Page 140 of Born in Depravity

I was better off than them.

Mikhail, Damien, Nikolay hadn’t broken me.

In fact, I didn’t think they wanted to break me. At least, not Mikhail, and perhaps Damien. Nikolay was a little harder to read.

Damien rested his hand on my shoulder as the noise picked up with more people coming to the dining table. I didn’t bother paying attention to any of the conversation, but I focused on his hand, and moved my face closer to it.

I looked up at him when I felt his eyes on me.

He didn’t look like the man he was before.

No, not at all.

I wouldn’t exactly call him soft. There was nothing soft about Damien, but he felt soft … for me.

I smiled.

He didn’t smile back, but his eyes didn’t seem so dark.

He cupped my cheek.

Footsteps sounded behind me. People were bringing out the food.

The man called Petrov was definitely the loudest, and I noticed the woman he was with was sitting next to him on a chair. She was only a short distance from me, and from where I was sitting, I could see her fully.

She was in a light blue dress that went well with her long blond hair. She was beautiful in a mean way, which was confirmed when she turned her attention to me, her eyes glinting harshly in the light.

I looked away, but not before I caught her getting Petrov's attention.

Petrov was a slimy-looking man. That was the only word that came to my mind. He was on the short side of average, with receding brown hair, small eyes, and an ugly smile. He ate anything and everything in front of him with gusto, and there was just something off about him to me. Something not even his designer clothes could hide. He wore a black suit that wasn’t unlike Damien’s, though it hung on his lanky frame.

I didn’t get a good look at him when we first arrived, mostly because I had been scared out of my mind, but looking at him now, I wondered how he had ever risen so high up in rank.

I hated the way his eyes burned my skin as he and hiscompanionlooked at me on the floor.

I shifted closer to Damien.

“I can see why you kept her locked away. She’s exquisite,” Petrov said. I tensed. He was talking about me. “Why don’t we take her out to play later? See how well she handles more than just three men?”

Did he mean …

Damien laughed. I wondered if anyone noticed the hardness in the sound. “You think I would ever let anyone besides my brothers touch Agnello’s greatest treasure? I took her from his tight grasp, and if anyone wants a turn, they will have to take her from my cold, dead hands.”

The image of Damien like that wasn’t a pleasant one.

I wondered when he had come to mean something to me.

Beside him, Nikolay let out a sardonic chuckle. “Anyone want to try?”

When no one spoke up, Nikolay laughed again.

“Careful, Alyosha. You keep saying things to trigger Damien’s possessiveness and he might think you’re challenging him.”

Petrov slammed his glass down, making me jump.

Damien rested his hand again on my shoulder.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t think Damien would care for one little whore.”

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