Page 59 of Bratva's Vow
I’d spent most of the morning curled up in the same spot on the bed, exactly where I’d passed out sometime after dawn. The sheets were twisted around me; my skin was clammy and sticky with sweat. I hadn’t showered since yesterday. Couldn’t bring myself to care.
I smelled like misery and self-loathing. Good. Let it seep into the walls. Maybe then Maxim would choke on it when he came to check on me.
Not that he came anymore.
He’d tried. He’d shown up at my door more than once. Heknocked, soft at first, then louder. Once, when I refused to answer, he barked my name through the door like I was one of his soldiers. That had been a fun night. When he pushed the door open, I’d thrown a lamp at him. He’d left after that.
Now, he sent his bodyguards.
I flipped through TV channels listlessly, not stopping to watch any of the programs. Cartoons, news, some cheesy soap opera that looked way too dramatic even for my spiraling life. None of it held my attention. The remote felt heavy in my hand as I clicked through mindlessly.
A soft knock broke the monotony. I didn’t answer.
Didn’t have to.
The door cracked open anyway.
“Wren?”
The voice wasn’t Maxim’s.
It was Dezi. Before my imprisonment, he was just the quiet guy who followed Maxim around and rarely spoke unless asked a question. I hadn’t paid him much attention. Now he was apparently on full-time Wren babysitting duty, and he took his job way too seriously for me to harbor the hope of escape. Not under his eagle eyes. Viktor, I could have conned, but not Dezi, who followed Maxim’s orders to a T.
He stepped inside carefully, balancing a tray in his hands. The smell hit me first. Something hearty—stew or soup, maybe. My stomach twisted in hunger, but damn if I would eat.
“I brought you lunch.” Dezi set the tray down on the bedside table. For a man who looked rough, his voice was a lot softer than I’d expected.
“I’m not hungry.” I curled tighter into myself and fixed my eyes back on the screen, even though I wasn’t watching anything.
“You didn’t eat breakfast,” he said.
“Wasn’t hungry then either.”
Dezi exhaled slowly, shifting his weight. He didn’t leave.
“I get it,” he said. “You’re pissed. You hate him right now. Probably hate all of us too.”
“Good guess.” I didn’t look at him.
His boots scraped the floor as he crossed the room. Not threatening, but purposeful.
“Look, Wren…” He spoke softly. “I know you think we’re just his goons. His hired muscle. And yeah, we work for him. But Mr. Morozov isn’t the bad guy you make him out to be.”
That earned him a hard glare. I gave him my best unimpressed stare. “Oh yeah? Enlighten me, Dezi. What is he, then? My kidnapper? My father’s killer?”
Dezi didn’t flinch.
“He’s our boss,” he said simply. “But he’s also the man who pays our salaries on time every damn month. Pays us better than anyone else would. Private health insurance, bonuses, hazard pay. When Gregor’s wife got sick last year, Boss paid for her treatment out of his own pocket. Didn’t ask for it back like others would have.”
I frowned, caught off guard by the quiet conviction in his voice.
“That’s just money,” I said.
“It’s not just money to us,” he shot back, eyes hard now. “It’s our families. Our kids. It’s knowing that if something happens to us on a job, he’ll take care of them. He made us that promise, and he’s kept it. Always. You think we don’t know who we work for? We know the risks. We know the blood on his hands.Ichoose to get it on mine too. You know why? Because when I left the army and was treated like shit by this country I fought for, he was the one who got me sober. He’s the reason I’m still alive, and if that means someday I’ll die protecting him, so be it.”
I swallowed thickly, the argument faltering on my tongue.
Dezi went on. “He doesn’t treat us like we’re disposable.He doesn’t use us and throw us away when he’s done. He gives a damn. Even when it’s inconvenient. You think that rooftop incident didn’t shake him? You think locking you in here isn’t killing him? The guy’s fucking wrecked over the way you’re treating him. I’ve been with him long enough to tell you he’s never treated anyone the way he does you.”
