Page 13 of Deception

Grabbing her by the arm, I guide her down the steps, towards the house. I won’t humour her suppositions of the future. If that day ever comes, it is my enemies that will beg for mercy. It is those that come against me that will pray on their hands and knees for salvation.

“Ignore me all you like, but we both know that hurting her will not strengthen you. It’s another sin you will have to atone for. Another curse you put on your soul.”

“Let me tell you something we both know,” I snap at her as she yanks herself free of my hold. “Little girls like you that stick their noses into grown men’s business…always end up getting hurt.”

“Grown men like you that hurt little girls like us?—”

“Shut up!” Slapping my hand to her mouth, I silence her sanctimonious bullshit.

“It’s you! It’s all of this…you, him, and this wicked world!” In the dark, her tears aren’t visible, but they are audible. Considering this is the world she was born into and the only one she knows, Vanya is soft. All the time she spent at the convent school has made her far too pious for her own good. “You’re the reason she’s sick.”

The twist of my gut has me clenching my fists at my side. If it wouldn’t crush our mother, I would crucify her like the martyr she thinks she is. Instead, I force myself to take a step back.

“Go back to Tolstoy and all the other useless shit you fill your head with. Better yet, go pray a little harder so that maybe God will hear you this time.”

“Durak,” she spits back as she walks up the few steps to the patio at the back of the house.

Vanya may think I’m a fool, but she’s the one on the fine line. Family princess or not, if she doesn’t start bucking her ideas up and showing some loyalty to her flesh and blood, her life is going to become a lot more difficult. All the prayers in the world won’t save her.

Nero’s long whine followed by the sudden silence has me focusing back on the reason I’m out here in the first place—Red.

It’s an apt name for her. It’s what she does to me. Everything is red with her near me. The girl makes me feel hate and lust unlike I’ve ever felt before. She makes me see anger and crave blood. Her blood and that of anyone that touches her without my consent.

Turning, I draw in a deep breath that quickly congeals in my lungs, clogging my throat. Nero nudges at her limp legs with his nose, coaxing her fight.

It’s gone.

In the bleakness of night, she swings lifelessly, pale skin and white dress ghostly in the moonlight and cool gust.

The girl won’t last.

“Fuck,” the growl vibrates from deep in my gut as my legs carry me to her.

Fast. Faster than I’ve ever moved so that my body protests with every shift. My chest squeezes so tight that the pain throbbing at my side fades to nothing. Using my shoulder to prop her up, I untie the knot I made earlier and unwind the rope from the branch.

A part of me is wary of her tricks and is on high alert as I carry her back to the house, waiting for Red to strike. Deep down, though, I know she won’t. I’ve been here before. I’ve carried her enough times to know that her listless form isn’t another ruse.

The girl won’t last.

“The fuck you won’t,” I bite out as I manoeuvre her in my arms so that I can see her face and she’s not draped over my shoulder. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Kicking the door open, I wait for the loud crash to wake her. Still, she sleeps. Dark circles shadow her eyes, and the usually soft pink of her lips is darkening while her skin lightens to a translucent veil over her veins and flesh. The freckles on her face all but disappear.

“You’re not meant to be weak,” I tell her as the lights in the hall come to life and my father comes bounding out of the drawing room, gun at the ready with Emin and Vanya behind him.

Pushing past them, I put her down on the sofa closest to the fire before I check her pulse. It may be weak, but it’s there, and this isn’t over.

“Bring her back,” I snap at Emin as I grab the steak knife on the dinner plate that’s on the coffee table and cut through the rope still binding her wrists. “Now!”

“What?” Vanya blurts at me at the same time as Emin shakes his head. “No, you can’t!”

“Enough of this.” My father pushes me away, eyes narrowing on me with fury as I push back, “I’m not done. You think this will send a message? This is a mercy…”

The cock of his brow and the sneer on his lips show his obvious revulsion at my statement.

“Papa…” Vanya looks between the two of us, eyes widening on our father in that innocent and beseeching way of hers that he can’t ever seem to fucking ignore.

“We don’t do mercy, do we,Father?” I remind him of one of his most precious rules.

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