Page 147 of Sinful Games

I stood there, frozen in shock and guilt, as a tremor shookme to my core. My vision blurred, and the world spun around me like a nightmarish carnival ride.

Above, the swirling clouds seemed to pulse with a disembodied voice, relentlessly calling my name in a chilling chant: “Alexsei... Alexsei...”

Before I could make sense of the chaos, darkness surged forward, swallowing me whole as if some monstrous entities were dragging me into the abyss. Then everything faded to black.

Death.

In my youth, death was a recurring fantasy, a desperate wish buried under the bruises and blood from my father's cruel hands. Every time he used my face as a punching bag, I secretly hoped he'd hit me hard enough to send me straight to the afterlife. I'd lie in bed at night, tears mingling with blood, staring at the ceiling as if it held the answers, praying for any escape from the hell that was my life under Sergei Rovanski’s rule.

All I wanted was to escape the constant beatings and humiliation.

But death never came; instead, life kept throwing more pain my way, making me wonder if death was just a cruel joke for people like me.

I used to wonder what dying would feel like. Would it be a gentle descent, like slipping into a warm bath, with the shock melting into sweet relief? Or would it be like tearing off a bandage, ripping away from everything I knew in one agonizing swoop?

“Alexsei!”

The sound of my name yanked me back to reality.

My eyes flew open, heart pounding, body drenched in sweat. It felt like being pulled back from the edge of somethingdark and twisted, reminding me that I was still stuck in this messed-up world.

“Alexsei! Wake up!” Volk’s voice cut through, his hand slapping my face to pull me back. “She’s awake.”

Where the hell was I?

Glancing around, I realized I was in a hospital room, slumped on a small leather sofa with a blanket tossed over me.

Raising my eyes, I saw my wife lying on a hospital bed, tubes everywhere, oxygen pumping into her nose. The top of her head was wrapped in a white bandage, stained with blood. When I found her on the floor, next to her was that fucking diamond skull. Someone had used it to bash her head, tried to take her out.

Thank God it only knocked her out.

Her eyes were open, staring at me with this empty, dead look. I couldn’t stop the sob that clawed its way up my throat.

Jumping from my seat, I rushed to her side, pulling her into a tight hug, burying my face into her stomach as tears poured down my cheeks, soaking through her blankets. I cried like a damn child, the fear and pain of losing her eating me alive. All I wanted in that moment was to hold her, feel her warmth, anything to convince me she was still here with me.

I heard Volk leave, the door clicking shut behind him, leaving us alone. Caia stayed rigid, arms flat at her sides, while I looked up, seeing her staring blankly at the ceiling.

Those once vibrant emerald eyes were dark, hollow—empty.

"Caia—"

"I want to see my son," she cut me off, her voice barely above a whisper.

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

When the paramedics arrived at the house, one of them, an older woman, tried to take Lukyan from my arms. But Icouldn’t. I couldn’t let go of him. I held my baby’s cold body close, too fucking close, the entire ride to the hospital, while they worked on keeping Caia alive.

Then, as doctors rushed around her, I collapsed to my knees in front of the surgical room, Lukyan still in my arms. That's where Volk found me. He held onto me as nurses tried to take my son, but I was too broken, too damn drained to fight them off.

"Baby—"

"I know my son is dead, Romaniev," she snapped. "I want toseehim."

She then yanked the oxygen tube out of her nose, ripping the IV from her arm.

"Caia, you’ve lost too much blood. Please, baby?—"

"I want to see my son now!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Right now! I w-want—" Her voice cracked as she sobbed. "I want to see m-my baby! Please l-let me see my baby," she wailed so loud the heart monitor went off, and three nurses stormed into the room.

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