Page 82 of Born in Depravity

I shouldn’t care what happened to her. So why did the thought that her eyes might one day look like the girl in the kitchen bother me so much?

I looked down at the two bottles the girl had handed to me. One was French vanilla and the other hazelnut.

When I got to the room, though, something wasn’t right.

The door was ajar and I could hear scuffling inside. Then, a sound so low I almost didn’t hear it. A small whimper.

I rushed into the room without thinking, and what I saw had me seeing red.

Catalina was pushed down on the bed, and a fucking foot soldier lay on top of her, his hands touching what didn’t fucking belonged to him. Catalina’s wide, terrified eyes met mine, and I lost all sense of control.

I grabbed the bastard by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back. He let out an angry protest from his fucking lips, until he turned around and got a good look at who had him.

I didn’t bother to hide the fury in my eyes.

His face paled, and even then, it didn’t make me feel any better. I wanted to kill him. A quick look told me he still had his pants on. I wasn’t too late, but I didn’t know what the fuck he had been able to do to her in my absence.

I pulled my hand back and punched him in the nose. Bone crunching beneath my fist and the blood spurting out of it gave me little satisfaction.

The little worm covered his nose and let out a loud cry out as he fell to the floor.

I pulled him up by the collar of his shirt.

“P-please. I didn’t know she was yours,” he uttered, tears streaming down his face and mixing with his blood.

What a stupid lie, coming from such a stupid little fucker. I leaned down until my nose touched his. “You didn’t know? Did I make it a secret that I had someone in this room?”

He shook his head. “I’m one of Petrov’s men. You can’t kill me.”

I smiled, baring teeth. “Can’t I?”

A whimpering sound from the bed drew my attention. I almost forgot Catalina was here. I looked over at her briefly. The terrified look in her eyes played with my anger. I tightened my fist on the man’s shirt, then pushed him away. He fell on his ass. I didn’t want to lose control in front of her.

I had prided myself on my control, but this one small incident involving this one small,insignificantwoman, and I could feel my control slipping. I was out for blood.

Before he could pick himself back up and run away, I quickly moved over and grabbed the shit Mikhail had brought in three nights before. The handcuff and the leg-spreader bar.

Not saying anything, I moved toward the little fucker.

“Please,” he begged when I wrapped my hand around his neck and moved him out of the room. Fucking pathetic.

“Save your breath. The fun hasn’t even started yet.”

There was a balcony that looked out to the first floor just at the end of the hallway. I pushed him there and cuffed his hands to the railing, before using the leg spreader on him.

I stood up to my full height and took him in.

“What’s going on?” Nikolay asked, a dark note in his voice. I stood up and turned toward him.

“Just teaching this fucker a lesson to not touch what doesn’t belong to him.”

I kicked him when he started to make little whimpering noises.

Nikolay’s face blackened. “What?”

I nodded. “No one is to set him free. I want him to remain tied to this balcony. I want everyone to see what happens when you touch what’s mine. Anyone who helps him will join him in hell.”

I didn’t wait for Nikolay’s reply before going back inside the room and closing the door behind me. Catalina was still in the same spot I had last seen her, her face buried in the blanket, and what was more, the gut-wrenching sobs that she was letting out almost had me coming undone.

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