Page 118 of Fractured Ties

Even knowing it might encourage her brother’s rage to come out and play again—her cheek was already stinging from the incident in the car—Maya glared at him. Alexei’s cold gaze simply drifted over her as though she were a nuisance to his life at the moment. Not like he had broken down the door of her hotel room and dragged her out kicking and screaming.

He walked ahead of her, then, like he wasn’t the slightest bit concerned she might take off. It wasn’t really possible, given when she looked over her shoulder, a bull of a man was still standing next to the car that had driven them here. He was bigger than even Kolya, but she didn’t think he was nastier.

Probably the same.

Except … Kolya was never nasty to her.

It didn’t matter.

Between Alexei and that guy, there was nowhere for Maya to run. And even if she did, it wouldn’t take them very much time to fucking catch up with her. She had to figure out something different if she planned to get out of this alive.

“Hurry up, lazy bitch,” Alexei snarled over his shoulder. “Or I will drag your ass inside the plane if I have to. Don’t test me tonight. You’ve done that more than enough for my liking.”

“Like you didn’t deserve it, no?”

“What was that?”

Maya narrowed her gaze on her brother but refused to speak again. It would only earn her another slap or punch. Hadn’t she earned enough of those today?

She’d given him a hell of a fight, sure. That hadn’t really made a difference when, in the end, Alexei pulled a gun on her, pointed it right at her temple, and racked the gun with that fucking wild gleam in his eye.

That cold, mean gleam that was just like their father’s. It brought back a rush of memories that made her want to lose her lunch in an instant. Years’ worth of abuse and neglect from her own blood because she was just another mouth to feed and an extra body in the house to take care of. She wasn’t useful or wanted at all. Not by them.

She had never been.

So, why did he fucking want her now?

Maya didn’t have time to think about it. Besides, as she eyed the private jet waiting with the stairs already extended and a pilot at the top, she figured there would be lots of time for her to overthink and plan.

After all, it wasn’t over yet.

“Don’t make me tell you again, suka.”

Huffing under her breath—you would think after all these years, she would be used to the insults and abuse—Maya picked up speed to catch up with her brother simply to avoid another issue. She hated even thinking of him like that; he wasn’t anything that a family should be. He never had been.

Alexei kept his gaze on the jet, even as Maya slipped into step beside him. At the stairs of the plane, it was then that he grabbed her and forced her to stop. His fingers dug painfully into the delicate skin and muscle of her arm, promising to leave bruises behind from the force alone. With a rough yank on her elbow, he made her look at him.

Maya hated what stared back—features that reflected hers, and blue eyes that were like mirrors of her own. They even had the same dark flecks of navy-blue swirling in the sky-colored irises.

The difference?

Alexei held no warmth in his gaze like Maya did. He felt nothing for anyone except himself. He was only kind when he thought it might benefit him, and it would last as long as it took to get whatever he wanted. His kindness could not be trusted.

Right now, though, he wasn’t even pretending to be kind.

Her brother had a vicious streak that couldn’t be contained—it shone brightly like a promise in his gaze. That’s what frightened Maya the most. The possibility of what he might do if given the chance.

Not because it was part of his plans—whatever those were—or even because she earned herself something violent, but simply because he fucking wanted to hurt her and would get some kind of sick enjoyment out of it. He’d proven this time and time again over the years.

“You’re going to get on that plane and behave,” her brother told her, never once breaking their staring contest. “You’re not going to cause me troubles between here and where we’re going. You will listen when I tell you something, and you won’t make me tell you things more than once. In return, I won’t have to beat your ass so badly that you’ll need to be carried out of the plane when we land. Do you understand me, Maya?”

Fuck him.

“Haven’t you beat the hell out of me enough over the years?” she asked him.

Maya was proud that her voice didn’t waver and her tone didn’t lower. Her whole life had been spent cowering under this man and her father. Hiding away and pretending like she wasn’t there at all. Keeping extra quiet because she didn’t want to remind them how unwanted and unneeded she was in their daily lives.

Alexei’s lips stretched into a cruel smirk. “Well, if you don’t want that again, yeah, then you’ll behave.” He let her go and gestured at the stairs. “Ladies first, no?”