Page 74 of Caught By the Bratva Boss

Not my body, that healed, but my mind? Yeah, that was still broken. It didn’t matter how many shrinks Daniil had to come in to talk to me, or how many times he tried himself to make me feel safe. I just couldn’t let my guard down, not around him.

The only time I ever felt an ounce of peace was when Timothy was with me, curled into my side after school. Reading him stories and listening to his childish jabber helped push the darkness back for a little while before I was alone again.

I didn’t leave my bedroom. Even though the door was wide open because I was safe in here. Nothing bad could happen to me in here.

Those four walls became my entire world.

I’d just emerged from the bathroom, my robe tied tightly around my waist, when a movement behind me made me whirl around and scream. There was someone in my room, standing right behind me. My throat closed up.

“Lily.” Daniils voice was low and steady. His hands came down onto my shoulders firmly, but without hurting, and I slapped at them anyway. Scurrying away.

“Lily, it’s just me.” He said in that same steady voice. “I’m not going to hurt you. You know that.”

Clutching the robe closed over my throat, I forced myself to calm down. Except I couldn’t. My heart felt like it was going to beat its way right out of my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I managed to croak. “You scared me.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to.” He looked around the room like he was just seeing it for the first time. And his nose wrinkled. “You can’t keep yourself locked away anymore, Lily. It’s not healthy.”

“I’m not locked away. I’m not a prisoner,” I retorted, but there was no fire in my voice. “The door is always open. I just—”

“You keep yourself locked away, even if the door is open.” He reached up and tapped his temple. “In here, you are still a prisoner.”

I opened my mouth to argue back, but there was really no arguing. He was right. There was just nothing I could do about it.

“I need to get dressed,” I whispered. “Can you leave, please.”

I didn’t want to be around him. Every time I was recently, I couldn’t help but blame him for all the things that had happened. Yes, Greg had sold me. But if Daniil had wanted me, none of this would have happened.

He was the one who had sent me back to be taken. He hadn’t protected me. How could I trust him to protect me now?

He always said the right things, but at the end of the day, they were just words. They didn’t mean anything.

“No.”

My head snapped up to his in shock. Had he really just said no?

“No?” I parroted back. “What do you mean, no?”

“No,” he said more firmly. “I am not going to let you do this to yourself. Anya is coming for dinner, and I would like you to come down and eat with us.”

“I’m tired, Daniil. I don’t want to see anyone. I just want to be left alone.”

“I’m sorry,” he said and sounded just like his old self. All that cocky confidence was back. Almost like he knew he would be obeyed. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I explained myself properly. You will be joining us for dinner, Lily.”

“But I—”

He headed towards the door. Pausing just before he reached it. “It’s just a casual family dinner, Lily. You will be surrounded by people who love and care for you.”

His eyes bored into mine. “Do you love and care for me, Daniil?”

Daniil didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”

“Yet you let this happen to me.” The first real note of anger entered my voice and made it crack.

“Yes, I failed you.” He didn’t even try to argue back. “I know that just like I know I will have to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. But I also know I won’t lose you again, Lily. I know I’ll protect you even if it means I have to protect you from yourself. You are not this victim. You are not a prisoner. Now get dressed and come down for dinner.”

The moment he left, I sat on the edge of the bed and cried into my hands. I knew he was right, of course, he was, but I just couldn’t break out of the emotional prison I had put myself in.