Page 76 of Bound By Hate (Born in Blood)

“So? We don’t have time for this. We need to find my sister.” I will not let him make me flush at the slip of his name. I didn’t mean to call him that. It just slipped out.

So, what does that say about me?

There’s no way I’m getting more comfortable with Aleksander. He still cannot be trusted.

But … “If you save my sister, maybe—and it’s a bigmaybe—I’ll start to trust you.”

“You don’t trust me now?” He sounds surprisingly hurt by this.

“I don’t trust anyone.”

“I know you don’t. Lonely, remember?”

“How can I be lonely with you bugging me all the time?” I brush past him, refusing to let his words affect me in any way. “Let’s just go save my sister.”

He doesn’t object. Only finishes getting dressed and walks out the door. I follow behind.

As we get into the car, it dawns on me—this is the first time we’ve ever worked together.

For the first time, I’m not alone in a dangerous situation.

Chapter

Twelve

MILA

“Where are you taking me?” I ask Gleb as he drives frantically through the street.

“You’ll see in time.”

Gleb said he wanted to marry me, not sell me like he did Vik, but I’m still worried he’ll do that. Why have a wife when you could have money?

I feel helpless as I stare out the window, unable to escape. If I were Sofiya or Vik, they’d be fighting hard to get away.

That’s the sad realization—I’m nothing like my older, braver sisters.

I’m just a scared little girl unable to protect myself.

Gleb pulls up to a building and forces me out of the car.

“What is this place?” I ask. “Is there where we’ll get married?”

He looks down at me like I’m an idiot. “I’m not going to marry you, Mila. I just told you that in the hopes you’d come with me more easily. You see, because your sister killed the man I sold her to, I never got my money. You’re going to get me my money.”

He pushes me through the door of the building. We’re in some sort of backstage area. Two men come marching toward me and pull me from Gleb.

“What are you doing?” I think I know, but I don’t want it to be the reality.

“You’re my ticket to wealth,” he growls. “Take her away.”

I’m dragged through the hallway and onto a stage, where the men wrap a collar that’s attached to the ground around my throat. I can barely process what’s happening before the curtain rises, and I see the crowd of men before me, all with paddles in their hands.

Gleb is selling me just like he did Vik.

VIKTORIYA

“Does any of this look familiar?” Aleksander asks.

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