Page 16 of Marked (Russian Sinners 1)

A blink of an eye, a wrong turn, the wrong time to leave the nightclub… and everything changed. Staring back at me was a woman who was no longer carefree. It took me so long to get over my fears the last time, I wondered if I would even succeed this time.

You are safe around Dimitry.

Ignoring my mind’s whisper, I continued studying myself in the mirror. There was a bruise on the left side of my face, a startling purple against my fair skin. There were dark shadows under my eyes, and my entire body was covered in random bruises.

Right there and then, I decided I would never be so vulnerable again. The last two weeks of taunting, kicking, near rape… and all I could do was scratch, kick, and scream. I should have been able to defend myself, instead I was at their complete mercy. I needed to learn self-defense.

I pulled on a pair of black yoga pants and an emerald color crew neck shirt with quarter sleeves along with sneakers. The shower alone made me feel so much better, but my own clothes made me feel like I had body armor.

I stepped out of the bedroom and glanced around. The trio of men were sitting on the top stair of the staircase, talking in hushed tones. Nikolai must have cleaned up too because he wore different clothes. Dimitry was still dressed the same. I guess he meant it when he said he would wait for me out here.

I cleared my throat and three sets of eyes raised their head in unison.

Sergei whistled. “You cleaned up nice.” I scoffed a bit and my fingers subconsciously went to my bruised cheek. As if he read my mind, he added, “Doesn’t look that bad. It will heal.”

I gave him a grateful smile, although it hurt to do so. “I probably look like Rocky.”

“A little bit,” Nikolai agreed. “Just prettier.”

“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment,” I retorted dryly. I turned my eyes to Dimitry who just observed me with his cold, gray stare. “Dimitry, do you know how long I have to stay with you all?”

“Till Boris’ execution.” His answer was flat, an undertone of annoyance in his voice. It seemed he wasn’t happy to be stuck with me any more than I was happy to be stuck with them.

“How long is that?” I knew of Boris Jovanov; the history between him and what happened to our family, was a painful one. But unlike my father, I didn’t keep up with the news and verdicts on criminals. And Boris Jovanov was something I was working really hard to forget. Dimitry just watched me without moving a muscle, he almost looked like a statue. I refused to be the one to cave in, so we had a staring contest going.

“Five months,” Nikolai ended up answering, breaking the silence that stretched.

Five months. That is a long time.

I studied the three men wondering how much they knew about my family’s history. Only a handful of people in the world knew what happened fifteen years ago. The nightmare and pain Boris had inflicted on our family took a long time to heal.

“You know Boris?” I asked, noting he referred to him as Boris rather than elaborating who Boris was. It was a common name in Russia, I knew that much.

“What makes you think I know him?” he questioned back. It was impossible to read this man, he was a complete enigma to me. His face expressionless, his eyes guarded… it was hard to read him. Scratch that, not hard; it was impossible for me to read him.

“The way you are referring to him,” I answered vaguely. Two can play at this game, damn him.

Dimitry stood up and even though he was one step below me, he still towered over me.

“The doctor will see you now.” I guess that meant our conversation was over. He didn’t wait for me to answer and started descending the stairs.

"I don't need to see the doctor. I am a doctor and I can tell you I don't have any broken bones or other injuries. I'm just bruised." I responded somewhat defiantly. I knew I was fine, and after what happened, I wasn't exactly excited about having someone touch me.

He stopped, slowly turning his frigid eyes on me. His gaze roamed down my body and then back up. “Since we are stuck with you for five months, I don’t want to risk any shit.”

What a fucking asshole!

Nikolai said something in Russian and I turned my gaze to him, raising an eyebrow. Not that I could ever intimidate him. But I wouldn’t let him intimidate me either.

“Damn it, what did you say?” I spat out when it was clear he wouldn’t humor me and translate it into English. He just watched me and I started to get annoyed.

“He told Dimitry to be nicer to you,” Sergei translated.

“Oh.” It was the last thing I expected. “Thank you.”

I pushed my hand through my hair. I didn’t want to start this relationship, for the lack of a better term, on the wrong foot.

“Thank you for saving me and I am sorry that you’re now stuck with me,” I started softly. They pulled me out of a very shitty situation, there was no doubt about it. I was talking to all of them but my eyes were on Dimitry. For some reason, my eyes kept gravitating to him. “But I am also stuck with you. It’s not exactly how I imagined my summer ending and certainly not how I’d spend my next five months.” He kept waiting and I wasn’t even sure where I was going with this. “If you could just tell me what your expectations are for the next five months, and I can give you mine, maybe we won’t get on each other’s nerves.”

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