The Bratva’s Bounty (Volkov Bratva #3)

36. Nicole

Chapter 36

Nicole

"Are you sure you are ready?" Lev's concern brought a sure smile to my face as I turned my head to look at him. "It's not like he's going anywhere any time soon… or ever."

Looking down at our intertwined fingers, I squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I'm ready to start his end." My smile grew confident with each step we took toward the private chamber that imprisoned Igor.

"I need this," I told Lev with a serious expression.

It's been a month since Lev and I started therapy, both individual and couples. Emotionally and mentally, I was still a mess, but I would get through it. The road to full recovery wouldn't be easy, but at least I started and made good progress so far since I started therapy.

Come to find out, I went through three of the five stages of trauma pretty fine on my own and with Lev's help. My problem was the fourth stage: depression. Apparently, that was where I got stuck. Well, I was still in the stage of depression, but at least I had options given to me in terms of treatment.

Even if I was a little reluctant at first with the therapist, she eventually warmed her way into me. I needed to get rid of the weight on my shoulders however I could, and it took me a little while to figure out what she meant in regard to me. So, after I got my head back on my body, I figured it was time to kill the monster who haunted my mind and body.

The only thing that could help me move on was Igor's torment and death. He took a part of my life away from me, so it was time I returned the favor. Of course, the only struggle I had was deciding on how I would make him suffer.

As much as I wanted to see him dead at my feet, I didn't want to kill him because a quick death was too much of a mercy. So, unfortunately, I would go down the route of slow and painful.

Pulling myself from my head, I wrapped my other arm around his, hugging it tightly. "Alexei, is there what I asked for?" I asked just as the door came into view.

Lev kept a straight face, but his eyes clouded over with some curiosity. "Yeah, though you still haven't told me what you need all that stuff for? Or what your plan is exactly…"

Of course, I wasn't the only one who would find closure today. I might have been the one Igor brutally raped, but Lev was forced to watch helplessly and be taunted throughout the whole thing.

Like me, Lev hasn't been the same since. Besides being physically banged up from the whole kidnapping and rescue, he's been much more paranoid and overly protective. If I thought his over-observant habit was annoying before, then it was outright irksome now. He would walk over every inch of the house and our property whenever time permitted, and if anything was a hair out of place, he'd flip. Every sound made him jump for a gun, even if it was some stupid bug hitting the window.

Then, whenever it came to me, he clung to me like a baby monkey would their mother. As much as I love Lev and his attention, it was way too much. Contrary to that, our sex life has been out of control because we fell into some cycle of constantly needing each other. I needed him to touch me and make me forget about Igor, and Lev needed to prove to me that he still loved me despite everything—it wasn't healthy.

We've been more regulated since therapy, though. We weren't back to baseline by any means, but we were getting there .

Our steps slowed to a stop when we got to the heavy metal door that looked grim and menacing in the dim lighting of the corridor. It was a little scary if I really thought about it. Beyond this thick slab of metal was a demon of a monster.

Placing his hand on the door's handle, Lev gripped it until his knuckles turned white. His head looked down at me for a few seconds to let his eyes search my face for any signs of reconsideration. "Remember, at any time, and I mean any time, you feel uncomfortable or change your mind about facing Igor, you let me know." The seriousness of his tone meant his words were more of a command than a reminder.

Nodding firmly, I took in a slow and controlled breath. "Yes , ??i ca ." I knew I needed to push myself, but I also knew that I couldn't go too far into the deep end yet.

Taking a deep breath of his own, Lev squared his shoulders, puffed his chest out, and threw the door open with so much force that it nearly flew off its hinges as it slammed against the wall with a loud boom that shook the whole room like a damn earthquake.

Igor's tense face twisted into a smug and cruel smirk upon laying his eyes on us. "Come to bring my wife back to me?" His taunt was void of spunk, just like how his eyes were hollow with defeat.

For a stupid man, he was smart enough to know the direness of his situation. He was a dead man, and he knew it. It was only a matter of time now.

Purposely ignoring him, I tutted my chin and turned away to look at Alexei. "Alexei, priapism, what is it again?" I intentionally exaggerated my question and spoke loudly enough to ensure Igor would hear me.

"The short version: an erection that lasts more than four hours, usually painful," Alexei replied casually as he remained sitting in his chair by the table of weapons and other various torture equipment. "Would you like to know more?" Now, he was just playing along with me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lev sneakily cross his legs in a protective manner. If I wasn't trying to maintain a somewhat serious demeanor, then I would've chuckled. With my attention fully on Alexei still, I replied, " Well, I suppose it'd be good to know why an erection that long wouldn't be good." I dragged out a sarcastic sigh as I eyed Igor curiously.

"Well, with that much blood flow to your penis, your body's gonna get less perfusion, but, of course, that's not the main concern with priapism." Smirking cruelly, Alexei held up a bottle of pills, shaking it. "Not only is it really painful, but after a while, with all the blood being pooled there and not going back up, permanent damage can start happening. If left untreated, then a person's penis would slowly die, rot off their body, and the infection doesn't stay localized." Shaking his head, he looked over at Igor with a twisted gleam. "The infection goes to your blood, and sepsis sets in."

It took a few seconds for the realization to pale Igor's face. "Wait, you can't be serious. That's just a stupid and insane idea, banking on me being able to keep it up that long," he stammered nervously, tugging at the restraints that kept him bound to the metal chair.

I had only intended to let out a chuckle, but it came out as an evil laugh that would put an evil queen to shame. "Oh, honey, you make it sound like you're going to have a choice." Reaching out, I caught the bottle of pills after Alexei tossed it to me.

Holding up to Igor's face, I shook the bottle with the label facing him as I held it inches from him. "Recognize these little blue pills? I mean, you should since you probably use them a lot." I sneered mockingly at him. "You know, I thought about stuffing you full of bombs and letting you live in paranoia of not knowing when I'd set them off on a whim, but this just felt a little more fitting after a lot of thought."

"If you think I'm going to drink that, then you're fucking delusion, you crazy bitch," Igor spat back at me with a seething scowl as he continued to struggle.

Tilting my head at him with a smirk, I chuckled. "Again, you make it sound like you're going to have a choice in the matter."

Throwing the bottle back to Alexei, I went over to the table and leaned back against it with my arms crossed. "Do it," I commanded the younger Volkov darkly .

Getting up, he snapped on a pair of gloves and grabbed some tubing off the table. "Oh, with pleasure." His controlled voice broke with a crazed uplift.

Rounding Igor like a predator would its injured prey, Alexei motioned for Lev to come over with a nod of his head. "Hold his head back so I can shove this tube down his nose and throat."

Sneering, Lev smirked darkly as he approached the struggling Igor. "No promises about not breaking his neck in the process." He barked out a short laugh before grabbing Igor's head and forcing it back over the back of the chair.

The next few seconds were filled with Igor's screams of protest and suffering as Alexei shoved the tube down into his body with an unhinged smile that made me question Alexei a little.

I mean, he was the reserved one out of the five of them. Although, it did throw me off a little with how calm and collected he always was. Yeah, Lev and Stepan have told me numerous times that the twins were psychopaths, and with Arseny, I could see, but it was always a little harder to believe with Alexei. Well, at least until now.

I doubt he needed to take a whole ten minutes to put the tube into Igor. Alexei kept pulling back and going forward, only to pull back again because 'it went down the wrong tube' or 'it went out the mouth' or some line of excuses to keep flossing Igor's body with the feeding tube. All the while having a sadistic sparkle in his smiling eyes.

Yeah, note to self: don't fuck with the twins.

Once the tube was in place, Alexei secured it before crushing up the Viagra and pushing it through the tube into Igor's system.

"Well, that'll take about an hour to kick in, and of course, the guards here will monitor him and keep administering the medication as needed to keep him in that state," Alexei said collectedly while dusting his hands. "I have to get ready for a shift."

And just like that, the good doctor left as if he didn't just get his rocks off torturing a man just now.

"And you call me the psycho?" I scoffed and deadpanned Lev with a raised brow.

Walking up to me, he leaned down and caged me in with his arms. "Hey, I mean it in a loving way," Lev defended himself with a chuckle.

Gripping the edge of the table, he leaned in and kissed me softly. "Now, what would you like to do, empress?" he whispered against my lips.

I leered at Igor after peering my head around Lev. For a pensive moment, I let my spiteful eyes look at his disgusting body for a very quick moment before deciding, "Rip his nails off, toes and fingers, then break every bone in his feet and hands." The lack of care in my very cruel tone surprised me as much as it did Lev, who looked at me with stunned eyes for a split second.

Then, my twisted man cracked an excited grin before his hand grabbed a hammer off the table. "Consider it done, my love." Right before his body turned away from the table, his other hand snagged a pair of pliers.

Once Lev approached Igor, it took less than ten seconds for his screams of bloody murder to bounce off the metal walls and resound in my ears like the perfect carol. Agonized screams, pleas for the torture to end, nasty comments, and slurs said in between. None of it bothered me because, after all, they were the ramblings of a dead man.

"Did the meds work?" I asked Lev, refusing to trail my eyes down to see for myself.

Movement was caught by my eyes, and I could see Lev moving the hammer down to Igor's pelvic area. Then, Lev's mocking chuckle rang through the air. "If I can even find it."

A splatter of bloody spit landed right at Lev's feet before Igor remarked something to Lev in Russian, only to be met by a burst of loud laughter from Lev.

Spinning around, Lev came back over to me with a lustful frenzy in his eyes. The moment he was inches from me, his hands grabbed my face to bring me into a heated kiss. "Get on the table and spread your legs, empress," he groaned against my lips, grabbing the back of my thighs to help hike me up.

"What are you doing?" My airy voice trailed the more I melted in Lev's loving hands as they wandered my body.

Holding my face tenderly, he looked down at me with pleading eyes full of warmth and want. "Do you trust me?" he asked with a confident smile .

There was a twinkle of darkness in his eyes that sent a small tingle of nervous excitement down my spine. I probably shouldn't, but I nodded my head in response and leaned into his touch. "Yes, always." Unless this was the moment that would break it.

Snaking his hand under my skirt, he brushed his thumb against my clothed sex, rubbing my clit until it throbbed with pleasure. "He won't see you, I promise," he whispered reassuringly against my lips before kissing me deeply.

Carefully, he positioned himself between my legs to use his big body to cover me before undoing his pants and slipping himself under my loose skirt. Spitting in his hand, he slicked himself up before pushing my panties aside and positioning himself at my entrance. "Hold onto me, and don't hold back, zhizn moya ."

I didn't get a preparatory swipe or teasing thrusts; he shoved himself all the way to the base with a single, hard jerk of his hips. Instinctively, my body arched against his as a loud scream of pleasure escaped from my open mouth. Shudders trembled my whimpering body as I tried to release Lev's shoulders from my clawing grip.

"Lev, claim me, please," I begged through a shaky exhale. "Show me how much you love me and want me."