Page 45 of Shadows of the Past
The scent of cedar fades as reality crashes back in, the sharp pain of fabric tearing off my back making me flinch.
“One,” someone counts aloud, their voice echoing through the basement as all eyes fix on me.
Maksim's words from a month ago, when he gave me the birth control injection, ring in my ears:Better to not expect it.
The second lash rips through me harder than the first, and I can’t hold back my scream this time. Biting down on my tongue until blood fills my mouth, I try desperately to stifle any sound forhissake.
I don’t want Maksim to hear me suffer, not these sounds that will surely haunt him like so many others already do.
Blow after blow rains down on me until pain becomes muted, my body numb as my cheek presses harder against the post, as if it could swallow me whole and take me away from this nightmare.
“Ten.”
I know I let out a sigh of relief. My head rests against the rough wooden post, and I force my legs to stay steady, refusingto collapse in front of them. But my knees are already trembling, threatening to give out beneath me.
There’s noise around me, with murmurs and shuffling, and then, suddenly, silence.
Someone begins untying the ropes binding me, and I don’t have to look to know it’s him. I can’t bring myself to meet his eyes, not after what I’ve done. My back carries the physical wounds, but I know it hurt him just as much to inflict them.
Before I can react, I’m lifted off the ground. My arms instinctively wrap around his neck as he carries me. I rest my head against the base of his throat, biting down on my lip when the movement stretches the torn skin on my back. The pain stings like fire, but his scent—woodsy and grounding—pulls at the edges of my consciousness, lulling me toward sleep.
In what feels like moments, we’re back in our room.Our room.
He sets me down gently on the bed without a word. His silence weighs heavier than any scolding could. Without asking, he pulls my shirt up to inspect the damage. A sharp grimace flashes across my face at the pain, and I know he doesn’t miss it.
For a few seconds, he just stares at my back, unmoving. That stillness tells me everything. It’s bad. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be reacting like this.
I want to say something, anything, to explain myself or justify why I did what I did. But no words feel right. It was reckless, I know that, but I don’t regret it.
The cold touch of ointment on my raw skin makes me flinch involuntarily. He doesn’t say a word as he works, and that silence cuts deeper than any lash ever could because I can hear his thoughts in it. They’re loud enough to drown out everything else.
Minutes pass as he carefully applies the ointment to my back. When he’s done, he stands and moves to sit directly in front of me. For a moment, I hesitate before lifting my gaze to meet his.
I wish I hadn’t.
His eyes are blazing with anger and disappointment, no tenderness, no understanding, just raw fury that feels like a punch to the gut. It’s as if his hands are gripping my throat without ever touching me.
And all that echoes in my head is:Feliz cumpleaños, Julia.
Chapter 17
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Maksim
“What the hell were you thinking? Do you realize you could be dead right now, and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing I could do to save you?” My voice is calm, but the anger simmering beneath it is impossible to miss.
I want to yell at her, to throw every piece of furniture in this room against the walls, because I almost lost her today. If she’d been just a little less careful and hit one of Aleksandr’s arteries, I wouldn’t have been able to stop what came next.
Ivan would have demanded her death. Even with this punishment, I don’t know if he’ll be satisfied. Aleksandr already had his sights set on her, now he’ll be even more obsessed.
“He was cutting her, Maksim,” she whispers harshly, her voice trembling with emotion. “While he was raping her, he was carving lines into her body.”
I close my eyes for a second, trying to keep myself in check. All I want to do is shake her and make her understand that this is just the beginning, that she’ll see worse than this and won’t always be able to intervene.
“Do you think you helped her?” I snap, my frustration spilling over. “I guarantee you didn’t. When Ivan finds out, and he will find out, he’ll make sure she pays for it. And not before he comesafter me for letting you breathe another day. FOR GOD’S SAKE, JULIA, YOU CAN’T DO THIS IF YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE!”
This time, my words come out as a roar, and before I can stop myself, I grab a monitor and smash it against the floor.
