Page 49 of Bratva Butcher

ThatI couldn’t deal with.

“Was that your son?”

I whipped around to face Autumn, eyes wide with panic.How did she—

“He has your eyes,” she said idly, eating her food. Her lips smacked together loudly as she chewed on the steak, gravy rolling down her hands and arms. I swear, she ate like that to piss me off. She knew it bugged me. “You guys have the same eyes. And the same dark hair. And that same grumpy as fuck aura.”

I didn’t know what to say back to that, so I said nothing, continuing my pacing.

“Jeez, what gives?” She picked up a roasted potato and popped it in her mouth next. “I thought this would be a good thing, but you look even more pisser than usual.”

“What exactly is supposed to be good about this?” I hissed at her under my breath. “My—” I snapped my lips shut, my gaze cutting around the room in alarm.

“Relax,” she mumbled in between bites. “We figured out the first day here that those cameras don’t have audio. They can’t hear you.”

No, they couldn’t. But the other prisoners could. They were all eating their dinner, talking and laughing amongst themselves. But what if someone was listening? All it would take is one ambitious person to say something in the hopes they could be released in exchange for the information.

“That asshole might be a gajillionaire, but he’s also a cheapskate.” She scooped up some vegetables with her fingers, slurping them into her mouth. “Like, seriously, if you’re going to drop millions into something like this, spring for the high-tech stuff,” she said, mouth half full. “And five-ply toilet paper.Don’t be stingy. You gonna eat that?” She pointed to my plate of untouched food, still sitting on the ground.

My mouth dropped open in outrage as she moved and picked it up, not even waiting for me to answer her.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked casually, like she hadn’t just stolen my fucking food. “Is your son—”

I leapt into action, jumping across the cell and slapping my hand over her mouth to keep her from saying another word.

“Be. Quiet,” I hissed. “If anyone finds out my son is here, it will put him in danger.” I brought our faces even closer together until we were only inches apart, and lowered my voice to barely above a whisper. “You don’t want to see what I’m willing to do to keep my son out of danger.”

She narrowed her eyes but said nothing. Or maybe that was because I still had my hand over her mouth. I kept it there, staring down at her.

Fuck. I was so close to her.

So, so, close.

Electricity sizzled down my spine, curling around to grip my cock in a tight vice.

Jesus.Fuck.

Danger! Back away!

I removed my hand and went to step back, but she gripped my wrist tightly, keeping me exactly where I was. Not by force, but by touch alone.

Her touch.

“Your son being here can only mean one thing,” she whispered. “And when the time comes, you’ll be taking me with you, Butcher.”

Will I now?

That was never going to happen.

Even if—and that was a big fucking if—we managed to find a way to escape, there was no way I could allow her to come with us. There was no way I could allow her tolive.

The feelings she invoked within me were far too dangerous. The only way to makethemdisappear was to makeherdisappear. With her gone, everything would go back to normal. The inappropriate thoughts would vanish, the guilt I felt right along with them.

If an opportunity came up in the games where I had the choice to save her or let her die… I would have to let her die. If that meant continuing on in the games by myself, so fucking be it. Our truce was for us not to hurteach other. But if someone else did it? Well…we had no truce about that.

Her nails dug deep into my skin, snapping my attention back to her. “Alright?” she pressed, demanding an answer.

I snatched my wrist out of her grasp. “Just shut up about what you saw.” I pulled my plate off her lap. “And don’t touch my fucking food.”

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