Page 37 of For a Price

Truthfully, only weak men do this. I don’t like seeing any woman in this condition. But especially not my kitten. She has been brutalized and broken.

All it took was her being out of my sight for five minutes.

I grit my teeth at the thought of how Leonid must’ve dragged her away. She must’ve thought she couldn’t refute him. I had told her to avoid speaking.

To behave herself.

But I never believedthiscould happen. Leonid has crossed lines before, but never to this extent.

I excuse myself from the room only to return a moment later with an icepack.

“Devochka,” I try again. “Let me tend to the swelling. It needs to be treated.”

Stepping toward her, I grip her chin more firmly this time so she can’t turn away. She flinches, tensing up at my touch.

“It’s okay, kitty cat.” I gently apply the icepack to the apple of her swollen cheek and peer into her misty eyes so she will understand. So she can see I’m livid on her behalf. “He wasn’t supposed to go anywhere near you. I will kill him.”

She swallows, the sound loud in the silent room.

“What did he do to you, devochka? You can tell me.” I keep the icepack at her cheek while I caress the other half of her facewith my free hand. “Don’t be afraid to tell me. I told you that you are mine. Anyone who hurts you answers to me.”

Her eyelids flutter closed as if she can no longer hold in the tears. I know this because a second later, a couple slip free, sliding down her cheeks.

“He came in here earlier,” she mumbles. “When you left to go get me clothes.”

“Hewhat!?”

She flinches at my volume. I breathe through the outrage and urge myself to let her finish.

“I didn’t know what to do. He said he was your uncle. He told me not to say anything… but that he would be back for me. That I was… that I was a whore to be shared.”

“He was told the opposite. He was not to go near you.”

“During dinner he wouldn’t stop staring at me. He must’ve been watching when you were pulled away. He didn’t wait long to come up. I asked him not to take me, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to draw attention to myself.”

Tension clenches inside me. “He took you to the closet?”

She nods like she can’t bring herself to answer aloud, more tears falling.

“What did he do? Devochka, tell me…” I add when she tries to shut down again. I lower the icepack from her cheek and use the moment to gently stroke the swollen flesh instead. “I won’t blame you. I won’t be angry with you.”

I’m not the most intuitive man when it comes to human emotion.

It’s never been something important. More weakness than strength, I’ve viewed it as an inconvenience or detriment.

In the bratva, in the violent and cruel world I’ve lived in, it doesn’t matter.

But this situation with Katerina is the opposite. I’m paying attention to every subtle tell she gives, every clue that reveals how she’s feeling.

All the signs point to something traumatic in her past that makes her reluctant to share. Perhaps a time where she wasn’t believed or was punished for speaking up.

My kitty cat is a stray who has lived a hard life. She may not like the idea of being my pet, but so long as she is, I’ll ensure she is treated well. She is taken care of.

And that anyone else who dares bring her harm meets the same fate as Leonid.

“His fingers…” she says slowly. “He… he put them inside me. He hit me when I tried to push him off. Covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream.”

“You bit his finger off.”

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