But I couldn’t.
If I was going to die, I’d die now.
With Alex.
I’d die with the man I loved more than life itself.
I barreled down the stairs, gaze shooting to the front door and seeing a shadow moving away from the house through the frosted glass. Even now, a seed of doubt sprouted in my heart. Had Alex decided I wasn’t worth it? Had he decided to leave me in Ivan’s hands.
No, he wouldn’t do that.
I shook my head, dislodging the ugly thoughts as I moved towards the sounds of talking. A crashing sound startled me as I turned towards the study. A series of grunts and the sound of splintering wood made my heart race. I didn’t know what I’d see beyond the doorway, but there was no going back now, no changing my fate.
The sounds of a bird’s call drowned out everything else inside my brain. It could sing its haunted tune louder and louder, but its warning fell on deaf ears.
The hidden cabinet doors in Ivan’s study were splayed wide, revealing the dozen monitors set into the wall. I saw them first on the television, wrestling against the floor next to the broken armchair.
“Alex!” I screamed, turning to find them in real life.
Both men froze.
And I regretted yelling his name, regretted distracting him. As he turned to find my face, Ivan struck, his bloody fist catching Alexander in the jaw.
“No,” I breathed out, horrified at what I’d done, backing away until I ran into Ivan’s desk.
Alex recovered, slamming fists into Ivan’s chest so hard that he was pushed a foot away against the wrinkled area rug. Alex rolled to his knees, hands ready to strike again, but Ivan was on the move, making his way quickly to a standing position. Despite his looks, the softening of his gut and the thickness of his untrained legs, Ivan moved quickly. But he was running on adrenaline, he couldn’t outlast a younger man in a fight. He was breathing heavily, his eyes betraying his fatigue.
Ivan was like that when he was treating my body as a punching bag. When he was ramming his thickness into my unready opening and using me for bloody, brutal therapy. He’d exhaust himself, run out of steam, and he’d grow angrier at his own shortcomings. And he’d beat me harder, he’d abuse me longer. Even as it took a toll on his own physique.
Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe Ivan couldn’t win against the man I loved, no matter how terrible his temper was.
Alex jumped to his feet, his shirt was ripped down the front and stained with blood from his busted nose. Glistening muscles peeked from beneath the tattered dress clothes.
“How could you ever satisfy a woman when you can’t even fight like a man,” Alexander spoke through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed and stormy.Why did he taunt Ivan? Why? It would only make this so much worse…
“You’re going to die, but before the goddamn light fades from your eyes, you’re going to watch me fuck her one last time. Fuck her while she cries, fuck her until she bleeds.” Ivan growled out the words and pointed at me. I shrunk away, the memories of his hands against my body like knives slicing through my strength.
Alexander’s expression grew darker, a hurricane in the middle of this home I hated so much. “When I kill you Ivan, you’ll be forgotten. No one will dare utter your name. Your grave will be an unmarked stain on the Bratva history. And your wife? She’ll be alive and my queen.”
The two men rushed at one another again.
But I saw something that Alexander didn’t.
The flash of something black and metallic strapped against Ivan’s ankle. It showed as he ran towards the Bratva prince with wild abandon, ready to kill or be killed.
Ivan had a small gun he wore at his ankle. I knew that. It was often missed in quick pat-downs during business meetings.
I hadn’t thought to warn Alexander.
But I couldn’t now. I couldn’t distract him again and cause him to be hurt further by Ivan.
The men were beating one another senseless, muscles flexing and sprays of blood staining the surrounding wallpaper and surviving furniture. Alexander picked up Ivan, gripping him tightly in his fists and slammed him into a glass cabinet. Glinting shards exploded to fall in too-happy tinkling against the hard floor. Ivan grunted, kicking out sharply and catching Alexander in the knee, then reaching upwards to curve his hand around his neck and squeeze.
Alexander moved them away from the cabinet, still hoisting Ivan in the air. But his face was turning darker as Ivan squeezed the breath from him. He lifted him higher, before slamming him down so quickly that Ivan lost his grip on his neck. Ivan hit the floor, bits of glass biting into his back and he yelled in agony.
Alexander kicked out, his foot catching Ivan in the ribs over and over. Ivan curled on to his side, trying to protect his body from the beating. Blood and sweat mixed as grunts of pain and rage filled the air. Alexander was brutal in his beating, holding nothing back. His eyes were as black as the night as he pummeled Ivan into submission, never giving an ounce of leeway to him.
I realized in that moment, how brutal and violent Alexander truly was. So much like Ivan in many ways, yet the recent memory of Alexander’s hand gently cupping my chin and his soft kiss against my forehead reminded me that he wasn’t Ivan. He wasmy Alex.
