Chapter 12
**STEPH POV**
I awake up with someone pressed against my back, and whilst I feel warm, and comfortable, I am completely fucking terrified. There is only one person that it could be, and that means bad news.
I can’t remember anything after Alexi gave me the serum, I don’t know what I told Alexi, and I have no idea if he now knows about Sarah or not.
Terrified, rigid and angry, i try to scoot away from Alexi, pushing his arm off me. The snoring abruptly stops, and he pulls me back towards him, trapping me against the solid wall of his chest.
“Where do you think you are going?” he asks, his voice still thick with sleep.
I stay completely still, not sure i can trust my voice enough to respond right now. I'm so angry that it is like a burning inferno is spreading its way through my chest.
“Ignoring me won’t help you.” he leans a little closer to my ear, “It won’t help Sarah or Jack either, do you want them to get hurt?”
My blood runs cold, my face paling, and my hands shaking. He does know about them, and it is because of me. It is because i wasn’t strong enough to escape him. I have betrayed the only family that i have, and they are in danger all because of me.
David can go to hell, i don’t care what happens to him, or the other’s. I don’t even care what happens to myself. I only care about Sarah and Jack. They are everything to me, and it is clear that Alexi has realised this fact.
He is using them against me, and there is nothing i can do about it. Nothing i can do to stop him. I don’t have any other choice but to play the good little slave. Otherwise, i will lose them, and i cannot handle that. I have lost so much already.
“I’m sorry.” i say, hoping that my obedience will calm him down.
I can feel him smile against the skin on my neck, “You were quite affectionate last night, don’t you remember?”
If it were possible to die from horror, i would be a corpse. What does he mean by affectionate?
Did i sleep with him?
God, tell me i didn’t fucking sleep with him.
“Did we?...” i murmur, too afraid to ask.
I might not want to know the answer.
“DId we have sex?” he chuckles, and then shakes his head, “You’ll know when i fuck you for the first time, Malyshka, you’ll be begging me for more.”
I scoff, “yeah, of course.”
His arms snakes up and around me and wraps around my throat, squeezing tightly as i whimper and choke, “Be very careful what you say to me, Malyshka. I am not a very patient man.”
I nod, unable to take a single breath, my vision blurring.
Just when i think i am about to pass out, he stops, releasing my neck and rising to his feet. He looks mad. Really fucking mad. Like the kind of mad you see right before someone gets murdered.
He kicks my broken leg, causing me to gasp, pain radiating up my body. I shuffle back on the mattress, wanting to scream and shout at him. I want to hurt him, just like he is hurting me. But fuck, i am a coward.
He has already shot me and broken my leg, what else would he do? I'd hate to think what would happen if i made him truly angry. Alexi was the head of the Russian mafia in this city, he isn’t known for kindness, and he does not forgive. No matter who you are to him.
He killed his own father to get where he is today, if that doesn’t scream dangerous then i don’t know what does.
He is the very definition of a monster. So why am i so attracted to him?
Why do i want him in ways that i have never wanted anyone else? I never had time for relationships or sex, not like jack, i had Sarah to worry about. If i didn’t make David enough money, he’s hurt her. And i know exactly how he teaches the young girls in his care how to behave. He ruined me. Him and his goons.
“Look.” i begin, slowly sitting up, “I don’t mean to be so defensive about sex, it isn’t something i have ever enjoyed.”
Alexi watches me as though he can see right into my mind, he is waiting for me to elaborate, but i won’t. He doesn’t need to know the details.
“One day, you will tell me why, and you will do it because you want to, not because i force you to.” he says, kneeling in front of me, his eyes softer. “I am not the person who hurt you, i am the one who saved you.” he looks over my body, “It may not seem like it, not right now, but David’s men ratted you out. They handed you to me, now why do you think they would do that?”
My eyes widen, they were trying to get rid of me, David was trying to get rid of me. He wanted to take the eyes away from him, so he gave them me and Jack. We were nothing to him. Just a couple of runners he could easily replace, and with me out of the way, he’d be able to do whatever he wanted to Sarah.
“Please.” i say, tears sliding down my cheeks, “Get my sister somewhere safe, i won’t run, and i won’t fight back. But please, i don’t want her to face the same fate.”
Alexi smiles slowly, “You would agree to stay here with me if i got her somewhere safe? Somewhere out of the city with another family?”
I nod, desperate to protect her. There was no one to protect me. Not even Jack. But i will everything in my power to keep her safe, even if that means giving myself over to the devil.
“i need to hear you say it.” he growls, wrapping his hand around my throat once more.
But he does not squeeze, it’s a warning.
“If you get my sister out of the city, and place her with people who protect her, then i will be yours.” i say, my voice strained.
Alexi releases my neck, rising back to his feet and heading towards the door, “I will see that it is done, and when i return, i want you on your knees and ready to obey.”
My blood runs cold at his words as he leaves the room, slamming the door shut as he does, the lock clicking int place. What will he do to me once he returns? He said he wouldn’t force me. He said that.
But what if he has changed his mind? What if asking him to save Sarah was the wrong move? Fuck. What if he hurts her?
I want to shout after him, i want to tell him to come back and I'll do anything for him. I will suck his dick if that is what he wants.
I don’t care what i need to do, so long as my sister is safe.
She's a child, an innocent. I am already ruined.
It doesn’t matter what happens to me. Not anymore.