Page 111 of Rebellion

“Mike stood over me, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kill me. He said as much. He told me that he should kill me because I was a loose end, and he shouldn’t let me live. I thought that was the end. He said that if I told anyone, he’d comeback and finish the job. So it would be in my best interests to keep quiet, especially since he was sure that my cousin wouldn’t like to find out I’d been sleeping with the enemy. That I had betrayed h-him and had given away family secrets.”

“Sofia, you didn’t know who he was. You didn’t betray me.”

“It felt like I had,” she said with a sob. “That’s when I learned that he’d been paying off Dmitri, who had also been feeding him bits of information. Things he’d have to make clear had come from me if I blabbed. But I would never... I’d never betray you, Sacha.”

His frown deepened.

Her throat closed over. Oh, God. He didn’t believe her.

“How the fuck did Oleg know about this?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But he must have known the video wasn’t enough to get me to do what he wanted. That he’d need more.”

“Wonder why he even bothered with the threat of the video,” Sacha mused.

“I think it’s because that was tangible proof. He thought that would keep him alive because I wouldn’t want to risk it getting into the wrong hands.”

“I need to speak to Oleg. Find out what the fuck he knows and who told him all of this. He’s obviously got connections. He knows that I shot Danill, even if the video was fake. And he has to know who this Rafe Ramirez guy is.”

“What if... what if he finds out? Mike? I mean, Rafe?” she whispered.

“I will keep you safe,Kotyonok,” he told her fiercely. “You believe me?”

She nodded. She did. But she was still scared. “I would never betray you.”

Sacha gathered her into his arms, shocking her. “This is my fault.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you should know that you can come to me about anything. You have this bad habit of self-sacrifice. Of taking everything on yourself and not letting me help you.”

“I told you, I don’t want to be a burden. A disappointment.”

He leaned back and stared down at her. “And what if I told you I only ever took all this on for you?”

Her gaze rose in shock to his. “What?”

“It was all for you,Kotyonok. I stayed for you. I could have left after your father died. Could have run off and disappeared. I stayed because you are my sister. I’m the fucking Pakhan because I know this position will keep you safe. You are all that’s important in my life, Sofia. And to know that bastard was harming you...”

“He wasn’t for a start,” she said hastily. “He was just a creep. But he told me he just wanted to get into your good books. Something must have changed, though. Maybe when he saw you didn’t want to let him close, he started to take his frustrations out on me.”

“Fuck. And you hid that from me? From everyone?”

She nodded. “At first, it was just verbal. But then it grew more physical, which mostly was easy to hide. And it was only when he would catch me alone in the restaurant, so it really didn’t happen all that often.”

Sacha ran his hand over his face, looking exhausted. “I don’t know whether you’re trying to justify the abuse or make me feel better about it, but I don’t care if it only happened once. It happened. And that is unacceptable. If anyone touches you, if they say bad things to you, if they give you a fucking paper cut, I want to know. Hear me?”

“Y-yes.”

“He’s a dead man. You get that, right? He will never harm you again. No one will.”

She had a bad feeling that she was going to end up in a large protective bubble.

“And I will find the asshole who was dating you to get close to me, then threatened to kill you if you talked.”

She was so scared. But she knew she had to trust him to take care of her and himself.

“I don’t want to lose you, Sacha. You’re all I have.”

---