Twisted Throne (Bratva Born #2)

21. Adriana

Adriana

Dimitri seems much happier now. It's been a few days since Jacob was admitted to the hospital, and the doctors say he's progressing exceptionally well. They believe he will be home in a couple of days, with a whole new medicine regimen, and a regular physiotherapy schedule. The talk with my father the other day went as well as anything like that could, and at times I am daring to have hope for the future.

I've been spending time playing with Cade in the grounds, and I've even found, much to my astonishment, that I've grown used to the guards standing around and can put them out of my mind. The grounds here are stunningly beautiful, with fantastic views out over the city. It's a heavenly place for a childlike Cade to grow up, if I'm being honest. Dimitri has said that his grandparents can have a permanent home here. I'm not an idiot, though. I can't imagine he'd keep that offer if I suddenly decided I wanted to leave.

Not that I do want to leave. Every day he drags me deeper into his dark web. Trapping me with silken words of affection and love. At night, he pulls me under with him as we explore our dark desires. It’s nothing like with Barnaby. The sick way he would look at me. This is different because it is mutual. I find Dimitri more attractive every day. Last night, he used a vibrator on me for hours, until I was an exhausted, sloppy mess. Then he fucked me and made me sleep next to him, full of his cum.

“No shower for you, littleblue,” he’d growled. “I want you stuffed full of me.”

In the morning, I woke up to him playing with my pussy, and I came again. For the fifth time in less than twelve hours. He’s rich. Handsome. Powerful. Good in bed. So why do I keep questioning myself and this thing between us?

Because of who he is and what he does? If he were a doctor or a lawyer, I’d be happy to stay forever. He’s not, though. He’s organized crime, and I can’t stop the thoughts that tell me he’s immoral. Bad . What if one day he wants rid of me? Will I find myself cut up in a tarpaulin? I’ve watched The Sopranos. Great TV show, not so good as a life manual.

I finish up in the shower, feeling refreshed after washing the debauchery from my skin. Not that the debauchery wasn't fun, because it was. I'm just finishing getting dressed when the bedroom door opens, and Dimitri stalks in. He’s wearing a pair of soft, washed-out jeans and a Henley style top. It’s very casual, and it suits him well. The top hugs every single curve of muscles on his arms.

“I have to go out,” he says. “I've asked Yuri to guard you personally until I'm back.”

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“To talk to Ari,” he says.

“Can I come?”

He stares at me as if I've grown another head. “Why the hell would you want to do that? He's the man who took you and started this entire nightmare for you.”

I tilt my head to one side and watch him for a moment. “Yeah, I know. That's exactly why I want to go and see him; I need closure.” My voice drops lower as I admit the truth to Dimitri. “He's the one I still have nightmares about. He didn't do much to me other than take me, but I think it's because he was out there for so long, and because he put so much of this into motion. It's like he's become the face of all the trauma for me. Maybe if I can speak to him, and tell him he didn't break me, show him he’s nothing, it might help.”

Dimitri says nothing for a long beat, then gives a brisk nod of his head. “If that's what you want, then yes, you can come.” He holds out his hand, and I slip my palm into his. “Just be aware that where we're going, the rules aren't the same as they are here. He's not exactly being treated in line with the Geneva Convention.”

I smile up at Dimitri. “Well, that's fine, because he doesn't deserve to be treated in line with the Geneva Convention. He's ruined so many lives, and he still presents a danger to Cade. It's odd,” I say as we walk out the door and down the corridor together. “My dreams about him are always the same, and it's not anything that bad, but it goes round and round in my head.” We descend the stairs, and when we hit the bottom, Dimitri turns to me.

“What is it you dream about?”

“When he came to the house and saw me for the first time, he did this odd thing. He put his hands around my waist and squeezed as if he was measuring my waist. I was wearing a baggy top at the time, so maybe he actually was. It was creepy, and it's the thing I keep dreaming about.”

“He put his hands on your waist?” Dimitri asks this question as if I’ve said Ari stroked my pussy.

“Yes, when he first came to the house.”

His jaw tenses, and that muscle tics along his cheekbone that I know heralds trouble.

As we walk through the hallway, I see a group of men sitting around in the kitchen drinking coffee. Yuri is one of them, and Dimitri clicks his fingers at him, pointing to the guy next to him. “You two, with us.”

They follow us out the door. Dimitri and I climb into a car waiting out front, and Yuri gets in the backseat. The second man calls someone on his cell, and a moment later a second car, big, with the same tinted windows, pulls up. The second man whistles to one of a group of four men patrolling the ground and flicks his fingers at two of them, beckoning them. They both jog over and climb into the back of the car.

“Is three enough?” Yuri asks. “Or do you want more security?”

“This is enough,” Dimitri replies. “There are men already at the cabin.”

We drive through the city, over the famous Golden Gate bridge, and are soon into the countryside. It's amazing to me that you can be within such a busy, vibrant city one moment and five minutes later heading out into the country. We follow winding roads and turn left, right, then left again, until we enter a wooded area. Eventually the road tapers off, and we bounce down what is not much more than a dirt track, until we come across a cabin in the clearing .

Dimitri parks the car and gets out, coming round to open my door for me. Yuri climbs out too, a gun already in his hand, gaze sweeping around the perimeter of the property. The door opens, and a young man pokes his head out, grinning wide when he sees Dimitri and his men.

“Boss, your timing is perfect. He just messed himself. We took him out for a while, like you said, because we thought he’d die if we left him in there in that position. He got all cocky and mouthy, though, so we’ve shoved him back in.”

Dimitri pushes past the man with a nod, as Yuri and the other two security guards follow us inside the cabin. It's dark and dingy inside, and I shiver at the change in temperature from moments ago. It's as if these walls have taken some of the violence they've seen and sucked it into the very stonework, turning the air damp and cold.

There's a strange whimpering moaning sound coming from a grate in the corner of the room. Dimitri looks at me. “Are you sure you want to see this? Last chance to say no and leave. You can sit in the car with Yuri. I won’t be long.”

My insides churn with anxiety, but I need to do this. “No,” I say. “I need to see him. I need to make him less of a monster than he is in my head.”

Dimitri takes hold of my hand tight as we walk across the room, pausing right before that awful grate. I glance down and see Ari squashed into a space that no human being can really fit into. He can't fully stand, so he's kind of hunched; his shoulders are rounded, and his head is bent at an unnatural angle. His knees are partially bent too. He can't sit down, though, and he certainly can’t lie down. I assess very quickly just how painful this must be. I look at Dimitri, and he must see the horror that's in my gaze because he flinches as if I've slapped him.

“Don't you dare judge me,” he says. “You asked to come, and I said I wanted to shield you from this, but you wanted to come and see.” He points down to the terrible hole. “He's less of a monster now, isn't he?”

Oh, he surely is less of a monster, but the man in front of me, the man that I've fallen in love with even if I haven't admitted it to anyone else yet, most assuredly is a monster.

The other men are all hanging back and chatting amongst themselves, so I don't think they can hear us. I whisper quietly so only Dimitri can hear and make sure he can read my lips, as I say my truth. “You're right, he's not a monstrous presence to me anymore. You're a monster, though. A real life, living, breathing, monster. You made this, didn't you?” I point down.

He nods but doesn't speak as we stare at one another, as if seeing each other for the first time. And maybe we are, because right now he's revealing the very darkest depths of his soul to me. And my reaction to those depths will reveal to him so much about my soul, my heart, and my moral character.

I lean in and look up at him. “How do I know that you won't turn on me?”

“Because,” he says clearly and concisely, “I'm your monster.”

Those words make me shiver with something deliciously dark lurking underneath the fear. Something that tells me I'm not as good a person as I always thought I was.

“After all,” Dimitri carries on, “the monster isn't the most powerful thing in the story, is it?” He smiles. “That’s the person who controls it.”

I suck in a breath and mouth “But ... I don't control you.”

Dimitri bends his head down and whispers in my ear, “Oh, littleblue, but you do.”

He straightens and glances down. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“It's up to me?” I squeak.

“You're the one he transgressed against. The rules of justice say that you are the one who should have the decision of his fate. Do you want to leave him down there to slowly die? Or would you rather I made quicker work of it?”

“Screw you,” Ari screams from his prison.

Dimitri laughs and hunkers down so that he’s nearer to the grate. “You seem rather irritated by life at the moment. Not going your way, huh?”

“When I get free, I’ll make sure that I destroy every single member of your family,” Ari screams.

Dimitri glances at Yuri and the other men. “This is an odd tactic, isn't it?” he asks them. “I'm used to people begging for their freedom. I'm used to people saying they’ll cooperate. I'm not used to people in this predicament telling me that they're going to murder my entire family.” He glances back down at Ari and reaches through the grate with one finger to tap him on the head. “Where did you learn negotiation skills? Because you really suck at it.”

“I don’t have any bargaining power here, so why even try.” Ari coughs and then spits, and I shudder.

“That's not entirely true.” Dimitri taps the metal. “I need information, and the more that you can tell me, the more I can make sure your end, when it does come, is kind. You're not going to live; you and I both know that. However, how helpful you are to me might make me be more lenient. Or, I should say, might make Adriana here more lenient, because she's the one who gets to decide what happens to you now.”

“I don't know what more I can tell you. You have Dorian, and he’s sung like a canary, I expect, so what more can I give you?”

“Where is Dorian?” Adriana asks.

“He’s in the deluxe accommodation,” Dimitri says with a grin. “Through there.” He points through a door at the end of the room.

“Got a bed and everything,” Yuri says. “He’s chained to it, but it’s still a bed, and we give him three square a day, water, and toilet breaks.”

“It’s practically five-star luxury,” Dimitri laughs. “Compared to what he deserves, anyway.” His face sobers. “In all seriousness, though, we’re keeping him in good condition because Andrius and Konstantin might want to talk to him.”

Ari laughs and spits on the floor again. He stinks of piss and fear, and it makes my stomach churn. “He’s a little snitch.”

“Perhaps,” Dimitri says with a shrug. “Or maybe he's just more intelligent than you, and he's realized how to prolong his life. I'm honestly an inch away from just snapping your neck, you're annoying me so much. I want to know more about these people in Portland.”

“I don't know anything about anybody in Portland,” Ari says.

Dimitri sighs. “That's your first lie, and that's a finger that I'm gonna take without any kind of pain relief or anesthetic. Keep it up, by all means. It’s a big group, around forty people in it. They have links to you apparently. They're not family as such, from what I've found out, but there's definitely an association. So what is it? How much of a risk would they pose to us? Do they wish to expand? Exactly what do they move? See, there are so many ways you can be helpful.”

“I have nothing to do with those cunts,” Ari says with a sneer, and I have to admire his bravery because I don't think I could be sneering in his position. “We've done a little business with them, but that's about it. As for what they do and whether or not they're going to expand, they mostly move drugs. That's why we dealt with them. We needed drugs for some of the girls sometimes. They most certainly don't want to expand down here. That’s it. All I can tell you. Can I please have the bullet to the head now?” He moves a little, groans, and tries to straighten his back, but groans again when he realizes he can't.

“Get him out,” Dimitri orders. Two of the men walk forward, one brandishing a heavy ornate key.

They undo the grate and haul Ari out of that tiny hole. They place him down, and he wobbles on the floor like a newborn foal. His legs collapse under him, and he sits down heavily on the stone. “Oh God,” he groans. “My back.” He starfishes on the stone then rolls around and moves as if working out the kinks in his back.

Dimitri kicks him heavily with a boot, right into the ribs. “This isn't a physiotherapy session, you bastard,” he says. “Get up.”

Ari cries out when the boot connects with his ribs a second time, and he rolls over onto his side, coughing and groaning more.

“Get this piece of crap up off my floor,” Dimitri orders, and two of his men rush forward to do just that. “Place him on the table over there.” Dimitri points to an old wooden table in the far corner of the room.

The men drag Ari over to it and holding onto it, place him on his back, one of them holding him in place with a palm to his chest.

Dimitri walks over to the kitchen cupboards and begins to open them. Finally he takes out a bottle, and I see that it's olive oil. He returns to Ari and stares down at him. “How long since you've eaten?” he asks.

“A few days, I think,” Ari says. “I forget. It's been a long time, though. Why, you gonna go get me a burger?”

Instead, Dimitri squeezes Ari’s jaw either side, hard enough to make Ari scream and his mouth fall open, and then he upends the olive oil, so it trickles into Ari’s mouth and down his throat.

Ari goes into full-on panic and struggles as if he’s fighting for his life, but two men are holding him down. His legs thrash to no avail.

As Dimitri pours the viscous liquid down his throat, he coughs and splutters and tries to turn his head. Dimitri continues calmly pouring the oil down his throat. My heart hammers wildly, and I feel faint.

I force myself to watch, though, because this is the world I’m joining. This is who I’m in love with.

Finally, Dimitri steps away. Ari rolls off the table and gags violently on his hands and knees on the floor. He retches repeatedly, and I have to look away because if he's going to be sick, I can't bear to watch. I have something akin to a phobia of people being sick.

He isn't, though; he just gags until eventually it subsides, and he falls stomach-first on the floor, a tearful snotty mess.

Dimitri crouches and strokes his hair gently, almost lovingly. “I can make it stop, if you just tell me what I need to know, in order to make sure that I can keep this woman that you took safe in the future. It ends. If I keep filling you full of this olive oil, you know what's gonna happen, right? You've not eaten for days, and it's not gonna take long before this gives you violent diarrhea. If you're back in that hole, it will be unbearable. I've heard that if someone's in a situation where they can't defend themselves or move, and they've soiled themselves, the rats will literally eat them from the outside in.”

Oh God, too much—I'm going to faint. I walk to the edge of the room and take hold of the counter while I suck in some deep breaths of air and concentrate on slowly blowing them out.

Ari sobs, and as I look at him, turning away from the counter, I see the minute it happens. The moment he truly breaks.

“I'll tell you whatever you need to know, but just make it quick.”

Dimitri glances back to me. “What do you say, my love? This is your call. If he tells us everything, do I make it quick? Or do you want to drag it out?”

“If he tells you everything, make it quick,” I say. My head is spinning. I can't believe what I’m doing. But as Ari looks at me, I remember the way he looked at me right before he put that awful stench-filled cloth over my mouth, so I steel my resolve.

I force myself to keep looking at the truth of what Dimitri and I are. The truth of what Ari created when he snatched me from my life. I close in on him and bend down, so that I'm level with Dimitri and closer to the stinking mess that is Ari. “Tell him everything,” I say, “and I'll make sure that he makes it quick and painless.” There’s still hatred in his eyes. Disbelief too, as if he can’t believe that a woman, one of those feeble creatures he treats like pawns in his filthy game, holds his fate. Holding his gaze, I smile. “You don't scare me anymore.”

He makes a sound between a growl and a whimper.

A hand touches my shoulder, and I glance up to Yuri looking down at me. “You’re a bit pale, miss, and it is airless in here. Do you want to come out onto the balcony for a breath of fresh air?”

I glance over at Dimitri. “Go on,” he says. “Go get some fresh air, while I talk with Ari.”

I do as he says because I do feel as if any moment now I'm going to pass out. Keeping my back straight and not letting Ari see that I find this upsetting, I walk out of the cabin and onto the wooden veranda. There are a couple of old wooden chairs to one side, and Yuri guides me to one and sits next to me. He places his worn boots on the banister and takes out a cigarette. He blows the smoke away from me, for which my queasy stomach is most grateful, and squints as he looks out into the woods.

“You're gonna make a great wife by Dimitri’s side when he's the boss.” He takes another drag of his cigarette and blows his smoke upward.

“We’re not engaged,” I point out.

“All my spidey senses tell me that's just a matter of time,” he says with a laugh.

I ask about the crosswords he makes, and when he starts to tell me about it, his face lights up. We pass what must be at least fifteen minutes chatting amicably about his hobby, and then the door to the shack opens once more.

“He's told us everything.” Dimitri scuffs his boot against the wood. “I don't think you should be inside when we cut his throat.” I shiver. “I want you to hear something, though.”

He takes my hand and leads me inside. We stand by the door, far away from Ari who is sitting in a chair by the table, shoulders slumped and face hanging down.

“I do believe there's something you want to tell Adriana,” Dimitri says.

Ari lifts his face and looks at me with bloodshot eyes. “I'm sorry,” he whispers.

“I didn't hear that properly,” Dimitri snaps. “Say it louder and with meaning.”

“I’m sorry, Adriana, truly. I'm sorry that I took you, and I'm sorry that I've made your life the mess that it is. And I’m sorry … I uh …” Dimitri stares at him murderously so he stammers and carries on. “I’m sorry I put my hands on you and touched you.”

“That will do,” Dimitri says.

I look at the man who has elicited this apology from my kidnapper. “You will make it quick, won’t you?”

“You and your soft heart,” he says with a smile. “Yes, I will make it quick; I promise.” He glances at Ari. “Because my littleblue is so generous in her care for you, I won’t slit your throat.”

He looks at Yuri who has just entered the cabin behind us.

“Bullet to the head, double tap, make it quick.”

Yuri nods. “Sure, boss.”

“Oh, and when you've done, cut his fingers off. I want them made into wind chimes to hang outside this cabin.”

Ari makes an unholy sound in the back of his throat and shakes his head venomously. “What? You can't do that.”

“What the hell do you care; you’ll be dead.” Yuri laughs.

“You touched this woman,” Dimitri says coldly. “Put your hands on her waist. This woman is going to be my wife , and you touched her. Therefore, I need your fingers. They’ll make a nice decoration for those long winter days out here. Your bones will be the warning to my enemies. You don’t need fingers where you’re going.”

“A finger wind chime; that’s inventive.” One of the guards laughs, and Ari sits there, broken, facing the end, and unable to look at me.

I shake my head and exit the cabin.

“Will you take me home please?” I ask Dimitri.

“Yes.” He takes my hand. “Whatever my queen wishes.”

Then he grins. “You called it home.

I guess I did.

“Your future wife?” My heart is hammering.

“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”

We get into the car, and I look at Dimitri. “If I begged you for his life, would you have let him live?”

He smiles at me. “Of course. But he’d never have seen the outside again and would have spent his days chained to a bed as is Dorian, so you did the kindest thing you could have. I’d never let him be a risk to you again.”

“Am I evil?” I wonder aloud.

“You stopped him from suffering. An evil person would have put him back in that hole in the ground. I would have.”

I shudder.

He grins at me. “Don’t look so scared, littleblue. Remember, I’m your monster.”