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Into my third round, I hear a loud thump right near my leg. When I open my eyes and look down, I see a knife. It's small and dull, but it'll cut. I look up at first thinking that it could possibly come from the Lord himself until my eyes catch a glimpse of Sister Ruth. She crosses herself and closes her window.
I grab the knife and quickly start to cut through the rope holding me hostage. It's hard with my fingers being so numb, but eventually, I make my way through it. I could go back into the convent to get warm, but they'd catch me, and I'd be back in the same situation, or I could run to Zeus. His rental house isn't too far. I just have to hope that he's still there and that he can help me.
13
Zeus
Everything feelswrong when I get back to the rental property. Inessa should be here by my side, instead she's back in that convent playing the good nun for a bunch of people who don't truly care for her, or they don't care for the real her.
I see the woman who's hiding underneath all the shame and fear of judgement. She's a queen and I want to make her mine. Except I know that I can't.
Not now, at least.
I have too many things opened for me to take care of for me to take that step right now. The first thing I need to do is what I should have done yesterday. Sven and Luka must be wondering what I'm going to tell them is happening here.
They haven't heard from me in a number of days and the last time I called over to them, I was informed that the Pakhan and the leader of my family was no longer that. Instead, he was on the sidelines healing up from a heart attack, all of his years of bad eating has got him.
I grab hold of my phone and put it on the plug so it can charge a bit. I hadn't had my charger while I was in the convent with Inessa, and there was none there that I could use.
It gave me a bit of an excuse to stay away from calling back home for as long as I did, but now that I was back where my belongings were, I didn't have much of a reason not to call.
I lay back on the bed and instead of thinking about what I'm going to tell Sven or Luka, all I can think about is how beautiful Inessa is when she laughs or how she tries and fails to hide her snark. I wonder about her family and when the last time she had any contact with any of them. Mostly, I wonder if she's willing to do something other than live a life of sacrifice if it meant that she could be with me.
I'm not a good dude by any means. I'll kill if I have to, I've turned my back on people that needed help, and I've broken too many hearts, but if I had someone like Inessa to work for, I think some of that would change. The broken hearts, for sure. I'd never want to break her heart.
After just laying in the large sleigh bed for a few minutes daydreaming, I grab my phone and clear my throat, ready to talk business.
I do my normal reception dance and finally after pushing myself as far as I can in the corner, I'm able to get a few bars to make the calls. I still don't know how anyone in Alaska is capable of calling anyone on the outside. How do they even exist here.
The hardship of not having the best broadband service lets me know just how spoiled I've been. If I stay here, I'd have to give that all up for Inessa.
I swipe for Sven's number and slide the icon up when I reach his name.
The line rings three times before he answers the phone.
"Da?" he says in a clipped voice.
"Sven, it's Zeus. How are things, brother." I ask him immediately, thinking about Marko. He may be my Pakhan, but he's Luka and Sven's father as well. I'm sure whatever they have to do to make sure that the family is running smoothly is coming at a great bit of turmoil between the three of them. It's something I'm glad I'm not there to witness. Though, I'm worried about what I'm walking in on when I return.
"It's a shitshow, and that's the truth. Marko is up and moving around after his surgery, which in his mind means that he's fit to run the family. Luka, I or Josip think that's the case." Sven sighs and I can almost hear his exhaustion through the phone.
I didn't know that Josip would have a say in this, but as the one directly answering to Marko, It makes sense that he does.
"Yeah, Katarina told me that he was in surgery the last time I called."
"Last time?" Sven says and then issues a short growling curse. "No one fucking told me you called. What's going on? Have we set everything up with Father Joseph already?" He asks, and I'm a little hesitant to break the news to him that nothing is going as planned, in fact, everything has just about exploded in our faces.
But if he and Luka are set to be the ones to take over the family, then they need to be able to handle all the bad news, no matter how fast it comes.
"Is it true that both you and Luka are set to take over for Marko, equally?" I ask and Sven goes silent.
"Yes, I'm assuming this means that there's a problem?" Sven says, and I keep shut.
"Dammit. Hold on." He hangs up on me and a few moments later the phone rings again in my hand and I hear both him and Luka on the line.
"Zeus, I don't want to hear that you're in any trouble because I swear on my life I'll leave you right there."
I laugh at Luka, but then stop my outburst. It's going to be difficult to go from just Luka to Luka, the Pakhan.
