Page 42 of Kidnapped Prisoner By the Bratva
“So what, you’re okay with being the monster that brings ‘order’ to the world?” I air-quoted the word.
He didn’t respond at first, but his smirk did. Then, slowly, while reclining in his chair, he asked me, “Do you still believe there’s a shred of humanity left in me?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes. Because I’m still breathing.” My eyes never left his face. “I’ve pushed you to the wall more than anyone else, but you never even punished me. If that’s not humanity, then I don’t know what it is.”
It just hit me now, how much of my attitude this man had tolerated. Maybe I meant something to him after all—why else would he have been so lenient with me all the fuckin’ time? The look on his face the night he saved me from that assassin flashed in my head.
Beneath his unreadable expression, I saw something—a glimpse of fear. Fear for my safety. It was almost imperceptible, but I caught it.
“Answer me this, Val.” I drew closer, holding his gaze with my arms on the table between us. “Why did you never fight back all those times I pushed you to the edge?”
He was quiet, watching me, fingers absently drumming against the table’s surface. After a short while, he answered, “Because you’re the one thing I don’t wanna break.”
My brows drew together, breath hitched in my throat, as my lips parted, but nothing came out. I was speechless—stunned and confused. Yes, I knew there was a shred of humanity left in me. But I wasn’t expecting such a powerful response.
His words rattled through me, and my brain went blank for a moment. It was one thing to assume my importance to him, and it was an entirely different thing to hear him say it.
I sat there frozen in place, stuck between shock and something I was yet to name. He’d caught me off guard and stripped me of any clever retort.
The silence that followed was awkward, and it seemed to stretch on forever.
Finally, he broke it. “Anything else? I’d like to get back to work now if you don’t mind.”
His confession, the weight of his gaze, and now the politeness in his tone cracked something open inside me. An emotion stirred a flutter in my chest and weakened my knees.
“Uh….” I cleared my throat, fingers scratching the back of my head as I avoided his gaze. “That’ll be all.” I rose to my feet.
After lingering for a second or so, I turned around and left his study in silence and shock. This time, I didn’t slam the door behind me, just closed it gently.
Chapter 16 – Val
I stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass window, eyes fixed across the cityscape sprawled out in front of me. The smell of aged paper wafted through the air, mingling with the harsh scent of vodka.
A siren wailed in the distance, accompanied by a roll of thunder. Another flash of lightning streaked through the thick dark clouds outside, and it soon began to pour.
Even with my back against the four men seated in the room, I could sense their tension—their unease. And that alone fueled my suspicion. But I hadn’t said anything yet, I just stood there, gazing outside, so they would wonder what this meeting was about.
They whispered amongst themselves, deliberating on why they were summoned. My silence was intentional, designed to keep them in the dark until I was ready to address the situation. The whole room had been quiet for the past five minutes, and none of them had summoned the courage to ask what was going on.
Finally, someone spoke and broke the silence that had lingered long enough. I recognized the speaker’s voice; it was Anton.
He began by clearing his throat, as if bracing himself for whatever was about to happen. “Boss. We’ve been here for a while now, and you still haven’t said anything.”
I hesitated, then answered without looking back, “When I was a kid, my father told me a story of a shepherd who caught a wolf wearing sheepskin.”
Silence.
I continued, eyes still fixed outside. “You see, the wolf disguised itself as a sheep so well that the shepherd never noticed it. He fed the beast, treated it with the same care hetreated his flock.” I paused, a soft chuckle escaping my lips. “As time went by, the wolf devoured the sheep one by one from within the flock.”
They murmured for a second, then kept quiet again.
“The shepherd, oblivious to the danger right under his nose, scoured the forest, searching for the beast that’s killing his sheep.” I paused, letting the words sink in before continuing. “Poor guy, he didn’t know that the enemy wasn’t far away, but right…under his roof.”
I turned around with my hand in my pocket, my eyes drifting over their faces. These were my most trusted lieutenants, aside from Luka, who was standing by the door with a pistol in his hand.
“One night, while the flock slept, the wolf revealed itself from amongst them, thinking it was business as usual. However, what the wolf didn’t anticipate was that the shepherd would be watching tonight.”
They watched me in silence, wondering where I was going with this.
