MY HUSBAND IS SO sexy, so handsome as he looks me over, worry etching his features. I want to tell him what’s wrong. I want to tell him that in a few months, Callum will make me pay heavily for this scene. He’s so much like my father, Callum is, using his fists and his words in tandem to hurt others.
My other brothers aren’t quite as bad, but Callum is downright scary. I don’t say any of those things, though. Saying that I’ll be back here in a few months, admitting it aloud, it makes my stomach ache.
“I’m okay, I promise. It’s just hard being back here, and then all that stuff that just happened,” I shrug with my lie.
Timofei searches my face for another beat before he nods and leans down to press his lips to the corner of my mouth. “Let’s get this over with so I can take you home and make you come all night long,” he whispers against my mouth.
A whimper is my only answer, and it causes him to chuckle before he straightens and slips his hand back around my waist.
The receiving room of my father’s home is completely full of people. All of my siblings, spouses, and kids fill the space, along with some of my father’s men. The room goes quiet when we enter, and I watch as my father walks up to us.
“Devyn, or should I call you striapach?” my father asks, raising an eyebrow in question.
I try not to let the hurt show, but when your own father calls you a whore to a room full of family who all understand, it’s hard as hell.
The room is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop, and Timofei’s fingers tighten around my waist at the obvious discomfort. I don’t say anything to my father. I let my chin drop and hide my face in shame. I do feel shame, too.
I slept with Flynn because I wanted to make a choice that was mine to make. It was my only act of rebellion ever, and now my father knows—as does the rest of my family.
“Pretty sure if I knew the translation for that, I wouldn’t be too fucking pleased,” Timofei barks, breaking the silence.
My sister Brenna doesn’t hide her gasp, knowing full well what my father is capable of. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and try not to smile. My husband freaking rocks.
“Dinner is ready, Mr. O’Neil,” the cook calls out. There is a low murmur of people’s voices in the air as they start standing and making their way toward the dining room.
Timofei and my father are in a stare down standstill, and I feel as though I’m smack dab in the middle. “Shall we?” I ask, breaking the staring contest. My father lifts his chin.
Timofei side steps him and pushes me forward a bit as he guides me toward the table. I’m thankful that the two seats that are left are next to each other and across from Brenna and her husband.
My father walks to the head of the table and bows his head, as does everybody else—except Timofei, who refuses. My father says a prayer, and then we’re all allowed to start passing plates. Everybody talks amongst themselves as they pass the food around, but Timofei and I sit in silence. I have no doubt that he’s completely pissed off, and probably at me along with everybody else.
Once we have food on our plates, I start to pick at it, not feeling the least bit hungry. I hear my eldest brother, Aidan’s, voice, and Timofei turns to talk to him just as Brenna grins and catches my eye.
“You okay?” she asks.
I shake my head as my answer. She frowns and looks between me and Fei. I shake my head, indicating that it’s not him. She juts her chin toward our dad, and I nod.
Bathroom? she mouths.
I nod again.
She excuses herself first, and then I do the same a couple minutes later. Timofei wraps his hand around my elbow as I stand, and I lean down to listen to him. “Don’t be gone too long, yeah?”
Without speaking, I nod and hurry away from the loud dinner table and toward the bathroom.
Brenna is waiting for me when I enter, and I lock the door behind me. “Tell me.”
I let out a sigh and look at her, really look at her. She has a fading bruise under her eye, and it makes me sad. She looks too thin, and she looks exhausted. I shouldn’t even burden her with my problems, especially since there is nothing I can do to control them.
“Dad had the doctor put me on the birth control shot. The contract has been amended, and if I’m not pregnant in less than three months, then our marriage will be annulled and I have to come back. The birth control lasts three months, and then the doctor said it could be a full year before I can conceive after it wears off. Basically, dad knew what he was doing and never meant for me to stay with Fei,” I whisper.
“What the fuck?” Brenna whisper-shouts. My eyes fill with tears and she, for the first time since I was a child, wraps me up in a hug. “We’ll get this figured out. You want to stay with him, then?”
“I love him,” I sob against her neck.
Rubbing her hands down my back, she tries to comfort me. “Then if he’s who you want, and you’re happy, then we’ll figure it out.”
I take a step back as I wipe the wetness from my face. “There’s nothing to figure out, Bren. You and I both know that we are not in charge of shit. We’re pawns in whatever game these men decide to use us in.”
“Yeah,” she nods as she reaches for the door. “Whatever you decide, if you want to run away, whatever it is, I will help you any way I can. You’re too fragile to get saddled with a man who will do nothing but cause you pain,” she whispers. Before I can say a word, she walks out of the bathroom.
I take in a deep breath and shake my head, trying to clear my mind of the conversation before I step out of the bathroom as well. I only make it two steps down the hall before a large figure crowds me, and my back is pressed against the wall.
“Your sweet cunt got me beat up today, Devyn,” Flynn announces on a hiss. “Figure you owe me for it.”
I lift my hands and press them against his chest, trying to push him away from me. Though he’s shorter and not as muscular as Timofei, he’s still bigger than me. He doesn’t even budge an inch, no matter how hard I push.
“Let me go,” I growl.
His hand reaches between my thighs, and he gives me a grin when he realizes that I’m not wearing panties. I push against him again and open my mouth to scream, a gargling sound escaping before his hand wraps around the front of my throat and squeezes, just as two fingers are shoved inside of me.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as I struggle against him, trying to free myself. Lifting my hands from his chest, I wrap them around his arm and try with all of my strength to get his grip to loosen.
The hallway is starting to fade to black as my breathing becomes harder and harder, until the pressure of Flynn’s hand on my throat disappears and his body steps away from me. I wrap my hand around my throat and try to suck in air as I fall to my knees, unable to hold myself up.
“You think that you can touch my goddamn wife?” Timofei’s angry voice roars.
I look up at him from my place on the floor and see nothing but uncontrolled rage in his eyes. He’s holding a gun to Flynn’s temple, and Flynn just looks… bored. The hallway starts to fill with people, and I look up to meet my father’s angry gaze.
“What the fuck is going on here?” he booms.
“Your man had one hand up my wife’s dress and the other around her throat,” Timofei announces.
“Flynn?” both my father and Callum ask simultaneously.
“We all know Devyn and I have fucked before. She missed me and wanted a quick fuck before she went back to her Russian,” he grins.
I open my mouth to speak, but Timofei pulls his trigger. Brenna and Shannon scream in the background as Flynn falls to the floor, his brains splattered against the wall above me.
“One of your men touches my wife again, and it will be fucking war,” Timofei announces.
He bends down, grabbing me by the bicep and picking me up in one quick motion. I whimper at the pain as he walks away swiftly, literally dragging me behind him. He doesn’t stop once we’re outside; and with little fanfare, he throws me into the passenger side of his car, not bothering to close the door as he walks to the driver’s seat.
I close the door and buckle up as he starts the engine, and then he speeds off. He frightens me the entire way home, darting in and out of traffic, driving far too fast and screeching to a halt when we’re in front of his building.
“Go upstairs,” he announces.
“Fei?”
She’s looking at me with worry and fear mixed in her features. My eyes glance down to her neck, and I see the angry red marks from Flynn’s hands on her delicate pale skin.
I can’t forget the way he said she wanted him again. I’m not sure I believe him, but she snuck off to the bathroom and she was gone far too long. The fact is, I don’t know why she was there with him. Right now, I don’t trust myself to be around her. I’m too fucking angry; too fucking raw.
“Go,” I grunt.
“Please, Fei…” she starts. I cut her off, holding my hand up.
She flinches and it pisses me off even more. Without another word, she slowly leaves my car and walks inside of our building. It’s secure, and I’ve already sent a text to Konstantin, who should be waiting for her outside of our front door.
I speed off down the street, going somewhere I know for a fact that I should not go. Once I’ve parked, I drop my keys in my pocket and make my way up the sidewalk. The house is small, and so close to its neighbor that just being here makes me feel claustrophobic; though, my apartment isn’t much better.
Standing on the front stoop, I close my eyes and see nothing but the look of fear on Devyn’s face. Then I see Flynn’s hand up her skirt, and the rage comes flooding back. I don’t know if she wanted it like he said. I will never know, because she would never tell me the truth. She knows that if I caught her with another man it would be within my rights to kill her.
“Are you going to come in, or stand there all night?” Camilla’s voice asks, floating through the air.
“I should go,” I state, taking a step back.
“Come in, Timofei. You came here for a reason. I’ve been waiting,” she says, her voice dropping and becoming husky and sexy, just the way I like.
I run my hand along the back of my neck as I step toward her, walking past the threshold of her small house and inside before she closes the door behind me.
Fuck.
Konstantin is leaning against the front door of the apartment as soon as I step off of the elevator, and I let out a frustrated sigh. My husband is such a fucking dick. I don’t know where he’s gone to, and I honestly don’t care right now. All I want to do is take a hot shower and wash Flynn’s touch off of me.
“You okay?” Konstantin asks as he unlocks the door.
I nod but don’t verbally answer him. Instead, I throw my purse down, hurry to the bedroom, and lock myself inside. Then I lock myself inside of the bathroom. I strip out of the dress Timofei made me wear, and curse him for forcing me to go without panties before throwing it into the trashcan. Then I turn the water on as hot as it will go and scrub my body with soap until it’s red and raw.
I change into a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, leaving my hair wet and tangled down my back as I crawl into bed beneath the covers.
“Devyn?” Konstantin’s voice calls out from the other side of the door as he knocks.
“Go away,” I yell.
There is some murmuring from him, and then some noises from the door before it opens. I peek my head out from beneath the comforter to see Konstantin looking at me with a worried expression on his face. “Your friend called the apartment, she was worried about you. Explained what happened.”
“I want to be alone,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes.
He shakes his head and walks over to the edge of the bed before he crouches down in front of me. “I know that you probably feel as though you do, Devyn. But I don’t think you should be, not like this,” he murmurs.
“So now you’re going to fuck my own men?”
I sit up, opening my mouth to deny and protest, but Konstantin beats me to it. “Don’t be a fucking asshole, Timofei,” he grunts as he stands and walks away.
I stare at my husband, jumping when the front door slams closed, alerting us to the fact that Konstantin is gone. I don’t know where he went or why, but it doesn’t matter. Sitting facing him, my hair a ratted up mess, I can’t stop my eyes from welling with tears.
Tonight has been so overwhelming. No matter how hard I scrubbed or how hot the water was, I couldn’t erase the feeling of Flynn’s hands on my body and inside of me. Timofei walks toward me, removing his clothing as he does, until he’s just in his boxer briefs, standing in front of me. I hold my breath as he sinks to the mattress on his knees.
Timofei’s fingers lightly trail my neck and then move to the back in my hair, tangling in the strands and holding me tightly. My eyes never leave his, and his are pinned to mine as well. “You’re mine, Devyn.”
“I am,” I agree on a whisper.
“No man touches you, am I not clear on that?” he asks, tipping his head to the side.
Sucking in a breath, I try to tamp down my anger, but I can’t—not when he’s accusing me of wanting to be assaulted. Narrowing my eyes, I decide to speak my mind, no matter how badly his tight grip is making my head ache.
“Fuck you,” I whisper. His eyes widen and he jerks back slightly. “I didn’t ask for him to touch me. I told him to stop. I pushed him away, and when I tried to scream, he wrapped his hand around my throat and shoved his fingers inside of me. He was going to rape me, you asshole.”
Timofei has the nerve to look stricken, upset, but I don’t care. I’m so past caring how he feels, or how any man I know feels right now. I just want to go to sleep and put this whole night behind me. It doesn’t matter if he’s pissed at me or not, not really. In a few months, I’ll just be sent back to my father. None of this matters.
“Devochka,” he breathes as his hand moves from my hair to wrap around the front of my throat, gently and tenderly.
“I just want to be alone,” I say, my voice trembling.
Timofei releases me before he stands up. To my surprise, he walks out of our bedroom to leave me alone. I curl up in a ball, pulling the bedding over me and cuddle myself inside before I let myself cry. I don’t even try to control or stop myself. I let myself sob into the pillow. I let everything out until eventually, I’m too exhausted to continue, and I fall asleep.