Page 34 of Voracious

Gently setting her down on the side of the bed furthest away from the door, I have to leave her to wash my hands. The contacts will be irritating her eyes and I’m sure they can’t be slept in. I wash my hands four times, ensuring there’s no dirt that could get in her eyes and go back to her side. The thought of touching her eyeball is freaky as fuck and I have to force my hands to move and carefully pull her eyelids open. Fuck me, her eyes are beautiful. They’re so unique, so full of life despite her current state. There’s something familiar about them too, but I can’t place it as I remove her contacts.

I pile every object that could be used as a weapon in the bathroom. As soon as those stunning eyes open, the rage will come back and she’s deadly enough without any weapons. I don’t want her to be uncomfortable and take her boots off. Her sock gets caught, being dragged with it and all the air is sucked out of my lungs. Deep scarring, pinks and whites mix together covering the sole of her foot. There’s a mix of fully healed slashes and ones that are rough and irritated from the constant pressure.

What the fuck did they do to her? From the amount of physical and mental scars it seems like everything. No part of Ana’s body, mind, or soul was safe, but she always says she was protected. It’s said with a laugh each time too as though the thought of anyone hurting her is ridiculous when the proof is on her body. Pulling her sock back up so she’s covered, I’m gentler with her other boot, so I don’t disturb her scar tissue or her secrets. She’s still dressed, and I don’t remove anything else. I’d rather her be uncomfortable while she’s passed out than wake up feeling violated, again.

I’m watching her lay unconscious like a creep, waiting for the first flutter of her lashes to reveal those captivating eyes when there’s a knock on the door that forces me away from her. No one comes out here without calling first. If it’s some religious nuttrying to convince me to follow their god, I’ll kill them for taking me away from my position. Calling Ana’s phone, I leave it by her head and use it as a makeshift monitor in case she wakes while I’m getting rid of whoever is disturbing us. If she decides to set the house on fire, at least I’ll have a warning and I’ll be able to drag her out before she gets hurt. I pause on the stairs at that being my first thought, it wasn’t to stop her doing it but to make sure she’s safe.

Shaking it away, I continue my journey and keep my gun tucked to my thigh on the other side of the door before opening it. The puppy stands there holding a cake and Tali isn’t the surprise, it’s the fact there’s not even a crumb missing from the huge thing, and he scrubs a hand over his head before saying, “I’ve got a theory.”

For fuck’s sake, I thought he grew out of finding theories for everything when he was a teenager.

Opening the door wider so he doesn’t ramble outside, he steps in and doesn’t eat anything. He sets the cake down and pulls out a padded envelope. The twitchy behavior has me on alert, when he’s not a hesitant person, he’ll talk shit for the entire planet and then start it all over again. He keeps his voice low and acts like a kid, wanting me onboard whatever scheme he’s got.

“I think she’s my sister. We can check, I just need to swab her cheek.”

Fuck no.

The idea is laughable. Len wouldn’t have a daughter; he was a misogynistic piece of shit. The type who shouted about women being less than anything else. But he treated her worse than shit which is exactly what someone like Len would do because of his skewed perspective and his loathing for his own children.

FOURTEEN

Ana

My eyes don’t itch when I blink and everything is clear despite my brain feeling foggy. Forcing my body to stay still, I quickly shut my eyes and focus on the whispering. It’s too close to my ear, as though there are little people stood beside my head and having an invisible conversation inside my ear.

“I’ll do it while she’s knocked out then we’ll know.”

It’s Tali’s voice and my stomach churns. I thought he was the only person who didn’t want to hurt me. He never looked at me like he could see through my clothes, and he kept other people away.

A loud stomp, heavy footsteps, and shuffling comes through, then Dima’s voice full of anger.

“No one is fucking touching her. Especially while she’s knocked out.” The rustling comes again, and I open my eyes, realizing I’m alone. “If Ana decides to do it, that’s her fucking choice. No one is going to fucking take that from her.”

Maybe he is nice. He’s defending me when I’m not there, stopping the people he’s closest to from hurting me.

Tali sounds younger when he pleads his case, giving me all the information.

“Listen, I’ve always had this feeling that I have a sister. Val thinks I’m talking shit, Vlad would burn the world if he seriously thought there was one of us left with that fucking cunt and he kicked the fuck off when I mentioned it when I was younger. But you can’t tell me that you don’t see it? That anger inside of her, the violence, it’s pure Vartanov. If she’s Len’s daughter, my sister, you can all fuck yourselves before I let her be taken away again.”

Am I dreaming? Or have I gone crazy and I’m hearing things wrong?

I can’t be Marlo’s daughter. He always told me I was wrong. He told me who my dad was, and he never had children of his own. I’ve heard stories about Tali’s dad, he was crazy and had no power, but Marlo was powerful and his face was the same as the man in the picture even though his eyes were different.

For the first time in my life, I want to tell the truth about myself. I don’t want to go to the forest in my head and the sincerity in Tali’s voice forces me to my feet. Keeping my steps silent, I put a fresh pair of contacts in, and I get more evidence that Dima is genuine when I see that he didn’t take any of my clothes off. I was unconscious and he could have done whatever he wanted but he didn’t. Unless he’s one of those people that likes the fight. I don’t think he is though; he didn’t hit me, and he wasn’t hard when he was on top of me.

The sound of the front door closing has me moving faster, thinking I’ve missed my chance, and I run down the stairs on shaky legs. Three sets of eyes land on me, and I didn’t hear Vlad’s voice, if I did I would have jumped out of the window. Focusing on Dima and Tali, I tell them the truth that even Yulia couldn’t get out of me.

“Marlo told me who my dad is.”

Tali deflates, his eyes going to the floor, and he throws a padded envelope on the table.

Vlad takes a step forward and Dima copies. The former looks between the two of us as he pauses, and he doesn’t reprimand me for wanting to kill him as he asks without his usual violence, “Who is it?”

I’ve never said the name out loud, I tried looking for him, but he disappeared years before I was born and in my head he’s with B. Both of them are together and I swapped my life with hers so she could be happy with her parents.

My voice comes out small and weak as I say, “Piotr Belov.”

I’ve witnessed Vlad angry before, but this is something different and it’s not directed at me. Dima moves closer to me and positions his body so I can still see over his shoulder from the second step of the stairs.

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