Page 71 of Forcibly Sold to the Bratva
“Arina.”
Shock runs through me at the sound of my brother’s voice. I must be mistaken. Tikhon won’t attack me.
I peer around the edge of the dumpster and see it’s him.
“Tikhon,” I whisper, my world shattering.
He steps closer, and there are two unknown men with him. I feel petrified, something I’ve never felt around my brother.
“Come out,” he says gently. “I just want to talk.”
He won’t hurt me. I know he won’t hurt me. This must have been a mistake. He must have thought those guards were someone else.
I feel Tatiana’s hand on my wrist, trying to hold me back, but I slowly stand. My legs feel like water beneath me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask with a trembling voice.
“I’ve come to take you home,” Tikhon says, like nothing happened. Like he’s picking me up from dinner and his men didn’t just kill two people.
“I…I was going home.” My voice quivers.
Tikhon’s face hardens. “That’s not your home.”
One of his men moves toward the dumpster with a gun outstretched, and in panic, I step into his path. “They have nothing to do with this.”
“Come with me then, Arina,” Tikhon extends his hand to me. I just stare at it, feeling as if my heart is being stabbed. “Or I’ll kill Ilariy’s precious sisters right here.”
His ultimatum is a level of cruelty I could never have imagined. “No,” I breathe. “Tikhon, please—”
Katya lets out a choked sob, and Tatiana gets on her feet. I feel her hand on my elbow as she leans in from behind me.
“Don’t go with him, Arina,” she hisses. “I mean it.
“Shut up.” The man with the gun snarls and points it at her forehead. Katya shrieks in fear, and I feel Tatiana let out a panicked exhale, her hand dropping from my elbow.
My mind races frantically, searching for a way out, but there isn’t one. From what I’ve learned of my brother, I know what he’s capable of. He won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
“If I go with you,” I say slowly, “you’ll let them go? Unharmed?”
“You have my word,” Tikhon says, ignoring her outburst.
“Arina, no!” Katya cries.
I look back at Tatiana and Katya, and when I see the fear in their eyes, I know I’m doing the right thing. Even now, they worry for me, even when their own lives are at stake.
It doesn’t cost me much to leave with my brother. At least, I’ll survive.
“Fine,” I say, stepping toward Tikhon. “I’ll go with you. Just let them go.”
Tikhon nods to the man with the gun, and he slowly puts it down.
“Arina, don’t do this,” Tatiana pleads from behind him.
I’m about to turn back and take her into a hug, about to tell her to tell Ilariy not to worry, that I’ll be okay, when Tikhon grabs my arm and begins to drag me away. “Let’s go.”
As he leads me away, I hear Katya crying behind me. I don’t look back because if I do, I might break, might run back to them, and then Tikhon will kill them all.
I’m so furious at Tikhon, at this show of muscle, that I didn’t speak to him the entire ride back.
