Page 31 of Dark Bratva Christmas
She goes pale as Ivakin grabs a needle and approaches with it. I watch as her eyes widen in fear.
“Umm, couldn't I have a cup to pee in,” Catarina asks, jumping to her feet and backing away from Ivakin before he can approach with the needle. It’s amusing to see how she’s afraid of a small routine needle when she’ll literally go toe-to-toe with me.
“I don't have one on me,” Ivakin says, moving closer to her and rubbing a cotton swab of iodine on the inside of her arm.
Catarina trembles as he holds her arm steady, preparing to slide the needle into the vein. Just as he's about to, she yanks her arm away from him and shakes her head, terrified.
“I'm not so good with needles,” Catarina admits, holding her arm close to her chest as her face grows a deep shade of crimson. “I really think we should do this another way.”
It's a brief moment of vulnerability that Catarina doesn't want me to see, but I find it oddly…attractive. I'm about to open my mouth to encourage her when Ivakin grabs her arm and pulls it down against her will.
“This will be quick,” he says, bringing the needle closer.
“Stop!” Catarina yells, trying to yank her arm away, but Ivakin is gripping her too strongly. Surprisingly strong for someone as old as he is.
He doesn't listen to her and holds the needle steady as she shakes and screams. “Let me go!”
The moment I hear her scream, something shifts inside me. Any semblance of calm I had is gone in an instant, replaced by this dark, primal urge.
Who the fuck does he think he is laying his hands on her like that?
His fingers dig into the flesh of her arm. He brings the needle closer and Catarina cries out in pain.
“Let her go!” I take a few quick paces across the room and stand in front of Ivakin before grabbing his hand. I shove him away from her and he stumbles backward, nearly falling on his ass.
It feels like something else takes control of me completely as I walk over to him, wrap my hand around his neck and slam him against the wall.
He stares at me with wide eyes and shock on his face.
“Ona skazala stop(She said stop),” I say through gritted teeth, squeezing my hand tighter around his throat. “Don't youeverhurt my wife again. Understand? Come back with a goddamn cup.”
“Yes, Sir.” Ivakin nods his head and I let go of him, taking a few steps back as my chest rises and falls rapidly.
“Get out!” I shout, pointing at the door. He grabs his bag and the few things he had pulled out of it and hastily rushes out of the room, stumbling over his own feet. I stare at the empty doorway, knowing that Catarina is beside me, still shaking from the whole ordeal.
In the back of my head, Mikhail's voice echoes.Protect her.
But this sick feeling churns in my gut, and I know what I did hasnothingto do with my brother.
Chapter nine
Catarina
I stare at the small dot on the inside of my arm where the doctor tried to prick me with the needle before Matysh dragged him away from me.
He lost his mind over me.
And for some reason, that’s oddly satisfying.
I feel horrible admitting that, because the guilt of having this burgeoning attraction to a man other than Mikhail is still weighing heavily on me.
Matysh and I haven't spoken since yesterday afternoon when the doctor came to visit. I was served dinner in my room and Matysh stayed in his office until I heard him leave on his bike late in theevening. I was delivered a cup for a urine sample by Helena, and that was that.
And just like I don't know where Matysh went, I don’t know the results of the pregnancy test either.
But as I sit on the edge of the bed and play with the hem of my oversized T-shirt, I can’t help thinking about the fact that Mikhail would always go on long runs whenever he was frustrated. Maybe Matysh's motorcycle serves a similar purpose.
I wish I had the freedom to do something like that myself.
