Page 79 of Born into Sin

My body shakes as we walk past the door, and it isn’t until we’re completely past it that I let out the shaky breath I’ve been holding. I’m still trying to convince myself that everything is going to be okay, but when we turn the corner by the back door and I see the man lying in a pool of blood, my knees buckle, and a muffled scream slips out before I can stop it. I recognize the brown hair and the black dragon that’s tattooed on his neck. Vitya’s tattoo is one of the first things I noticed about him, but now it’s covered in blood, and my heart breaks for the man who just gave his life for mine, a man who I barely got to know and who will never grow old because of me.

Tears fall down my cheeks, hitting the bastard’s hand, but he doesn’t give a shit about the fact that I’m crying or upset or scared to death. He just presses his gun harder against my temple until I’m sure that if I live to see tomorrow, I’m going to have a nice circular bruise to show for it.

He keeps me pressed against him and whispers, “Open the door and don’t make a fucking sound”

My hands are shaking when I grip the doorknob, but I manage to open it without making any noise. He scans the area and moves his gun just enough to check his watch. He must have this timed to perfection because after a few more shaky breaths from me, he hustles me out the door like we’re on a tight schedule. My bare feet hit the grass as he drags me quickly across the yard. I’m in nothing but a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top, and all I can think about is my cell phone. I’d left it on the nightstand before coming down to get some tea, wrongfully assuming I wouldn’t need it. They could’ve tracked me by my phone, but now there’s no way for anyone in my family to know where I’m being taken. My heart thunders in my chest. I think about Dominic, knowing how pissed he’s going to be when he finds out I’m gone. He and my family will search for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be found, at least not in time anyway.

The man who’s holding me drags me into the woods, and I’m too scared of dying to worry about the possibility of getting hookworms in my bare feet. I try to keep up with his long strides, but when I trip and start to fall, he lets out an annoyed grunt and stops walking. A spark of hope flutters in my chest that maybe I’ll be able to get a scream out or hit him hard enough for me to run into the woods, but that hope dies a quick death when he lowers his gun and quickly pulls something from his back pocket. I start to wriggle, trying to break free, but he kicks the back of my knee, forcing my legs to buckle and my body to slump to the ground. In seconds, a strip of fabric is forced between my lips. He ties it off behind my head, tight enough to hurt. Remembering everything my dad taught me, I twist to the side and put everything I have into the punch I swing at him. He turns at the last second, saving himself from a broken nose, but I still manage to hit his cheek hard enough to pull a grunt from him and stun him long enough for me to get to my feet.

“Fucking bitch,” he growls behind me, but I don’t stop.

I let out a muffled scream and run in the direction we just came from. If I can get to the yard, then someone will see me. I just need to get out of these damn woods. I see the clearing ahead, and I push myself harder. I’m only a few steps away when the man hooks an arm around my waist and throws me to the ground hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. I’m still trying to catch my breath when he towers over me, bringing his face close to mine. I recognize him now, and I have just enough time to remember his name is Andrik before he pulls back his fist and punches me so hard it feels like a sledgehammer to my goddamn head. Darkness creeps into the edges of my vision as nausea threatens to rid me of my supper. I struggle to not pass out and then let out a groan when I feel him tie my hands together before slinging me over his shoulder so he can carry me the rest of the way.

My vision fades in and out, and my cheek hurts so bad that I’m convinced he’s broken something. This is the same path Dominic carried me down, and the thought of him and how sweetly he’d held me has me crying even harder. I may never see him again. I may never see my family again. Everyone said that this was about someone trying to kill me to hurt my dad. The end goal was always my death, and now that they have me, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they have planned.

“Shut the fuck up,” Andrik mutters, walking faster and not caring at all that every step he takes causes a jolt of pain to run through my body. He’d tied my gag and my wrists way too damn tightly, and with my arms behind my back, I’m helpless and completely at his mercy.

I try to calm myself down, if for no other reason than I’m afraid I’m going to hyperventilate from being forced to breathe only through my nose while I’m crying. I think about my family and Dominic and how badly they want me to survive this, and I force myself to take long, slow breaths. I don’t want to die at eighteen. There are so many things I want to experience and do, and I sure as hell don’t want my death to be something that’s going to scar and haunt every single person I love.

When I’m convinced I’m going to have bruises across the entire length of my stomach, Andrik finally steps out of the woods. I crane my neck to the side, trying to see where I’m being led, and when I spot the car waiting for us, a heavy wave of fear hits me. Being put in a vehicle and driven off to an unknown location takes all this to a whole new level. My body starts shaking, uncontrollable tremors that I know Andrik can feel because he lets out another laugh before opening the back door and roughly throwing me onto the seat. There’s another man driving, but I don’t recognize him when he looks back at me. The cold, dead eyes tell me all I need to know. He won’t be suddenly growing a conscience on my account. No, this guy looks like he’d happily put a bullet in my head and then go about his day without a twinge of remorse.

Andrik gets in the passenger seat and starts speaking in Russian as the other man starts to drive us to what will most likely be my final resting place.

“Watch her. She’s a fucking handful and knows how to throw a punch.”

The driver laughs. “Yeah, I’ll be sure and watch out for the tiny girl who’s tied and gagged.”

Andrik runs his fingers over the cheek I’d punched. “That’s why she’s tied up. Her dad must’ve taught her a few things.”

“Well poor Lev will have to spend the rest of his life knowing he didn’t teach her enough,” the driver says before letting out another harsh laugh.

No matter what happens to me, I really hope my dad finds these fuckers and kills them very slowly. I wiggle my way up to sitting and look out the window, trying to figure out where they’re taking me, but it’s useless. It’s the middle of the night, and we’re a long way from anyone or anything. That’s why my family chose this place. The seclusion was once part of the appeal. If my ass makes it out of this alive, I’m going to grab onto Dominic and never fucking let him go. As much as everyone was trying to protect me, I know this wouldn’t have happened if I’d kept my ass glued to his. As quickly as the thought hits me, I realize that if I hadn’t been there tonight, then Andrik would’ve taken Mia or Sasha, and that’s not something I can live with. As horrible as this is, I’d rather have my ass bound and gagged in this fucker’s backseat instead of my little sister or brother.

We drive for what feels like forever, and no matter how hard I try to catch a glimpse of something familiar, there’s nothing, just blackness and a wall of trees on either side of the road. No one is going to be able to find me. Resting my forehead against the glass, I savor the last few precious moments of my life. I’m not about to go willingly to my death, but I know what my odds are here, and it’s not looking good. Even though I’ve only been alive eighteen years, my mind is full of a lifetime of memories. I’m so damn lucky. I’ve been surrounded by so much love since the moment I took my first breath. I close my eyes and picture my family’s smiling faces, hear their laughter and can almost feel their arms wrapped around me in a hug, because even though I’m alone, they’re still with me. They’ll always be with me because that’s what a good family does. Their love surrounds me even when we’re not together. It’s a bond that can’t be broken, and I cling to it right now.

Dominic is never far from my mind, but when I start to think about him, my heart feels like it’s going to break apart and shatter into a million pieces. I want a lifetime with him, and instead I was given just a few days. They were perfect days, days I hadn’t even thought possible, but they were still just days, a handful of hours, and not nearly enough of them. His sister’s death cut him so deeply, and I have a horrible feeling that mine might destroy him completely, and that’s the last thing I want for him. The thought of his pain makes me feel like I can’t breathe.

“Don’t start this shit again,” Andrik growls when he hears me sniffle.

I tell him to fuck off, but with the gag it’s only a pathetic muffle that doesn’t faze him in the slightest. I go back to staring out my window, each minute feeling like an hour until we turn off onto a long, gravel road. The sky is only starting to lighten, and it’s still mainly dark, but there’s a hint of the dawn that’s coming. It’s a time of day I don’t often get to see, and I make a promise to myself that if I make it out of this, I’m going to try my best to be an early bird because something this beautiful shouldn’t be missed.

We stop in front of a brick, one-story house that looks deceivingly normal. There’s even a flowerbed out front filled with blooming marigolds, and when the headlights hit them, I see the vibrant shades of orange and yellow. When I look out the other windows, all I can see is land and the dark woods that surround us. There aren’t any signs of neighbors or a hint at where we might be. There’s nothing, and if I do manage to escape, I’ll be running barefoot in the dark in a remote area that’s miles away from anyone. I don’t even know what direction to run in. If you get far enough upstate, it’s just wilderness. I don’t want to die from dehydration or from getting mauled by a bear, but I’ll take the chance if I’m given one because I’m guessing that death would be preferable to whatever hell these bastards have planned.

Andrik opens my door and roughly pulls me out. Not even bothering to give me a chance to walk, he throws me over his shoulder again and heads for the front door.

“They’ll be here soon,” the driver says, shoving his phone back into his pocket as Andrik opens the door and walks me into a very normal-looking living room. I’m relieved to see it hasn’t been set up as a torture chamber, but the sight of a couch and armchair isn’t enough to put me at ease. They can kill me just as easily on the floral fabric as they can a grimy, concrete floor.

I let out a muffled grunt when he tosses me onto the couch. My arms are numb, my mouth aches, and I’m trying very hard to not vomit so I don’t asphyxiate on last night’s hamburger. While I take slow, steady breaths through my nose, he looks down at me like he wants nothing more than for me to act up so he can hit me again. I notice the bruise forming on his cheek, and it makes me feel a little better, but I’m too scared to gloat about it.

“Your dad is going to regret humiliating Alexei.”

I don’t bother trying to mumble out anything. I save my strength and lean my head back, resting it on the cushion behind me. These may be my last few relatively pain-free moments, and I don’t intend to waste them. I scan as much of the house as I can see while Andrik and the other man, who I learned on the drive is Gleb, sit down in the two armchairs across from me. They discuss some new strip club they went to last weekend. Evidently there’s a dancer named Bunny who can do some pretty impressive shit on the pole. While they reminisce about upside down splits and tits that defy gravity, I try to wiggle my hands free of the rope that’s been cutting off my circulation since he wrapped it too damn tightly around my wrists.

“Keep trying, princess,” Andrik teases, noticing the slight movement in my shoulders. This time I do tell him to fuck off, not caring if he can’t understand it around my gag. He gets the sentiment, and that’s good enough for me.

“Finally,” Gleb says, getting up and walking to the front window when he sees headlights approaching. “They’re here.” He looks back at me and winks. “Fun’s about to begin, sweetheart.”

Gleb looks older than Andrik, but they’re both fit, both wearing tactical gear, and both have the same cold, dead look when they bother to meet my eyes. I know with absolute certainty that either one would be more than happy to end my life.

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