Page 72 of His to Own

The light in Elena’s eyes disappears. “And go where?”

“Nikolai. Business. Don’t worry. I’m not leaving to go fuck some other woman. I promise.”

“Ok,” she whispers.

I want to say more but what is there to say? I leave Elena to spend the night alone.

Elena

Even though Maxim wasn’t cheating on me, that doesn’t mean I’m at ease. He’s off to work again which means he has more to his work that I’m not aware of. The pit in my stomach grows. I should just go to bed and ignore it.

But I can’t.

I need to know what he gets up to, now that Alisa has gotten into my head. Maxim did warn me though that Alisa has ulterior motives for the things she does. I’m not sure what he meant by that. She was nothing but nice to me.

I change back into my clothes and watch Maxim leave the house. He has multiple sports cars in his large garage. It’s not hard to pick one and follow him.

He goes to Nikolai’s house. All right. That means he must be inside, doing business. Not cheating on me. I have to trust him.

I call Lana and she picks up. “Elena? How have you been? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“I’ve been… fine.” My go-to response. “How have you been?”

“Good. I’m actually out with some friends right now. We went out for dinner. I needed a girl’s night.” And she didn’t invite me. Probably for the best. I tend to drag the energy down in any situation I’m in.

“So you’re not home right now?” I ask.

“No. Did you need to talk? We can talk.”

“I’m fine,” I lie. “I’m tired. I need to get to bed.” I hang up before she can ask any more questions. Lana isn’t here, which means it’s just Nikolai and Maxim in that house. Is there anyone else in there? I need to know what Maxim gets up to.

I hurry to the front door and try the doorknob. It’s locked. But I remember that Lana once told me there was an emergency key around the side of the house and to use it if me or Adriana needed to come over to escape our father.

I find the key hidden under a potted plant and unlock the front door. Darkness. No sound that it’s almost deafening.

And that’s when I hear the scream.

It’s coming from one hallway. My legs are like stone but I force them to move and head to where I heard the scream. It’s quiet now. At the end of the hallway is a door. A simple enough door. But it feels like it’s the scariest, biggest door I have ever seen.

Another scream.

With a gasp, I take a step back. I shouldn’t open that door. But I need to know. Maxim is hiding things from me.

My legs move to the door of their own accord and my hands wrap around the doorknob. Then I ease it open.

A set of stairs leading down into a basement. I take each step slowly until I reach the bottom.

And that’s when I see it. A man strapped to a chair and Nikolai and Maxim standing beside him. The man is screaming as Maxim cuts into his arm.

Chapter Ten

Elena

“What do you know about Aleksander Baranov?” Maxim asks the man, who’s screaming and screaming as his skin is pulled off. “Tell us what you know!”

“Please,” the man strapped to the chair sobs. “Please.”

Maxim tosses the piece of skin from the man’s arm right to the ground. It lands with a squelch. I almost vomit but I hold it back.