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“Lucia!” He scolded.
“What?” Her shoulders rose. She rounded the island and pulled out the stool next to mine. “Isa is gone and it’s time there was another woman living here. Will she stay in your room or mine?”
She elbowed my side and a giggle burst through my lips. I actually giggled.
“Can we change the topic?” He asked. My smile fell when his head cocked toward us and a scowl pulled down the corners of his full lips. He watched Lucia furtively but returned back to cooking after the warning glance.
Was I dreaming? Was this the same Yuri who shot two men in broad daylight? The same one who held me steady while his brother tortured a man?
“Fine,” Lucia turned her body to me. “Is my brother treating you well? Blink twice if you need help.”
I sucked in a breath, unsure of how to respond when she doubled over in laughter. Judging by the tension in Yuri’s shoulders, blinking twice would not have been a good idea— no matter how bad my eyelids twitched to respond. Was this a test? Some kind of sick game to see if I would try to run or something? And, if so, how in the hell did Yuri want me to respond?
When Lucia’s chuckles faded, she paused and I realized the question still hung in the air between us. Is my brother treating you well? As well as any kidnapper might, I supposed. Maybe better. What a strange question.
Unless…
Yuri was already facing me when I searched for him, fear clawing through me from the grim look on his face.
She had no idea.
My ears roared with the quick beat of my heart, the room almost tilting into a spin around me. How could his own sister not know what nefarious things her brother was up to? How could she not know there was an underground dungeon below her feet? I swallowed hard, paralyzed with confusion— the desire to scream for help choking me.
Yuri kicked off the counter and strode toward me too quickly, his hand wrapping around the back of my neck and smoothing the clammy skin there. I blinked up at him and he squeezed lightly, “go on. Tell my sister how I treat you.”
His grip soothed me as much as it made my teeth itch.
Sell it,he had told me. So, I did.
I let out a soft laugh, my best mask slipping into place. Lucia wasn’t dumb— she could probably already sense my unease, but the last thing I needed was to anger the man who could snap my neck at any second. If I learned anything from my father, it was that lies were easier to sell the closer to reality they were. “He’s no prince charming, but I quite like him.”
Yuri’s head turned slightly, his eyes meeting mine. There was a playful glimmer and his fingers eased up, massaging the skin like a reward.
Lucia leaned forward in interest, biting down on a smile. “Please tell me you’re past the casual phase and I can expect to see you over here in the mornings! I wasn’t kidding, Yuri,” she pointed at the murderer behind me, “I want some feminine energy around here.”
He scoffed just as his pan began to sizzle. My nose perked at the first smell of bacon and my mouth watered. Another reward.
I turned back to Lucia and leaned into my new role. Apparently, I was playing house with my kidnapper— but if it meant his gentleness and care, it didn’t seem too steep a price to pay.
Who knows how long I’ll be locked in my cell?Yuri, I reminded myself.Yuri knows.
“I think I’ll be staying here for a while actually.”
A blurry figure appeared out of the corner of my eye and I jumped when another man rounded the corner into the kitchen. His eyes narrowed in on me before he spoke. “That’s also what I heard.”
Yuri turned and smirked, pulling the man in for a quick hug. They kept close while the man whispered something inaudible to Yuri so quickly I wasn’t sure Lucia even caught it.
“Have you met Luka already?” Lucia asked.
I shook my head, doing my best to read the situation and not overstep the boundaries. Yuri wanted me to play nice, and I would, but I didn’t know where the landmines were buried or how long I’d be running through the field blind. The bacon crackled across the room and pulled Yuri’s attention away, leaving me to fend for myself in the presence of wolves. Or sheep. The jury was still out.
“He’s my brother. The nice one,” Lucia drew out the word like a slight to Yuri’s back. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Wow, two brothers must be tough,” I mumbled, aligning myself with her plight. As confusing as the whole situation was, Lucia seemed sweet. I could imagine her getting eaten alive by their antics as a kid. In an alternate reality where my father hadn’t shunned me from his life and I was actually close with my half-brothers, I imagined I would have had much the same experience. Except, my father kept them sequestered from his dirty little secret daughter he kept hidden on the other side of town. In practice, I was an only child.
Lucia shook her head, “don’t even get me started. There are seven of us total.”
My eyes widened. “Wow.”
