Page 74 of Bound By Hate (Born in Blood)

And there’s nothing I can really do to protect her myself.

Maybe Aleksander was right—maybe I am feeling out of control.

“You impressed me tonight,” Aleksander says on the drive home. “The way you didn’t hesitate to put yourself between Gleb and Mila. That took courage.”

My cheeks flush under his praise.

Then I clear my throat, promptly shoving that thought to the side. I don’t need his praise. I don’t want it.

“Do you think I’m that horrible of a human being that I wouldn’t help protect my sister?” I ask.

“I think you have walls up, and I want to help you bring them down.”

How do I tell him my walls are so high because I haven’t let anything breach them in years? I needed to be perfect to dance. I needed to be an example to my sisters. I needed to be sweet enough for my mother to like me and the best for my father to even look in my direction.

I needed to be perfect.

And I think it’s slowly killing me.

MILA

I can’t stop thinking of the icy way Gleb looked at me. It was as if he wanted to eat me alive.

Will I ever be safe in this world ruled by Bratva men?

The moment Vik leaves, I feel more hollow, like she took a piece of me. My brave older sister who has survived so much. Sofiya, too, has been through the wringer and made it out on the other end. She killed two men to protect me.

Both my sisters are killers now.

As for me, I feel like I’m an innocent lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

It takes a long time to fall asleep, and when I do, it’s dark and painless. An empty abyss.

So, when I’m woken up from it, I’m disoriented and can’t fully understand what I’m seeing. It looks like Gleb is in my bedroom.

But he … no. He can’t be here. Mikhail would have killed him if he tried sneaking inside.

Once my vision clears and my mind wakes up, I realize Glebisin my bedroom.

I open my mouth to scream, but he clamps his hand over my mouth, stopping me. “Shh,” he whispers. Chills rack over my body. “You are coming with me.” He grabs a roll of duct tape from his pocket and slaps tape over my mouth before I can try to scream again.

“You will be my wife,” he growls as he drags me from my bed and to the window. Looking through it, I see a hanging scaffolding below. He must have snuck up on it and climbed through my window. Mikhail doesn’t have cameras stationed outside. He believes no one is stupid enough to mess with him.

Gleb is that man, which makes him frightening. He doesn’t care if he upsets Mikhail or Aleksander. He just wants me for himself.

He forces me over the edge and onto the scaffolding. “I can’t wait to marry you.”

That is the last thing I hear before the scaffolding starts going down, away from the penthouse.

Away from safety.

SOFIYA

“I know you’re upset with me,” Mikhail says. “But you know I was right.”

We sit up in bed, neither of us looking at each other, but at least we’re talking. Mikhail doesn’t shut me out like he used to.

“I know. But you also know I want nothing more in this world than to see both my sisters safe. If Gleb shows up again, you kill him. I don’t care if it’s in front of Mila. You kill him.”

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