Page 152 of Fall into Savagery

I looked at each of my men.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what, baby?” Mikhail asked.

I swallowed around the lump forming in my throat before I spoke. “For being with me.”

They all smiled at me, like I knew they would, their eyes soft.

They once said they wanted to break me.

Couldn’t they see how I had flourished under their gaze?

This wasn’t the end of me. Burning down that house wasn’t magic. It didn’t erase all the abuse I went through, and it didn’t diminish it like I thought it would.

But for the first time, I believed I could handle it.

“I love you guys so much,” I said softly.

“We love you, too, pet,” Damien said.

The car pulled to a stop outside the tunnel entrance.

I looked out and found a group of men crowding something—someone from across the street.

I looked back at my men.

“It’s okay, princess. They just found the man who was in the house.”

I waited for everyone to get out first before I followed them.

A familiar voice spoke through the circle of men …

Begging for them to let him go.

My heart sped up.

I knew who was in the house before the group of men parted and revealed the man they had taken.

My breath caught, and Mikhail looked at me.

“Do you know who this is,kotyonok?” Mikhail asked me, drawing the attention of the man.

His eyes widened when he found me. “C-Catalina? Tell them to let me go,cara. We can talk about this.”

My breathing grew more erratic. I wondered which one of us should be more surprised. Dr. Russo for seeing me here, or me, at him actually asking for my help.

I moved in closer to Mikhail.

“Who is this?” he asked darkly.

I swallowed.

I never told him the name of the doctor who had performed the hymen test on me, about the doctor who had forced himself on me and had taken my first kiss so brutally, when I told Mikhail about some of what I had endured, back when we were at Petrov’s house.

But judging by Mikhail's eyes, I knew he had a name before we even left that house, and he could probably guess now. Unlucky for Dr. Russo.

He would not make it out of here tonight.

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