AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A female chef comes running out with a chocolate smoothie in one hand and a glass of water in another. This must be the woman Alexie replaced his last chef with after the man’s untimely demise.
She placed both glasses in front of me. Alexie’s picked up the chocolate one and held the cup beneath my chin.
“Slowly,malishka.”
I nodded and let my mouth wrap around the straw. I took a tiny sip. I didn’t want to get sick again. I was tired of throwing up everything I put into my body.
“Wow,” I whispered, smiling. “This is really good.”
His eyes lit up like Fourth of July fireworks. Such a large reaction for something as small as a smile.
I drank a little more, and when my stomach didn’t revolt, I moaned in satisfaction.
“Malishka?”
“Hmm?” I answered distractedly.
“Have you bled since we met?”
Whatever Alexie needed to know, he just had to ask. There was no reason for me to question it. That’s what good girls did, right? I would just make life easier on both of us.
I shook my head no. “Can I have more, please?” I asked, finding the small shake empty. “It sits well in my stomach.”
Alexie gave me an indulgent smile. “Of course. But I’ll get you something a little more substantial. The doctor is about fifteen minutes out. Will you try to eat real food for me?”
I nodded.
The chef came out of what I assumed was the kitchen, but I paid her no mind. She sat a plate in front of me. Besides peas and carrots, there were bite-sized chicken pieces on rice. The meat was barely two tablespoons. I was appreciative. If I ate too much, I'd be sick again.
As I ate, Alexie asked me about the MC of this town. I looked at him warily. Why would he want to know? I swallowed slowly, trying to buy time to conjure words that would allow me to avoid talking about this, yet also didn’t upset the man who held my life in his hands. I didn’t want to suffer anymore.
“I have business I want to conduct in this town, and I know you have a history with the club.”
I felt the heat burn my face and flush down my body. I could only imagine the awful things he heard about me. Like how the MC essentially made me their club whore, turned the whole town against me, and punished anyone who tried to help me. How they humiliated me time and time again, raped and physically abused me at every turn.
“I can see this is a sensitive topic for you,” he said slowly, “so I will tell you all I know already, and you can fill in the rest. Fair?”
I nodded.
He started with basic things that anyone living in or near Winchister Falls knew. The club was the only criminal presence in the area that everyone feared, and they had their hands in everything. But then Alexie began listing tidbits of information that even I was surprised he knew, things that only those close to the club would know.
“So, you know about me then?”
“I do.” There seemed to be no judgement, just an acknowledgment. “But I would like to know more. About you and the club.”
It felt like a dam had been released, to finally have someone to talk to about the last few years of my awful life, so I spilled. I told him everything I knew. From the names of all the top players in the club to the dealings they all had with the politicians in neighboring cities. When I got to my father’s part in all this, my breath hitched.
“He was killed, and they never caught the people responsible.”
His eyes widened even as mine filled with tears. “How is that possible with all the power that they had?”
“Oh, they found someone to pin it on. A rival MC allegedly took him out, which is basically the oldest tale to tell. But my father had already created a peace treaty with that MC after a decades-long turf war. What would they have had to gain from his death?”
“More territory?” Alexie mused.
“Never,” I vehemently denied. “My father gave them a portion of our turf to create the treaty. Not only that, he had offered my hand in marriage to the president’s son. I’d met them all, and they seemed just as tired of fighting. Who could blame them? Both sides had lost many during the wars. We all wanted peace.”
He shrugged. “Well, not all of you. If that were so, your father wouldn’t be dead right now.”
