“I don’t think that’s the case in this situation,” Petrov says. “He’s been acting odd, right?”
“Alina thinks so,” I reply, tension creeping up the back of my neck. I think I know what he’s about to say.
“He’s spiraling,” Petrov tells me. “I think he caught feelings for her.”
Renat lets out a laugh of disbelief. “I never thought I’d see the day that Gavriil Morozov grew a heart.”
“We don’t know that,” I say but my gut twists like I do. “He might just be trying to piss me off. He knows taking her from me will ruin me.”
“If it was just to hurt you, he would flaunt it,” Viktor points out. “He barely comes down here, barely speaks to you.”
“Which is fine with me,” I mutter. “I’m done following his orders. If he wants to drown, he can do it without dragging the rest of us under.”
