Page 70 of Villainous Kingpin
“Wynter, it’s me.” Two hands wrapped around me and turned me around. Pale blue eyes met mine and I blinked. “Remember me?”
I frantically looked around. There was nobody else, just him.
“Sasha,” I croaked, with despair. My eyes burned and pain scratched at my chest and stole my breath. The sobs I desperately tried to contain choked me, making each inhale and exhale physically painful.
He nodded and I burst into tears. There was no stopping the floodgate of tears. Sasha’s big arms wrapped around me and my body shook with sobs.
“Who did this to you?” he growled.
My sobs wrecked me and words refused to come out. How could I tell him? The fucking idiot in me still cared about what would happen to Bas. I shouldn’t care. I wouldn’t care. One day, but right now, I just couldn’t utter those words. Besides, if Bas and his father were so ruthless, it would put Uncle and Mom in danger. Juliette and Killian, my friends. I couldn’t let anything happen to them, and I knew the moment I uttered Gio DiLustro, Uncle would go on a warpath against all of them.
“Tell me,” he demanded, his chest vibrating under my cheek. I shook my head against it. I’d never say the name.
“We’re getting an audience,” he grumbled, taking off his suit jacket. I raised a blank stare to his pale blue one. The moment he rested his jacket on my shoulders, I flinched and a muscle in his jaw tightened.
“Let me take you home.” Something bitter passed through his eyes, like ghosts haunting him. The thought made no sense, but I couldn’t shake it off. “I’ll call Brennan from the car.”
I jerked my whole body out of his hold and shook my head frantically. “No. Not Uncle,” I begged, my voice hoarse. “Not his house. Not yet.”
He glanced around us, growling at the audience that immediately dispersed. “Come in the car with me. My brother is there. We’ll take you somewhere safe.”
“Not home,” I repeated, my demand clear. If Uncle saw me, it would be bad. I couldn’t let that happen. It was my burden to bear. Even knowing who Bas was, I willingly went to him. Despite the warnings I’d heard, I trusted Basilio DiLustro.
“No, not home,” he promised, then his arm came around my waist, urging me forward.
His one, bulky arm around me, he nudged me to the car and I followed while staring at the ink on his fingers. They looked like symbols, but I couldn’t distinguish what they were. My sight was blurry from the tears, my focus even more so.
Once by the black Mercedes G-Benz, he opened the back door and helped me into it, then slid next to me. His brother was behind the wheel. I clutched Sasha’s jacket as I met Alexei’s pale blue eyes in the rearview mirror.
Something dark and unhinged flashed in his eyes that had me shrinking into the seat.
“What in the fuck happened to her? Who?” He spat out in Russian, his voice colder than the Arctic temperatures. Sasha responded in Russian too and my eyes ping-ponged between the two.
“N-nothing,” I breathed, my voice sounding slightly distorted from my lip that started to swell. I swept my tongue across it and the cut stung badly.
“You understand Russian?” Sasha and Alexei asked at the same time, surprise on their faces.
I nodded. “It was an elective, and for some reason, it worked for me,” I muttered, each muscle on my face hurting as I talked.
“Give me a name,” Alexei said, the demand clear in his cold voice.
I shook my head.
“You know we can’t let whoever did this to you get away with it,” was Sasha's response.
“No,” I replied stubbornly.
Sasha ran his tongue across his teeth with agitation. I took Sasha’s big hand with both mine and squeezed desperately. “Please. Please, just let it go. I-I won’t go around B-” I cut myself off just in time. “I won’t go around that area. Please.”
Alexei shook his head and reached for something in his pants. I watched with wide eyes, holding my breath. It was his cell, he flipped through and dialed a number.
“Nico, need surveillance on the east side of New York,” he said, his voice monotone and raspy. Then he recited the block of the city he found me in.
“Please,” I pleaded in a hoarse whisper. “Please, no. I-I’ll give you anything.”
Alexei ignored me and I turned to Sasha. “Whoever it is, Wynter, don’t worry. We’ll protect you. They’ll never get to you again.”
I shook my head with desperation and my vision blurred, with tears and pain. The physical pain didn’t compare to the ache in my heart. It was supposed to be an organ that breathed life into a body but each pump and beat of it hurt worse than anything else I had ever experienced before.
