Page 109 of Born into Madness
“Your boyfriend killed a man,” she says in a shaky voice. “He saved me from that guy, but then he just left me there.”
“He knew the others would come and free you,” I tell her. “He was worried about me and trying to get to me as quickly as possible. No one was going to just leave you here.”
“You’re going to be fine,” Lev says from beside us.
Brittney’s body tenses at the deep Russian accent and then at the sight of the tattooed, pierced man who’s looking down at her.
“They won’t hurt you,” I tell her again.
She grips my hand and says, “I just want to go home.”
“We’ll make sure you get there,” Lev tells her. “All we ask is that you keep us out of whatever story you tell the police. You don’t know us, you didn’t see us, and you have no idea who came in here and killed everyone. Understood?”
“Yes,” she quickly says, and when Roman comes over to lead her away, she gives my hand one last squeeze before telling Lev, “Thank you.”
I wait as she joins the other girls and then follows Roman down the stairs.
“Think we can trust her?” Lev asks me.
“Yeah, she’s my old roommate. You can trust her.” Unable to resist, I ask, “What would happen if I’d said no?”
His lip ring moves as he grins down at me. “I’d ask Niki to be on the lookout for any police reports that need to be erased. We wouldn’t hurt her,” he says. “She’s just a scared college kid. She was kidnapped and held by these bastards for days. She must be scared to death.”
It makes me feel better to hear the obvious sincerity in his words, but then what he said hits me and I ask, “Wait, she was kidnapped days ago? Did Sasha know? Why wouldn’t he tell me about that?”
Lev’s eyes glance back at the room that I’m still not looking into before he asks, “Are you close friends with her?”
“No,” I say, feeling bad for all the times I complained about her. “We actually don’t get along all that great,” I admit.
Lev nods like it makes perfect sense now. “It would never occur to Sasha that you might want to know. You’re not friends with her, and she’s not family. In his mind, that means she’s nothing to you. Plus, he would’ve considered it work business, not something that needed to touch your private life.” He’s quiet for a second before he says, “In his mind, he did what was right. He’s never going to think like you and me, but he’s not heartless. What love he is capable of is fierce and loyal and innocent in many ways. I know it’s odd to use that word when talking about him, but I know what my son is capable of and what he’s not. Things are very black and white to him. He loves you, and that will never change. There’s an innocence in that, a purity that’s not going to be muddled with uncertainty or disinterest or a need to cheat and see what else is out there.”
Lev shrugs and says, “He just doesn’t think like that. He loves you and wants you and anyone who ever lays a finger on you is going to end up like that guy in there.” He grins at me and reaches out to squeeze my shoulder. “The simplicity of it is beautiful, I think.”
I can’t help but return his smile and say, “I do, too.”
“I know this is a weird time to say it,” he says with a grin as he looks around at the house that I hope to one day forget, “but Jolene and I are really happy he found you. We both worried he’d never find anyone. He’s always been surrounded by family, but that’s not the same thing as having someone you’re in love with.”
“It’s not,” I agree, “and I’m really glad I found him, too.”
I feel another trickle of blood, so I reach up to swipe it away right as Sasha appears in the doorway. My eyes run over him, terrified that he’s been hurt, but after a few seconds I realize that he doesn’t have a scratch on him. The blood he’s soaked in isn’t his.
When I hear a low whistle, I turn to see his Uncle Vitaly walk over to stand by Lev. “Damn, Sasha,” he says, but I’m so happy to see him that I don’t even care what he looks like. I rush over and wrap my arms around him in a big hug while his uncle says, “I’ve never seen anyone run towards him when he’s like this.” I hear his laugh before he says even louder, “Most people run away from the crazy guy covered in blood, Cindy!”
I let out a soft laugh and say just loud enough for Sasha to hear, “The only time I’ll ever run from you is when I know you’re going to chase me.”
He sighs and holds me tighter as he kisses the top of my head. “I want you out of this filthy house,krovinka. I don’t want you here for one second longer.”
When I nod my agreement, he keeps his body blocking the doorway so I can’t see whatever is left of Ben. He tells his familywe’re leaving, and when we get outside, I breathe in the fresh air and take a few seconds to appreciate it before I start bombarding him with questions about how he found me. While we walk to his motorcycle, he tells me about Sav calling him, the terror he’d felt at hearing I’d been taken, and then he assures me she’s safe and sound and back at the Kappa house, and the last thing he says is that there’s a tracker in my engagement ring. I look down at the gorgeous ring, not at all surprised that Sasha found a way to keep tabs on me.
“Are you mad?” he asks, handing me his helmet.
I look back at the house I’d been trapped in and think about the fear I’d felt at being drugged and dragged from the club. “No,” I say, turning back to look at him. “I’m just glad you found me so quickly. I love my ring, Sasha, and I love it even more now that I know you’ll always be able to find me when I’m wearing it.”
The corner of his mouth lifts up the tiniest bit, but something feels off. Sasha is sometimes hard to read, but something doesn’t feel right, so I reach out to him, refusing to let this sit and fester.
When I step closer, he doesn’t lean down to me like he normally would, so I fist his bloody shirt and pull. He knows what I want, so he lowers down, and when he’s close enough, I let go of his shirt so I can cup his face and force him to look at me. His eyes are different. There’s an emptiness to them now that I don’t like.
“Talk to me,” I tell him, refusing to let him go when I feel him try to straighten back up. “Sasha, talk to me. What’s going on? Are you okay?”
