Page 23 of Marked (Russian Sinners 1)

“I’ll do the search.” If anyone could get all the details of her family’s past, it was Nikolai.

The mood was getting tense and we all felt something was brewing. Question was what.

“I think she likes you,” Sergei teased, trying to relieve the tension in the air.

“What makes you say that?” I asked him, mildly curious. I didn’t think she liked me much. Well, besides my eyes and my warmth, which she admitted to just a few minutes ago.

“When I stepped towards her to introduce myself, she backed herself closer to you.” I noticed that too although it was probably the way we were positioned. “And each time we talk, her eyes search you out.”

I had a different theory on that. “She feels most threatened by me, which is probably the reason she keeps watching me.”

Nikolai scoffed. “You keep telling yourself that, brother.”

My eyes shifted to the woman in my arms. The bruise on her cheek was a vivid color, all her vulnerability plain on her face. I wished I could wipe it all away from her.

“People of her status don’t mix with people like us,” I reminded them both.

I left them without another word and kept walking towards the room Anastasia would be using for the next two days. I laid her down on the big bed, her hair a stark shade of mahogany against the crisp white of the pillow. The big bed swallowed her little frame.

Against my better judgement, I lightly brushed my fingers through her hair and an exhale left her luscious red lips.

As I was pulling the covers over her body, her eyelids barely opened and her hand grabbed mine.

“Please stay with me,” she murmured, her beautiful eyes closed again as if she couldn’t keep them open anymore.

There were dark circles under her eyes, a testament on how little sleep she got in the past two weeks. Her hand still held mine, purple marks from the ropes that bound her wrists still evident on her skin.

“Fuck,” the curse left my lips on a soft whisper. I knew I shouldn’t stay with her but every bone in my body objected to leaving her. Why did she have this pull on me?

I laid on top of the covers and stayed with her, listening to her even breathing. Her smell of fresh lilies surrounded me; her breathing a lullabye I never heard growing up as I slowly drifted off to sleep. It was the first time ever that I slept next to a woman, in the same bed.

And nothing ever felt so fucking right!

Chapter Ten

Anastasia

“Mom, I’m scared.” It was dark and cold. Both my mom’s hands and my hands were bound but she still managed to wrap me into her arms. She brushed kisses over my wet forehead, tears smeared on her bruised face. Each time she kissed me, she winced and a pained expression passed her face.

“Dad and Grandpa will save us,” she whispered.

It has been so long since we were kept here. It felt like months, although I couldn’t tell days from weeks anymore.

I raised my hand to her cheek and gently covered her cut.

“I’m so sorry, Mom.” I didn’t like to see my mom hurt. I wanted to make her feel better. The guilt was bitter on my tongue. I could never get rid of it. The guilt over my betrayal tasted of ash, rust, and blood. It was me that betrayed my mother and my family, in the worst way possible.

The door abruptly opened with a loud thud and both of us shriveled in fear, my mom pulling me closer to her.

“One of you is going upstairs,” the man spat out. He was evil, with black, dead eyes.

A whimper left my mom’s lips as she pushed me behind herself. I started crying, not understanding what was going on. Or maybe I didn’t want to understand.

“Which one is it going to be?” He was getting closer and closer, until he was a dark cloud hovering over us.

“I’ll go,” my mom’s voice was a raspy whisper.

“Mom, please don’t leave me,” I sobbed, scared of being left alone in the dark.

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