Page 145 of Crave

Heavily armored guards flank us from above while we trudge outside into the frosty exercise yard.

Everyone splits into smaller groups veering off to different locations. Some move towards heavy rocks where they start lifting them, others jog the perimeter of the fence.

I’m sticking close to my new lucky charm, and pull my shirt tighter around my chest.

It’s too damn cold out here, so I start bouncing from side to side to stay warm.

I can get a better look at the two men who guard the Butcher. They look eerily alike.

“Are you brothers?” I think they could even be twins.

They both nod.

One with his head shaved stabs his thumb to his chest. “I’m Sven. That’s Ben.” He points to the other who has his greasy brown hair tucked behind his ears.

“You work for him?” I jut my chin towards the grizzled man sitting on one of the wood benches bolted to the ground.

“No,” replies Ben. “We owe him our lives.” He crosses his arms over his massive chest.

They remind me of Niki and Miki in size.

“That’s a twist.” I find it hard to believe that small old man could be their hero.

I guess I shouldn’t underestimate him.

“Did you really take out that whole town?” I ask the question that’s weighing heaviest. I have a million more, though.

The Butcher nods. “They killed my daughter. It was the least I could do,” he says quietly.

Oh shit.

“They caught you after that?” I can’t even fathom how.

He shakes his head. “No, I let myself be caught a few years ago. Ivan fucking took my youngest, and sent an army after me.” He sweeps his arm in a slow circle at the exercise yard. “At least in here, he can’t touch me.”

“Volkov?” I swallow hard.

It seems we have a common enemy.

The Butcher’s whiskered lips thin. “That son of a bitch is almost as bad as your father.”

I catch myself unconsciously touching my mouth, remembering all the times Papa split it open in his anger.

“You know, I almost killed him once.” He leans back and stares at the gray sky. “You were very young. I had the barrel of my gun pressed against his head because he slaughtered one of my best whores.” His tongue runs across his teeth and his eyes unfocus.

“You should have,” I grumble.

All these memories come stirring back. The pain, the fear. The hatred.

He runs his fingers through his silver hair. “You had no one else.”

All I had was a monster.

Until Nikolai and Mikhail took pity on me, and gave me Lara.

I have to get out of here.

The time in the yard is signaled to an end by a loud siren. Everyone lines up, our personal bouncers included.

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