Page 120 of Sinful Scars

I let out a breath of relief that he’s cooperating.

Alexei nods his head at me to follow behind Lev.

When I climb out of the trapdoor and take a look at the half a dozen bodies littering the floor, my knees buckle, and I have to cling to Lev to stop myself from collapsing.

“I wish I still had that blindfold.”

I’ve never seen so much blood. It’s soaking into the floorboards and seems to coat every possible surface.

The coppery twang in the air is making my stomach churn, and I have to cover my mouth and nose to stop myself from throwing up.

“Let’s get you out of here.” Lev guides me toward the front door.

“Did you do this by yourself?” I ask Alexei who appears beside me.

“Yakov and Feliks are outside.”

“Not Mikhail?”

“I wanted to come here myself.”

Which translates to he wanted to be the one to capture Lev himself.

Two blacked-out Mercedes are parked behind Lev’s car, and Alexei waves a finger as we head down the porch steps and one of them roars to life.

“Yakov and Feliks will follow us back to the house.”

Another hidden warning for Lev to behave.

I want to scream at Alexei that Lev isn’t going to hurt anyone, but I know he won’t listen. So instead, I stay quiet as I climb into the backseat of Alexei’s car beside Lev and hope that the Koslovs are in a forgiving mood.

Neither Lev nor Alexei speak on the drive over to Alexei’s Forest Hills mansion, and I’ve never felt more uncomfortable.

I could cut the tension with a knife, and none of my attempts to spark up a conversation have worked.

I glance over at Lev, who is staring out of the window.

His face is pale, and he keeps balling his hands into fists.

I wish there was something I could do, but this is out of my hands. All I can do is stand by him and pray that Alexei and his brothers are willing to hear us both out.

I reach for his hand, interlacing my fingers through his.

They’re freezing cold to the touch, but I don’t care.

Without taking his eyes off the window, he squeezes my hand once, and I squeeze his back, running my thumb back and forth over the scarred skin.

A silent gesture that we’re both in this together.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Alexei frowns at our interlaced hands.

I’m all too aware of what this must look like to him. That I’m betraying his family by becoming involved with Lev. But the truth is, I’m not convinced that Lev was even responsible for killing his parents.

This has Igor Ivanov written all over it.

He’s already made it perfectly clear how much he likes to torture Lev, so it makes sense for him to pin the murders on him. It’s sadistic to make Lev believe he was the one to kill his own father, which isexactlywhy I’m starting to believe this was all a set up.

But the fact of the matter is that Lev remembers nothing, so we may never know what truly happened that night.

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