Page 132 of The Dark Side

Adrik smacked her hard, and she fell to the floor. A hand covered his mouth, devastated by her. He never allowed himself to doubt Katia because of the simple fact that she was a mother. He trusted in that simple fact, and it fucked him.

Katia held her cheek. "She was supposed to be Niko's," she whimpered.

Adrik stood before her. The name was a trigger that brought red. All the years they were together, five years of building a life, of struggling with infertility, of learning how to love each other, he was stuck back in the same pain she caused him all those years ago.

Adrik had been merciful before.

But there was no mercy left.

Adrik unbuckled his belt and ordered his soldiers. "Take off her clothes."

Panic ensued, and Katia struggled and screamed, but it did nothing to him. He was dead. The mother of his child tried to kill him and their daughter. She was nothing now. She wasn't family. She was a corpse, already buried. But if she wanted death, he'd do everything in his power to keep her alive.

They ripped the clothes from her back, and once naked, they laid her on her belly, pinning her to the floor. Zinof was bucking in his chair, cursing and spewing threats through the towel in his mouth.

Adrik pulled his belt from his waist. "You owe me a son."

With her face pressed against the floor, she tried to find him, her gaze to the far right. "Does Jolie know you're a rapist?"

She used that name to plague him, and he despised how it worked. The blind rage was doused in ice water, and his fingers froze. There was a part of him that knew the relationship with Jolie was over, but if he forced Katia, there could never be a revival. And despite how he believed they were done, hope still existed deep down inside him.

Adrik turned suddenly and attacked Zinof, his belt sliding down his face, his chest, and thighs. Welts ignited from every lash, and he screamed and cried. Blood rained on Adrik, covering every inch of him. It took several minutes, but Zinof's screams died away when his face was unrecognizable.

The belt fell from his hand. Adrik panted and could taste blood on his lips. He spit it out and turned away from Zinof's dead body. Katia remained pinned to the floor. He nudged his head, and his soldiers lifted off her. She curled into herself, crying and bitter, glaring at him from her knees. A soldier dropped a towel over her, and she clung to it.

"You aren't to leave this house," Adrik said. "No phone calls. And you will not see Helina again."

Katia sneered. "My father is going to tear you apart."

Adrik leaned down to get even with her. He wanted her to see up close the blood of her brother dripping down his face. "Let him try."

Chapter forty-nine

Surrender

Joliehuggedapillow,facing the phone propped against the blankets. She watched her mother tend to a flower bed, and she mindlessly talked about the bugs and what fertilizer worked and what didn't. The stress in her voice brought peace to Jolie. Something as silly as bugs on her mother's flowers. It brought reality back.Thiswas normal. Not shootouts on a thirty-million-dollar yacht. Not shivering in a safe room as someone drilled a hole in the wall.

And though it was boring and uneventful, Jolie yearned for it now.

All her life, she always wanted more than what her parents had. She wanted to buy gifts for Christmas without worrying if she could afford to eat. But more importantly, she wanted to reach the lives of children and ensure that poverty and misery weren't all they were made for. It was possible to get out of the tar of life and find something worth living for.

If she had never been deterred from that desire, she'd be in school, teaching children full of hope, and she wouldn't be here, regretting every day Adrik came into her life.

She sniffed and rubbed the tear off her nose.

Why, then, did she yearn for him? She hated herself for it. She hated that all she wanted was for him to knock on her door, tell her how sorry he was, and beg her to stay.

But his pride was more significant than that. Nothing would get him to stoop so low. This relationship was doomed from the start. Jolie knew it, yet she still wanted to try because she believed it would have been a fantastic adventure if they could make it work.

Jolie popped her head up. She swore she heard a soft, barely there knock from Helina's door. The cats verified it, approaching the door, meowing with the hope someone else would give them attention. Jolie said goodbye to her mother, clicking it off before getting to her feet. Her heart pounded, but she didn't want to hope. It was probably Alexei again, once more replacing the spot where Adrik should be.

Jolie rubbed her face and approached. "The door's locked," she told whoever was behind it.

There was a latch undone from the other side. Jolie unlocked her side and pulled the door open.

A gasp escaped her.

Adrik stood in front of her, covered in blood. There wasn't a spot on him that was clean. It had dried on his skin, stiffened his shirt, and squished in his shoes. He kept his blue eyes on the floor, unresponsive as she called his name.

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