Page 5 of KAI Tortured

I regard her without saying anything. No one else would know what’s going on in my head right now, but she does. She can see the love I have for her even through my hardened exterior. She knows me, and her face lights up infinitesimally.

She just nods to herself, accepting my request. I hate that she knows I’m on her side. I’m not. She’s a fucking Slav.

“You’re not off the hook yet, Maisy. I’m still not decided on what to do with you.”

Maisy doesn’t respond. Whatever I say right now, she’s seen through me. She just packs her bag with some clothes and puts it over her shoulder. She sticks her free hand in her pocket and pauses, just like a fashion model showing off the latest summer collection. Irresistible. My cock aches for her.

“Ready.” She pulls out a scrunched piece of paper from her pocket, takes a moment to read it, then throws it on the bed. “I’m ready now.”

“Let’s go.” If Orion or Logan run into us now, I’m fucked.

Martin is gone from the kitchen, which is a bonus. At the front door, I take Maisy’s coat from the hook and help her with it, then put on my leather jacket. As I open the front door, I hear my bike zooming off. Perfect timing. I’m hoping Orion will be looking at the bike and not his front door when we leave.

The white Dodge is parked just outside on the street, and I quickly usher Maisy inside.

This is it. I may have just fucked up the one good thing I had in my life.

MAISY

All this time, I was desperately looking for someone to save me, to protect me from Milan, from the Slavs, and as it turns out, I’m… I’m… I’m a filthy Slav myself.

Goran Slavinovich. My father, apparently. A murderous, sadistic brute. No wonder he gave Milan the green light to do whatever he saw fit with us. My stomach flips, making me nauseous. That lecherous cockroach of an asshole, instead of using our brains, resorted to the most heinous, backward thing in the world. Breeding us, to grow the Slavinovich bloodline.

How do I come back from that? Can I at all? My men, the only men I ever trusted in my life, the men who put their lives on the line for me, who saved me so many times, now hate my existence with a vengeance.

What have I done to deserve this life, to be thrown about like a piñata, everyone taking shots at it? Not being able to decide my own life constricts my breathing.

Life without Orion, Logan, and Kai would be… not worth living.

And if I’m taken back to the Slavs, they’ll tie me to a fucking breeding bench and fuck me until I get pregnant. That would be my life, on repeat, every nine months.

I’d rather die.

At least when I die, this pathetic joke of a life that I’m living, where I’m used and abused, will stop.

But Kai taking me with him, away from Orion’s house, could mean many things. I’m confused. Is he feeling sorry for me? Will he set me free in the wilderness that is New York, like I’m an animal? Even I know that my chances are slim to none if he does that. The Slavs are everywhere. No, he’s probably taking me back to them. Not wanting to have blood on his hands, pretending he’s saving me, but really, he knows full well what fate awaits me. With Milan dead, Rosey’s position is set as the leader of the Slavs. Although, how can they see her as a leader if she’s just fucked to bear children, without free will?

I’d rather die. The mantra pounds in my head like a hammer.

I’d rather die.

I hear Kai’s voice behind me. “We’ll go in here.”

Having parked in an alleyway and urged me out of the car, he’s now guiding me to a door at the rear of a tall building. The sign above reads STAFF ENTRANCE.

He keys in a code and the door unlocks. He seems to know his way around the place as after walking me through the pitch-black corridor, he ushers me through another door. The moment it opens, it’s clear by the blaring sound coming from inside that it’s a movie theater with a showing in progress. The large screen lights up the room, and I see there are a few people in the audience.

In the darkness, we walk up the stairs to the last row where he gestures for me to sit down. I do, and he takes the seat next to me. I’m not sure he planned all this because I notice him exhaling the breath he was holding, as if I’m a burden he’s been stuck with.

He leans his head back and stares up at the ceiling.

“K-Kai?” I am not going back to the Slavs, and Rosey – that vindictive, jealous, cruel sister of mine.

“Please, Maisy. Not now. Just watch the movie.”

The big screen in front of me has a foreign film showing, Italian I think. I don’t understand a word they’re saying. I try to make sense of it but am distracted when, from the corner of my eye, I see Kai turning his head and watching me.

I wait for a few moments before I decide whether to say anything. I turn his way and meet his gaze. He’s staring at me with so much angst in his eyes, it hurts just to look at him. I want to scream at him that I never chose my blood. I want to make him believe me, but right now, we’re just staring at each other in the darkness, his face illuminated on and off by the movie playing on the screen.

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