Chapter 16

**Steph's pov**

What the fuck is wrong with me? I must have lost my goddamn mind at some point during the night and I can’t be trusted to make decisions about my life anymore. This guy, the Russian mafia king, shot me in the fucking leg, leg kidnapped me and I want to watch a fucking movie with him?

The only logical reason I would want to be around him would be if I was trying to slit his throat, but I can’t do that without a clear escape, and there is none. There is no scape from this place, not without his permission, and he can’t give me permission if he is dead.

Fuck. I’m so stupid.

I actually agreed to stay here with him, I mean yeah, I didn’t have much choice seen as I need someone to protect Sarah and I from David. But I could have gone on the run. I have enough money saved to start over somewhere else for a while until I can get a job.

But Alexi would never allow me to leave, not now.

He thinks that I haven’t noticed him watching me whilst the movie is on, but it is all I have noticed, I keep thinking that he’s going to pull a gun out at Elane second and pull the trigger. I keep thinking that these will be my last moments. That I will never get to say goodbye to Sarah.

I’m not ready to die, I have barely even lived.

If I want to survive, I have to do exactly what he says, I have to behave. At least until I can come up with a plan to get the hell out of here.

“What is on your mind Malyshka?” He asks, making me jump half a mile out of my seat.

I turn to him, trying to remember how to breathe, “Where will you take Sarah once you find her?”

“Somewhere safe.” He says, going back to his phone.

“And where is that?” I ask again, biting my already broken fingernails.

He turns back to me, a darkness in his eyes that chills my blood, “She will not be harmed, Stephanie, not so long as you behave yourself.”

That doesn’t make me feel better, in fact, it makes me feel more on edge than before. I can’t live with the fear that should I step one toe out of line he will kill my little sister, and I know he isn’t bluffing. He’s mafia, when they give you rules, you better follow them. Or death is sure to follow.

“How will I even know that you have her?” I ask, immediately wanting to smack myself on the side of the head.

I shouldn’t be asking questions, I should be thankful to be alive.

“You’ll know.” He says with a small smile.

I don’t like that smile. I don’t like it one bit.

I turn my whole body towards him, ignoring the screaming woman on the screen. My life is the real nightmare right now. Not the movie.

“Look, I know that I was stupid for doing what David asked me to do.” I begin, trying to calm my racing heart, “but you have to understand that I didn’t have a choice. I had to protect my sister. You have no idea what he does. What he is capable of.”

He shoves his phone into his pocket and looks at me, anger coating his features, “did you not think that there would be consequences for stealing from me?” He asks, his voice as cold as ice. “Did you for one second stop and think about the fact that you were putting your sister in danger by obeying David?”

Tears pool in my eyes and slide down my cheeks, “I didn’t have a choice, the city wouldn’t let me have her.”

“There is always a choice, Malyshka, always.” He says, standing, “you made the wrong one.”

Alexi moves towards me and I sink back into the chair, trying to stop myself from crying, but unable to. My heart feels like it is breaking. I did what I could, but it wasn’t enough to save the both of us. Nothing I do is ever enough.

Maybe we weren’t meant to be saved.

He kneels in front of me, his face so close to mine that I can taste the mint on his breath, “Your sister will be safe.” He says, his voice softer now, “we do not harm children. It is not our way.”

My heart slams into my rib cage, over and over again, I heard him. I heard what he said. But how do I believe it? How can I put my faith in a man who kills for a living?

A man who tortured people every single day, who sells drugs, and guns and whatever else he can to make money. He has bars, clubs, strip houses.

He has more people than I can count on government seats who answer to only him. He controls the city, and everyone in it. Almost everyone.

And yet, he is looking at me now with such tenderness that I find it hard to believe that his soft hands have ever heart another living person.

And I find myself wondering, does it even matter?

Does it matter that he kills people, does it matter that he breaks the law each and every day? No. It doesn’t.

What matters is that I know he can keep my sister safe, he can save her from this life with a flick of his wrist, and all I have to do is obey him? It seems like a small price to pay, my life for hers.

“You promise she’ll be safe if I stay here with you?“ I ask him, looking deep into his eyes, searching for any lie.

He smiles, but it’s so small, and it is gone so quickly that I have to ask myself if I dreamt it.

“Your sister will be safe.” He says, no hint of a lie in his voice, “you have my word.”

“Why me?” I ask, trying to move back so that I can breathe.

“Because you are the most beautiful thing, I have ever seen in all my life, and even though you have been bruised and beaten, and even broken, here you are, fighting to keep a smile on your face.” He pauses, stroking a hand down my wet cheek, “I hate to see you cry, but you look so beautiful with wet cheeks.”

He thinks I’m beautiful?

He must have met a thousand women who look better than I do, who have had a better life than me. Who have money.

I have nothing to give him, nothing but a cold heart and an empty soul.

I guess I just have to hope that is enough.

I have to hope that I am enough, not just for my life, but for Sarah’s too.