Page 49 of Trapped By the Bratva
I frowned, glancing at her holding a sleeping newborn and the jar of olives I wanted to get down. “Who the hell put them so high, anyway?”
She smiled and handed me the baby. “I’ll get them.”
I cradled the dozing baby against my chest, glad I was confident in my arm strength to hold my nephew. It was reaching up high that I couldn’t manage yet.
She used a step ladder and got the jar down, but she didn’t leave. We switched, baby for the olives, and she gestured for me to sit with her at the large kitchen island.
“Where’s Margie?” I asked.
“Off with Emily somewhere, I’m sure.” Amy adjusted Pyotr in her arms. “Why?”
“Curious.” The housekeeper always seemed to be around when I wanted someone to chat with, and she wasn’t too nosy to piss me off when we did.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked, raising her brows when I looked irritated. “What?”
“Why would you think I want to talk about anything?”
“I didn’t. I only want to know how you’re doing.” She licked her lips. “It takes a while to get over the initial trauma of being captured and tortured, but with time, it heals.”
She’d know. The Ortez Cartel had almost sold her in their trafficking ring.
“I wasn’t…” She cleared her throat, almost like she knew that she needed to choose her words with care. “I wasn’t hurt like you. Not by a long shot.”
I ate the olives to avoid making eye contact. I hated talking about this with anyone, but Amy was an ideal person to discuss the topic of torture. “They still roughed you up.”
She nodded. “I was spared a lot of the physical duress you suffered. But the act of being taken and held against your will like that… It takes a toll.”
“I think it had to be worse for you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How so?”
“You were taken to be sold. Youweresold, and you had the stress of running from that fate. The thought of being someone’s slave had to be a daunting threat to hang over your head.”
She huffed. “So, just because you were a man taken instead of my being a woman taken, that’s easier?” Her hair fell loose as she shook her head. “No. I’m not buying that. He almost killed you, Dmitri. If Nadia and Maxim hadn’t found you when they did, I’m sure he would’ve succeeded in killing you.”
I doubted that. After we were released and Nadia explained everything to Alek and the rest of us, I realized that Erik didn’t want to get mixed up with the Valkov Bratva. He merely wanted to take over the Avilov outfit from his uncle. Nadia overheard him not wanting to bother with us until he cemented his power as the new Avilov leader. Maybe he would’ve let me go, or maybe not. I didn’t like to play supposition games like that.
“But that was it. Death. That was the only threat hanging over me. We’re all going to die someday. It’s inevitable.”
“That doesn’t mean he had any right to kill you.”
“No,” I agreed. “He didn’t. For a long while, I wished he would have. I prayed he’d put me out of my misery.”
Her face softened, and she laid a hand on mine. “I’m so sorry, Dmitri. No one should ever have to think that.”
“Well, I lived.” I huffed a bitter laugh. “And now he’s the reason I want to live. I wake up every morning with nothing but the drive to get stronger and fitter. Just so I can hunt him down and kill him. To pay him back in kind.”
“That’s a lot of anger built up in there.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t let this… this need for revenge consume you.”
I chewed on my lip, afraid it was far too late to prevent that from happening.
“It can’t be worth it.”
“You don’t understand.”
