Page 119 of Fractured Ties

What choice did she have?

Maya tossed one last look over her shoulder before she climbed the stairs of the plane. There was no one coming to save her—no car racing into the private airstrip to save the day. She had to wonder if Kolya even knew she was gone yet.

A cold shiver raced up her spine. It was intense enough to make her hands ball into tight fists at her sides, and it had her breath catching hard in her chest. It was the same feeling she felt whenever she caught Kolya looking at her when he thought she didn’t notice.

Like her soul was whispering to her, Oh, girl, he knows.

Maya peered over at her brother.

She could have warned him, but he didn’t deserve a warning. Besides, she had to figure out how to stay alive.

One thing at a time …

• • •

Maya stood near the closed door of the plane and waited for it to be opened. The entire flight had consisted of her trying to ignore her brother, and not irk Alexei’s ire. For now, she still considered that the smart way to go.

“Right then,” she heard Alexei muttered, “don’t fight too much. I’m not in the mood.”

Maya turned to ask her brother what in the hell he meant, but she didn’t even get the chance to do that. Alexei came up behind her like a fast snake—appropriate, considering he couldn’t be trusted—and slipped a black hood over her head.

Her first instinct was to put her hands up and try to rip the hood off. Alexei was quick to answer that back by tightening a cord around her neck that all but choked her air off completely. Maya panicked. She tried to drag in another breath as she pulled on the hood and spun around. Her hip hit something, and she cracked her wrist on something else. The pain was enough to make her want to fall over, but she didn’t care.

She couldn’t see.

She couldn’t breathe.

Amused, cold chuckles echoed all around her. It was like her brother got a sick sense of enjoyment out of watching her struggle. Her fear made him happy, the bastard.

That didn’t last too long.

Alexei quickly got bored, and before Maya knew what happened, she felt her back hit the floor of the plane as her brother kicked her to the ground. His boots hit her right in the ribs, and his hand fisted into the top of the hood on her head. He yanked on her hair and the goddamn hood as his boot pressed into her stomach to keep her on the ground like she was some kind of animal for him to abuse.

No matter how hard she tried to keep it in, a small cry escaped her lips. She tried to strike out at him, but with little air, fear filling up her mind, and pain echoing through her body … it was entirely pointless. She landed a hit, but she was sure it barely hurt him at all.

In fact, the asshole just laughed at her again.

“I hope this was a good lesson,” Alexei said, dragging her up to her feet by the hood and her hair. “You’re testing my patience tonight, yeah? Quit it.”

“What patience?”

Even though the words were mumbled behind the hood, her brother still heard them.

“Fair point. Doesn’t matter. I need you to behave for the next few minutes. I told him you were pliant and easily controlled. Do not prove me wrong, suka, or you will not like what happens to you. No one is coming to help. Stop behaving like someone is.”

So he thinks.

Maya heard the pressure release in the cabin a second before her brother yanked her along with him. This time, by her arm, thankfully. He didn’t direct her where to walk or help her along. She almost stumbled down the steps one too many times, despite how careful she tried to be.

God knew she couldn’t run with a broken leg, for fuck’s sake.

Maya had no idea where she was with the hood pulled over her head. The place was quiet, and a breeze slipped over her exposed skin. The air smelled like her own breath, and the thick cotton of the hood.

She was distracted by trying to figure out where in the hell she was when a new voice dragged her out of her thoughts.

“I was starting to get tired of waiting, comrade,” the unknown male voice said.

His tone was dark and unfamiliar. Smooth, though, and relaxed even. Certainly not like he was staring at a scared, hooded woman in front of him. Or maybe he was used to these kinds of sights—who knew what kind of humans her brother was associating himself with now?