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I follow him out of the room, ignoring the part of me that desperately wants to call Matvey and tell him to hurry home. I already feel like a massive burden, though, and I don’t want him to feel like he can’teven leave the apartment. Telling myself I’ll be okay for another hour or two, I wait for Lev to see if Jolene wants to join us and then meet them in the game room. No matter how much I try to lose myself in the game, my mind keeps returning to Matvey, wondering what he’s doing and hoping like hell that whatever it is it’s hurting Konstantin like a motherfucker.
Chapter 6
Matvey
The sound of Konstantin’s ribs breaking should make me feel better, but it doesn’t. I’m an optimist, so I shatter his nose next, hoping that’ll be the crunch that brings a smile to my face, but nothing is working. I punch his bloody, swollen face one last time, leaving him swinging on the chain. He’s close to passing out—eyes fluttering, pupils trying like hell to focus. None of it brings me any joy.
I’ve spent the last two years focusing on this moment, on getting revenge for everything that was done to Alina. It’s what got me through those long days when I was drowning in worry and all the fears of what was being done to the woman I love, but now, thanks to Katya’s sketchbook, I no longer have to guess at what happened. I know exactly what he did to her, and that’s why I’m here now instead of lying next to Alina like I should be. I’d convinced myself that once I had my hands on the fucker who took her I’d feel better. Furious that I don’t, I give him another hard punch, breaking another rib that finally tips him over into unconsciousness.
“Fuck man, just kill us already.”
I look over at where Osip is hanging a few feet away. His hands are high above his head, but he’s low enough so that his toes touch theground. He’s in no danger of a slow suffocating death, unfortunately. His face is swollen and bloody like his brothers, but he’s gotten off easy so far.
“You’re getting a slow death. I told you that already.”
“I never even fucking touched her.”
His petulant tone rubs me the wrong way, just like everything else about him does. I step closer, ignoring the pain in my knuckles, the split skin and blood that drips from my hands. It takes a lot of pain to faze me, and this isn’t even close to being enough.
When we’re only inches apart, I give him a smirk. “You smell like shit, Osip.”
“Fuck you.”
He throws the words out, but it’s lackluster at best. The fight is leaving him even quicker than I expected.
“Tell me what you know, Osip.”
“About what?”
“You know about what. Make me ask again and see what happens.”
He hesitates but not for long. Osip is all about covering his ass, and he still thinks there might be a way out of this for him. Hope is often the last thing to die. In my experience it fades right before the last beat of the heart. I’m going to enjoy seeing the spark die in this fucker.
“You want to know about Nadia?”
Reaching out, I grab his throat hard enough to have my fingers digging into his fragile skin.
“Her name is Alina.”
Tightening my hold on his neck, the threat is there without me having to say a word, and when I ease off enough so he can speak, he sputters out a quick, “Alina, fuck, I’m sorry.”
Stepping back, I wait for him to go on. He lets out a dramatic cough like I’m supposed to be concerned that he has a sore throat. When I don’t run to get him a lozenge, he sighs and says, “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He glances over at his brother, and when he’s satisfied that he’sstill passed out, he looks up at me and says, “She was taken from Moscow. At the time our men were under strict orders to grab the names they were given, but we also gave them a bit of leeway. They could take someone who wasn’t on the list if she was worth it and the timing was right. Your girl was in the wrong place at the wrong fucking time, and she caught the attention of one of our men. It was nothing personal.”
“Nothing personal?”
My tone has him quickly backtracking. “I mean she wasn’t chosen to get back at you. We didn’t even know who the fuck you guys were. She fought like hell when she was taken and gave us a fake name. We thought she was just a nobody, some young, beautiful girl who’d go missing and eventually be forgotten about. When Konstantin saw her, I don’t know, it’s like he had to have her. The women had already been sorted, so he knew she was a virgin.”
“That mattered to him?”
“He wouldn’t have touched her if she’d already been with someone else. She would’ve been sold at the auction. Her fate was sealed when he walked the line like he always does, looking at each and every woman, and she raised her face to his and spit.” He gives a harsh laugh at the memory. “I’ve never seen anything like it. In that moment, she became his. Konstantin likes them feisty but only because he gets off on breaking them.”
I swallow my disgust and rage and ask, “What else?”
His blue eyes meet mine. “You know what else.”
