Page 85 of Born in Depravity

They were monsters and they should act like it.

In this world, kindness was the cruelest weapon, but a part of me couldn’t bring myself to ask them to stop. A part of me craved their brand of kindness.

His thumb moved underneath my eyes, swiping away the tears that fell. “You okay,kotyonok?”

I thought about it. Was I okay?

The fact that something like that had happened to me didn’t feel real. It had felt like it was happening to someone else, and I had simply been observing. So why the hell was I crying now?

I nodded to answer his question.

He didn’t look like he didn’t believe me. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t believe me either.

“What do you want to do today, baby girl?”

Baby girl?

I shrugged, ignoring the way that stupid pet name made me feel. I supposed it was better than “pet,” though not for the first time, I wondered if there was something wrong with me because I thought Damien had called me that with affection. Even when he was referring to himself as my … master.

Mikhail reached over and grabbed my eReader and tablet.

“What do you feel like doing,kotyonok—reading or watching TV shows?”

I hesitated, before I pointed to the tablet. Putting on something mindless so I didn’t have to think sounded like a better idea than reading now. One side of his lips curved up in a small smile, making my heart rate speed up.

Mikhail was beautiful, but he was just soattractivewhen he smiled. He lookednicewhen he smiled—even if it was nothing more than an illusion. Mikhail wasn’t nice. He snaked his arms around my naked waist, pulling me close to him and drawing attention to the fact that I still wasn’t wearing any clothes. I must have been coming out of the numbness I’d felt since the moment I woke up, because I could feel my shyness creeping out in the form of my blushing cheeks.

The dark clouds covering his blue eyes dissipated at the sight of me, and I tried not to examine too closely why that was.

“Relax,” Mikhail said, directing my head on his chest. He said it as if it was easy. He wasn’t the naked one.

I wiggled, pulling away. He didn’t stop me, which surprised me, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I climbed off the bed with the bed sheets around me, moved over to the drawers, and grabbed one of Damien’s shirts and a pair of sweats before walking into the bathroom.

I quickly put the clothes on, afraid Mikhail might come in and decide I couldn’t, and walked back out into the room with the sheet in my arms.

His eyes were light with amusement now. I avoided eye contact as I climbed back on the bed, and I wasn’t thinking when I lay back down by his sides, pulling the covers over us, creating a little bubble.

I paused when my eyes met his, tensing up, but it was too late.

Mikhail wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him.

Cautiously, I laid my head down on his chest.

Mikhail put on an old sitcom.

I Love Lucy.

Having spent most of my life in solitude meant I’d spent it trying to entertain myself with all sorts of things, TV included. I watched sitcoms from the ’90s to the early 2000s because I always liked how light everything was, but I had never watchedI Love Lucybefore and I wondered why Mikhail decided to put this on.

How very …

Normal.

When nothing about the situation was normal, not even the man lying next to me.

We watched five episodes.

By the third episode, I did something I didn’t think I would do. I smiled at Lucy’s antics and Ricky’s exasperation.

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